Category: Movies

Civil War: Spiderman, Meet Steve

“Hey, Cap, big fan.”

Spiderman/Peter Parker jumped into my heart and stuck there from the first moment he opened his mouth. Seriously, I am going to adopt this kid. Tom Holland utterly killed it in making us fall in love with this adorable and earnest teenager who is a little guy taking on a big world.

Huh, that sounds familiar, doesn’t it? I wonder who else has a story like that. Peter’s entire conversation behind Aunt May’s back with Tony was a bit of flashback to Steve’s story. Here is someone who seems insignificant, weak, and overlooked. And yet, he is given (or in Peter’s case accidentally comes into) great power. Because Peter is a good guy with a good heart, he uses that power to do good deeds.

Unfortunately, people with power are easy targets for those who want to use them. Enter: Tony Stark. Now, guys, please don’t hear me saying that I hate Tony Stark, because I don’t. I like the guy. He is hilarious, he’s smart, and I know that he truly cares. But Tony Stark is the most imbalanced and selfish Avenger on the team. More on that later this week.

In Peter Parker’s case, Tony does something that even he should know better than to do. Tony goes and recruits an impressionable teenager to come fight a battle AGAINST AVENGERS. A battle that is Tony’s wrongful fight. He asks Peter to go to Europe behind Aunt May’s back and fight his private war, all because he wants Peter’s power on his team.

Peter Parker has a good heart. He wants to help people and he’s eager to please. But one thing they made abundantly clear with the introduction of this character is that Spiderman is very young. He’s practically a baby compared to most of the superheroes. And, TONY STARK showed up at his house to ask him for help. What would you do?

Peter Parker comes swinging out into that epic Civil War battle (more on this tomorrow) at the airport with the attitude of a kid in a candy store.

“You have a metal arm? Dude! That is so cool!”

He doesn’t comprehend the seriousness of this situation. He doesn’t understand the politics behind it. He hasn’t heard both sides of the story. But he has these powers, and he wants to use them for good; and so, he is here to fight.

The best Spiderman moments in my opinion were his short interchanges with Steve, followed up by the New York exchange. These moments stuck out to me as an open door for audiences to be introduced to an aspect of Peter Parker that I hope will be explored in Spiderman: Homecoming.

All throughout their exchanged blows, Steve is trying to gently ward off Peter by telling him things such as, “You don’t really know what is happening here.” “You’re fighting the wrong fight, kid.” I apologize that I don’t have the exact lines here, I saw the film only once and I was on the edge of my seat during this scene.

What are Peter’s replies to all of Steve’s statements?

“Tony said that you would say that. He said that you think you are doing the right thing, but you’re wrong.” 

Finally, Steve replies with the cherry-on-top line that points out how inexperienced of a superhero Peter is.

“Tony say anything else?”

There. It. Is.

One of the biggest signs of growth and maturity in a person is when they learn to think for themselves. When they learn to ask questions before leaping in. When they are willing to be wrong while also being willing to stand firm on something absolute and true. It’s also important to not let down your guard and give your trust away too easily. Hmm, maybe someone should sign Tony up for this class as well.

Peter Parker hasn’t learned all of this  yet. This knowledge is even more crucial for powerful people such as him, as without it, their power can easily be used for bad purposes. Shame on you, Tony!

But that’s okay, Peter is young and I’ll just bet that he will be eager to grow. He’ll learn to ask questions, to read between the lines, and to trust himself when someone is pushing him to do something that fits their agenda. In the meantime…

“You’ve got heart, kid. Where’re you from?” (Steve, looking both amused and fatherly)

“Queens.” (Spiderman straining to hold up several thousand pounds)

“Brooklyn.” (Steve smiles the ‘kindred spirit’ smile before dashing off)

#newyorkermoment #bigapplebros #justakidfromqueensmeets #justakidfrombrooklyn

I would love to see those two work together again, and I think Steve would as well. He likes a little guy with a big heart and I don’t think he blames Peter one bit. Thus far, the rumors only surround Robert Downey Jr. appearing in Spiderman’s film. Hopefully by then Tony will have grown more himself and can offer more to Peter than a black eye and bruised ribs.

Spiderman’s recruitment and subsequent actions in Civil War are a brilliant way to break ground for his movie coming out next year. He is a raw recruit, but he is already adorable and has the potential to become a fan favorite. I can’t wait to see more of him and I am so glad that he was able pop up in this latest movie. Just like all spiders do, they pop up when you are least expecting them.

What did you think of Spiderman? Did you like his involvement in the movie? Would you have done something different with his character? What are your hopes for his upcoming film?

Other articles on Marvel that you might be interested in- Why The Sokovia Accords Are a Waste of Paper Captain America: Civil War – Parental Review 5 Things We Will Miss About “Agent Carter”

Civil War: Why the Sokovia Accords Are a Waste of Paper

“While many view you as heroes, there are some who prefer the term: vigilante….people are afraid.” (Thaddeus Ross, Civil War)

Of course people are afraid. Why? Because they have people like you running government! You want to know what is terrifying, sir? A world where there are Avenger-free zones because they are buried in red tape and paperwork.

