Captain America: Civil War (5 Stars)

As most of my readers know, Chadwick Boseman died of cancer two days ago, aged 43. It was a shock to everyone, because he kept his illness secret for years. When I saw it reported on the BBC website yesterday morning, my first reaction was disbelief. I even suspected it of being a hoax. How can someone so young and (seemingly) so fit die so suddenly?

Since he's best known for his role as the Black Panther in four of the MCU films, I've decided to watch at least two of them to remember him, maybe all four. I haven't decided yet.

The Black Panther is a character who was first invented by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, appearing in Fantastic Four #52 in July 1966. He became a member of the Avengers in Avengers #52 (May 1968), while Roy Thomas was the regular writer, but it wasn't until September 1973 that he was presented as a true African super-hero. The unknown young writer Don McGregor started to write solo adventures of the Black Panther in Jungle Action #6 which took place in his homeland of Wakanda, not in America. Readers consider the 13-part Panther's Rage story (Jungle Action #6 to #18) to be one of the best stories ever published by Marvel.

Chadwick Boseman is the living representation of the Black Panther as we see him in the Panther's Rage story. He's strong, he's noble, but above all else he's African. This is most obvious in his solo film, "Black Panther", that I'll be watching tomorrow. "Civil War" is an outstanding action film, but "Black Panther" is an African film.

Chadwick Boseman
November 29, 1976 – August 28, 2020

Success Rate:  + 2.6

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Captain America: Civil War (5 Stars)

This is the 13th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, released in May 2016. Despite being called a Captain America film, it has so many of the Avengers in it that it could be called an Avengers film. There's no Thor or Hulk, but there are 12 super-heroes, of which seven are Avengers (Captain America, Falcon, Iron Man, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, Vision), three are new characters (Black Panther, Spider-Man, Ant-Man), one is a former enemy (Winter Soldier) and one who's a government soldier (War Machine). Call it whatever you like. It's a great film.

And then there's Stan Lee.

This is another film in which Stan Lee appears late, almost as an after-thought after the action is over, though not as late as in "Ant-Man". He appears three minutes from the end as a FedEx delivery man with a package for Tony Stark, which he mispronounces as "Tony Stank". We only see him for four seconds, but every moment that he spends on screen is glorious.

There are two new characters, or at least they're new to the MCU. The first is the Black Panther, King T'Challa of Wakanda. To be precise, in the picture above he's still Prince T'Challa, because his father hasn't yet died.

The other new character is Spider-Man. Long months of negotiation were needed to get him into the film. The MCU films are created by Marvel Studios, a subsidiary of Walt Disney, but the rights to Spider-Man in film were sold to Sony many years ago.

A character who unexpectedly returns is General Thunderbolt Ross, who we last saw as the Hulk's nemesis in "The Incredible Hulk". He's gained more power by retiring from the army and moving into politics. He's now the US Secretary of State. He fits well into his new role. He's someone who's always mistrusted super-powered beings, so if he can't destroy them he at least wants to contain them. He's a key figure in the creation of the Sokovia Accords, a document restricting super-heroes like the Avengers. Rather than act on their own initiative the Avengers will only be allowed to act if instructed by the United Nations.

The reason for this is that the Avengers have been blamed for hundreds of deaths caused in Sokovia in "Avengers: Age of Ultron". That's obviously stupid, but it's no less stupid than what real world politicians say every day. Did General Ross forget that Ultron was planning to drop Sokovia from the sky with an impact great enough to destroy all life on Earth? The Avengers saved billions of lives, and now they're being punished for the few hundred that perished as collateral damage in their battle with Ultron? If the Avengers had already signed the Sokovia Accords they would still have been sitting in America waiting for the United Nations to reach a decision when the Earth ceased to exist.

A question I didn't deal with when writing about "Age of Ultron" is where Sokovia is located. It's a fictional country, so it can't be pinpointed precisely, but an important clue is a statue that we briefly see in the background.

The statue is identical to the statue of Robert Peel in London, but the plaque at its base gives more information.

The plaque honours Prince Constantine of Imereti, a prince of Georgia. This identifies Sokovia as a micro-country that has broken away from Georgia, placing it somewhere near the East of the Black Sea.

Of course, this might be a red herring planted by the directors when they created the fictional city-state as a patchwork of scenery and townscapes from all over Europe.

We met Ant-Man in the last MCU film, but here we see the other side of his character. He can't just shrink, he can also grow in size, increasing his strength in the process. He's strong enough to tear an aeroplane apart. Or should I call it an airplane? I normally avoid Americanisms, but the American word has become very common in England in recent years.

It's no coincidence that the camera shows Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff against the background of the church stained windows. The cameramen must have been crawling on the floor to get these upward shots. Is it supposed to suggest that the two have divine qualities?

Natasha Romanoff (codename Black Widow) and Clint Barton (codename Hawkeye) might have been close friends while they worked together at SHIELD, but now they're on opposite sides. Natasha signed the Sokovia Accords, Clint didn't. Their consciences have separated them, but once again: how could any of the Avengers have signed the Accords? Isn't it obvious that the whole reasoning behind the Accords is flawed?

Wanda Maximoff's powers have very little in common with the Scarlet Witch created by Stan Lee in 1964. Is she even a mutant? She doesn't call herself Scarlet Witch, as if she hasn't yet accepted that she's a super-hero.

Tony Stark has gone from one extreme to the other. In "Age of Ultron" he was still trying to go it alone by creating an intelligent robot or android to keep peace on Earth. Now he's decided to submit to the control of the United Nations and General Ross. It's his bad conscience affecting him, but if he'd been more stable he would only have modified his plans rather than rejecting them completely.

The Vision was created by Roy Thomas in October 1968 and rapidly became a fan favourite. Fans were touched by his philosophic musings and his struggle to become human. At the time of publication Roy Thomas was accused of basing the character on Star Trek's Spock, which he strongly denied. In a way, the Vision was the opposite of Spock. Spock was a Vulcan-human hybrid who was always fighting to suppress any emotions he felt. The Vision was an artificial being without emotions, but he tried to learn emotions to make himself more human. The Vision has more similarity with the android Data who didn't appear in "Star Trek: The Next Generation" until 1987.

I have difficulty deciding which Captain America film I like more, "Winter Soldier" or "Civil War". They're my two favourite films in the MCU so far, but they're very different. "Winter Soldier" has the atmosphere of a spy thriller, whereas "Civil War" is a high octane action film throughout. They're both masterpieces, each in their own way. I find it difficult to understand why "Black Panther" was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Film but "Civil War" wasn't. I'll never understand the mentality of serious film critics.

Success Rate:  + 2.6

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Iron Man 3 (4½ Stars)

This is the seventh film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, released in May 2013. The sixth film, "The Avengers", was the end of the first phase of the MCU. All the main characters were introduced in the first phase. Now there are new films about each of these characters, except for the Hulk. His solo film was the only financial failure in the MCU so far.

Stan Lee plays a cameo as a judge in a beauty contest. We only see him for 2½ seconds, but he seems to be overly excited by one of the contestants. I wonder what's so special about her. Maybe he reacts the same way to all of the girls? I've never been a big fan of beauty contests. The girls considered beautiful are always too thin for me. They're not as bad as the anorexic models who do silly walks at fashion shows, but they rarely have the big breasts and the big butts that I prefer.

As far as actresses go, Ai Shinozaki is the most beautiful woman I know. She has a perfect hourglass figure. Curiously, she's said in interviews that she doesn't consider herself attractive. Women are weird. Some women, anyway. They look at themselves in the mirror and see flaws, but the men who look at them just say Wow! If Stan Lee had seen her in the beauty contest he would have been too excited to hold up his score card.

I've been promising my readers an Ai Shinozaki gallery for more than a year. Here's another photo to keep you happy until I finally keep my promise.

"Iron Man 3" introduces the Mandarin, Iron Man's deadliest foe from the comics. Unfortunately, he's only a fake Mandarin, an actor hired by AIM to be the face of global terrorism. That was a big disappointment to me when I first saw the film in the cinema. I've gotten over it now, after hearing that the real Mandarin will appear in a future Iron Man film.

What makes the fake Mandarin even more tragic in my eyes is the fact that the actor Ben Kingsley looks perfect as the Mandarin. He looks just like the comic book character. Who can possibly be chosen to play the real Mandarin?

What's remarkable about "Iron Man 3" is that Tony Stark spends more than half of the film doing battle without his suit. There's a 45 minute sequence in the middle when his suit is damaged after AIM destroys his house, and there's about 20 minutes at the end of the film in which the Iron Man suits fly around under remote control while Tony chases the AIM leader Aldrich Killian with a gun. This emphasises that the real hero is the man himself, not the Iron Man suit.

For most of the film Tony Stark is suffering from anxiety attacks after flying through a portal into a far distant galaxy at the end of "The Avengers". This is rounded off by an unusual after credits scene in which Tony Stark is talking to Bruce Banner as if he were a psychiatrist.