Gen Ross

Ross proceeds in this nauseating scene to slap the Avengers on the hand by showing a video montage of all of their massive “disasters”. Let’s review these disastrous events one by one and look at them objectively from a purely logical standpoint.

New York: An alien invasion led by an adopted magician with a chip on his shoulder. Oh, and a nuclear warhead that was just thrown in for good measure by a “legal” organization, SHIELD aka Hydra. How were the Avengers involved? They were begged, hunted down, and collected from their everyday lives to come and fight a battle they did not create. And they kicked rear, big time! Not only did they destroy the aliens, the portal, and the nuclear warhead, but they also managed to do it with as little destruction and casualties as possible. Sure, go ahead and cry over some broken glass, Ross.

D.C. The Triskellion: This was really Steve, Natasha, and Sam’s baby. What did they do? They discovered that the most evil organization on the face of the earth had grown up inside of SHIELD and was about to come out with a grand gesture: the murder of over 20 million people. But good gracious, Steve, those buildings and hellicarriers cost billions, how dare you drop them into the Potomac?

Sokovia and Ultron: This incident was the closest thing to the kind of horrifying event that Ross infers have been all of the Avenger’s battles. Here, I agree with him that what happened in Sokovia was awful. But that’s not on the Avengers, that is on the one-and-only Tony Stark who made the murder bot in the first place. If you want to blame someone, blame Stark. Don’t you dare make him your poster boy for following the “rules”. Despite it being Tony’s fault, guess what team showed up with the motto no one left behind? Yes, let’s regulate these folks to protect the innocent.

Nigeria and the bomb: This was a tragic event where innocent people died. The Avengers were saddened by the experience, especially Wanda. She tried so hard to not skip a beat; however, humans are not perfect and sometimes we make mistakes. But the very idea of Avengers being given the blame for this incident is so ridiculous it’s embarrassing. Why were they in Nigeria in the first place? An evil villain was planning an attack so that he could steal a biological weapon. I repeat, a biological weapon that could kill millions. And naturally, the Avengers were called in as they are literally the only beings capable of handling this kind of situation. Things got hairy and one of them slipped when she was trying to keep a marketplace and her team leader from blowing up. The real icing on the cake is that these Accords were dreamed up and created by individuals who probably struggle to make it to the gym once a year; and yet, they feel qualified to critique someone who is performing the impossible on a regular basis.

Are these vigilantes? Are they choosing situations based on personal vendettas? Are they going out with no regard for life and consequences to further their agendas? Do they randomly misuse their power to further their own designs?

No, that would be the politicians. They call on the Avengers to perform the impossible and then critique them for not being “perfect”. They cite, “The percentage of conflicts since the introduction of Iron Man, blah, blah, blah.” Crazy and evil people with big tech and big superpowers would have risen up whether there were any Avengers around or not. Maybe the large number of conflicts exist because there were actually some good and powerful people who were available to do the impossible.

Taking away good people’s freedom is an old and foolish concept. Trying to control forces beyond your ability is vain and dangerous. Forcing good people to be regulated more than they need only enables the bad guys.

So why did some good guys choose #teamtony and the Accords? Well, Tony was driven by his guilt for Ultron. Tony is like a pendulum, he reacts and then makes drastic choices out of those reactions. Rhodes; I am not as familiar with him, but where Tony goes, he follows. Vision; Vision is still learning to be less the formal AI and more the human, but he’ll get there. T’Challa only chose #teamtony as the best way to get vengeance on the man he thought killed his father. Black Widow is severely practical, and she saw the Accords as a way to perhaps get back in the good graces of the world (or, at least the projected percentage of the population which according to Ross, “are afraid”.) But Widow is a spy first, and one of the few people she trusts is Steve. When she found out the truth, she had no qualms about switching allegiances. Spiderman? He just did what Tony said. More on that tomorrow. Needless to say, I think the only member of #teamtony who still agreed with the Accords at the end of the movie was Rhodes. But we’ll give him some extra grace because he’s healing from a severe injury and is likely still under the influence of medication.

All of this to point out what many Marvel fans have agreed upon: the Accords are a waste of paper. Feel free to be self-important all that you want, Ross and Co; meanwhile, my back door is always open to any disheveled Avenger. They are welcome to clean up using my good towels and I will happily make them a big breakfast.

As for Ross and Friends, I feel that they need to do something worthwhile with all of the paper they used to print out the Accords. After all, many good and honest trees gave their life for that material. I recommend origami, paper airplanes, or perhaps using the Accords to light a bonfire for s’mores at the large apology cookout you should host for the Avengers.

Tomorrow, more on Spiderman and Steve.