Success Rate:  + 4.1

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I've been adding my little box with links to Amazon since 2016, but I've recently noticed problems when I click on them. Some links are broken, because the products I've linked to are no longer on sale. Even worse, some DVDs are out of print and are only available from Amazon Marketplace sellers for exaggerated prices. For instance, the Blu-ray disc that I recommended from Amazon.com in my last review of "Iron Man 3" now costs $49.99. Ouch! The triple pack of Iron Man 1–3 in the box for this review is only $24.99. Much better. I can't go back and change the links of old reviews, but I recommend that my readers check prices before they buy.

I've started to take more time to watch the television series I'm interested in. Until further notice I'm going to watch a maximum of one film each day, with the exception of film festivals. I'll use my additional time to watch one or move television episodes each day. Yesterday I watched six episodes of "Supergirl", today I watched three episodes of "Agents of SHIELD". It's a long-standing problem with me and television series. There's so much that I want to watch, but since I give films priority I have so little time.

The Avengers (5 Stars)

This is the sixth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, released in May 2012. It finally unites all of the Avengers to battle Loki and an alien race called the Chitauri. The members of the Avengers are:

Iron Man – first seen in "Iron Man" (2008)

Thor – first seen in "Thor" (2011)

Hulk – first seen in "Incredible Hulk" (2008)

Captain America – first seen in "Captain America" (2011)

Black Widow – first seen as a supporting character in "Iron Man 2" (2010)

Hawkeye – first seen as an unnamed supporting character in "Thor" (2011)

Whoever first conceived the slow, steady build up to the release of "The Avengers" is a marketing genius. Was it Avi Arad? Was it Kevin Feige? Was it someone else? It was an ambitious plan to map out a series of 22 films from 2008 to 2019.

Maybe the original plan wasn't for exactly 22 films. The first film ("Iron Man") and the last film (the as yet unreleased final battle between the Avengers and Thanos) were planned, but the route between the two points has been changed on the way. Iron Man was more popular than expected, which is the reason a second Iron Man film was released so soon. Another change concerned Spider-Man. It wasn't agreed until 2015 that he could appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Stan Lee has a 4½ second cameo at the end of the film. After the Chitauri have been defeated there are a series of television interviews showing the public's reaction. Stan Lee appears as a sceptic sitting in the park playing chess with a man who looks suspiciously like Ian McKellen. The words he speaks are

"Superheroes in New York? Give me a break!"

How many people recognise the irony in this interview? There's a subtle in-joke that only fans of the early Marvel comics would recognise. In the early 1960's DC Comics were the market leaders in superhero comics. All of the DC heroes were located in fictional American cities, for instance Batman lived in Gotham City, Superman lived in Metropolis, the Flash lived in Central City, Green Lantern lived in Coast City. When Stan Lee began to write superhero comics in 1961 he didn't want his stories to be set in a far distant Marvel Universe, he wanted them to be accessible by being set here in our own world. With the exception of the Hulk (New Mexico), all of his superheroes lived in New York. That's the real meaning of the ironic interview in the park. Until 1961 it was considered impossible that superheroes could be in New York. Then Stan Lee changed history by putting dozens of superheroes in the middle of a city that everyone knows and can relate to.

Here are the six members of the Avengers staring upwards at the Chitauri attack. If you can't name them all you have to stay behind after school and watch all the MCU films. Although that's not much of a punishment. I would consider it a reward.

Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff aren't referred to by their customary superhero names. They're called Agent Barton and Agent Romanoff, since they're both members of SHIELD.

We see them called Hawkeye and Black Widow on a computer screen in the SHIELD helicarrier. This is the only time Clint Barton is called Hawkeye in the film, although on one occasion he's called the Hawk. Natasha Romanoff states early on that she carried out a mission with the codename Black Widow, but it's not used as her standard name.

In this film Phil Coulson was killed by Loki. That was a mistake. The fan backlash was immense. He had to be brought back from the dead for the TV series "Agents of SHIELD". They did it in a much too complicated way. They could merely have said that Phil Coulson was revived in medical treatment shortly after Loki's attack, but Nick Fury didn't tell the Avengers because he wanted to motivate them.

Loki is the best film villain ever, with Magneto a close second. Yes, Loki is evil, yes, Loki is a murderer, but he's still so cool and charismatic that it's impossible not to like him. That's what makes a villain good. Clear-cut confrontations between black and white are boring. Interesting heroes are ones with flaws, and interesting villains are ones we can admire or feel sorry for.

Success Rate:  + 4.9

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Iron Man 2 (4½ Stars)

This is the third film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, released in May 2010. Stan Lee's cameo is disappointingly short. We only see him for 1¾ seconds. He's playing the role of Larry King. I can see the similarity. Everyone is applauding him. Is it because they love Larry King or Stan Lee? It must be the latter, because I couldn't imagine people being excited about seeing Larry King.

"Iron Man 2" takes place about six months after the first film, which ended with the shocking words "I am Iron Man". For me as a Marvel fan those words are shocking, because they were never spoken in the original comics. There are even reporters mocking the story that Iron Man is Tony Stark's bodyguard, even though that's the story that Stan Lee wrote. It's disrespectful to speak badly of Stan Lee's stories. I mean the major plotlines of his stories. I'm honest enough to admit that Stan had his bad days, such as when he wrote the wedding story in Fantastic Four Annual #3. That must be the worst story he ever wrote, unless he intended it to be a parody. As a parody I could just about accept it.

The villain in the film is Ivan Vanko, a Russian scientist who has built a suit similar to Iron Man's. A lot of reviewers – including me, unfortunately – have called him Whiplash, connecting him to the Marvel Comics villain with this name. That's not correct. When the film was made Marvel knew people would complain about the non-canon nature of the character, so they hurriedly wrote a four-part mini-series, "Iron Man vs Whiplash", for fans to read before they went to the cinema.

I disagree with such tactics, but I still enjoyed the character in the film. Mickey Rourke plays the character perfectly, with an attitude that could have given him a place in the early Marvel stories. Maybe he could have been just a touch more corny. Maybe he could have shouted "I am Whiplash" in response to Tony Stark's televised confession.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is advanced by the introduction of the Black Widow, even though she doesn't use that name yet. She's only referred to by her real name, Natasha Romanoff. Don't you think it's about time she had her own solo film?

The ever-smiling Phil Coulson also returns. I don't know what it is about him that's so appealing. His immaculate suit and tie, combined with his neat hair, annoy me, and yet I still like him. He's so square that he's cool.

Nick Fury gives Tony Stark the eye. That's creepy!

In the after-credits scene a hammer is discovered in the desert in New Mexico, and Phil Coulson is sent to investigate it. It's Thor's hammer, of course, but nobody knows. My question is simply, why all the fuss? People uncover old junk all the time, some of it valuable, most of it not, so what's the big deal about a hammer? It would only be worth sending government agencies to retrieve it if they knew it's Thor's hammer, which they don't.

I was about to end this post when I realised that I've written a review of an Iron Man film without including a picture of Iron Man. Here you go! Are you happy now?

Success Rate:  + 1.1

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Iron Man (4½ Stars)

Stan Lee said that this was his favourite cameo. It's a non-speaking role, only five seconds long, but there's something special about it. Tony Stark walks into a party and sees a man with his back to him that he greets with the words "You look great, Hef". When the man turns round we see that it's Stan. What the scene means is open to interpretation. Maybe it was Stan Lee himself, and Tony Stark mistook him for Hugh Hefner. Maybe Stan Lee was playing the part of Hugh Hefner. In a deleted scene (available on my Blu-ray disc) Tony apologises for his mistake, to which Stan replies "That's okay, I get this all the time". That would have removed the ambiguity. I believe the director removed this line of dialogue because he wanted to leave it open for the fans.

"Iron Man" is the film that kicked off the series of Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films, way back in May 2008. It was a brilliant marketing strategy that other film franchises are jealous of. It was all building up to the Avengers. The team members were introduced one by one in a series of films, and finally they were placed together. The MCU films are built on continuity, which was the strength of the 1960's Marvel comics. The same actors played the same characters from film to film, with only two notable exceptions:

Edward Norton played the Hulk in his MCU solo film, but he was replaced by Mark Ruffalo in "The Avengers". Supposedly Norton didn't want to be tied to one character for years, but if he hadn't wanted that he should never have taken the role in the first place. It's also the fault of the producers for not making him sign a contract that specified a minimum number of films.

Terrence Howard played James Rhodes in "Iron Man", but he was replaced by Don Cheadle in the subsequent films. The reason for this is well documented. He was too greedy. He was the highest paid actor in "Iron Man" with a salary of $4.5 million. For "Iron Man 2" he was only offered one million dollars. The reason was that Robert Downey Jr was still a relatively unknown actor when the first film was made, but he became famous as Iron Man and could demand more money for the second film, so Howard's salary had to be reduced to stay within the budget. Terrence Howard walked out, meaning the studio had to scramble to find a replacement actor. He didn't reckon with the consequences of his actions. Before "Iron Man" he was being paid between one and two million dollars per film. After refusing to appear in "Iron Man 2" he was never offered more than $500,000 for films, and most offers were closer to $60,000. Within a few years he was earning so little that he had to accept parts in television series. I'm not saying he's a bad actor; he's a very good actor. To be honest, I'm surprised at the reaction. Hollywood is ruled by greed, so why was Terrence Howard picked out as the one to be punished?

"Iron Man" has a lot in its favour. Despite being moved from the 1960's to the present, the story is faithful to the comics. If you don't believe me, read Tales Of Suspense #39 (March 1963) for yourself. Tony Stark is the same millionaire playboy (maybe a billionaire, due to inflation). He's an erratic genius. The only real change in his personality is that in the comics he continued to manufacture weapons, whereas in the film he turns pacifist. That's a sign of the times. In the 1960's Americans like Stan Lee believed that peace could only be achieved by force. Today people are more naive and think that peace can be achieved by negotiation. I'm glad that Adolf Hitler isn't alive today, otherwise pacifist leaders would be negotiating non-stop while he marched across Europe.

I don't consider Robert Downey Jr to be a good actor, but he was born to play the role of Tony Stark. He's an actor who can only play himself, but this "himself" fits the role of Tony Stark perfectly. It's like he jumps out of the pages of the comics.

One character who seems to have been born by accident is SHIELD agent Phil Coulson, played by Clark Gregg. He never appeared in the comics. He was only introduced into the films as a minor character running errands for Nick Fury. I don't think that the producers realised how popular he was until the fans complained when he was killed in "The Avengers". He had to be brought back. He had to be given bigger roles. He was made the lead character in the MCU television series "Agents of SHIELD".

The music in "Iron Man" shouldn't be underestimated. Tony Stark is a rock music fan, and this is shown in the film's soundtrack. There's no namby-pamby rap or r&b. That's all that today's generation of weaklings can handle. Tony Stark is a strong, hard-hitting man, and he likes powerful music. The film starts with AC/DC and ends with Black Sabbath.

This film also introduces one of the most important features of the MCU films: the after-credits scenes. Almost all of the films have a scene after the credits, of varying length and importance. These scenes are intended as a hook to introduce following films. Mostly. "Iron Man" has an example of a good after-credits scene. Nick Fury speaks to Tony Stark about forming a group called the Avengers.

Success Rate:  + 2.2

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Captain America: Civil War (5 Stars)

I saw this film in the cinema in May last year, and I voted it the third best film of the year. Watching it again today I'm asking myself whether I should have rated it the best film of the year. The Russo brothers, Anthony and Joe, have captured the essence of super-hero comics even more accurately than Joss Whedon. They've already been named as the directors for the next two Avengers films, which can only be good news.

The film is very loosely based on a mini-series published by Marvel in 2006. In the comics all super-heroes on Earth had to make the decision whether to register with the United Nations or not. In the film it's only a decision that has to be made by the Avengers.

The film's premise is rather foolish, but it's typical of the foolishness in everyday politics. It's more typical of the reasoning of third world countries than big nations. Basically, the thoughts are:

1. An evil person (or group) threatens to kill many people.

2. The Avengers battle against the evil person to save people.

3. The Avengers defeat the evil person, but they don't save everyone.

4. The Avengers are blamed for the deaths of the people they couldn't save.

This is absolute nonsense. If the Avengers had never been involved millions might have died. Because they were involved only a few hundreds were killed. Why should they be blamed? There's only one possible answer: prejudice. The Avengers are a symbol of America. Over the last few decades America has repeatedly battled against countries with evil leaders, such as Iraq and Saddam Hussein. In their attacks civilians were killed as collateral damage. Even though the American involvement saved thousands of lives people blame America for the deaths of a few dozen civilians and say America should never have got involved. The people who make these accusations are so prejudiced in their anti-Americanism that they don't realise how stupid their arguments are.

But getting back to the film, the Avengers have been asked to submit themselves to the United Nations Security Council. Rather than deciding for themselves, the Avengers will be required to go into action only when the Security Council asks them to. This will be effectively never. The UN Security Council is too weak to act because any of the five major members can veto any resolution. Most commonly it's Russia and the USA who veto resolutions they consider to be opposed to their national interests. Because of the self-centredness of the world's two major powers the United Nations can rarely make decisions.

Tony Stark (Iron Man) agrees that the Avengers should submit to the will of the United Nations. Steve Rogers (Captain America) says that the Avengers should be allowed to make their own decisions. The other Avengers take one side or the other, dividing them into two teams of Avengers that fight against one another. These are the best filmed battles in the Marvel Cinematic Universe so far. Once more I praise the Russo brothers for their skill as directors.

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The Avengers (5 Stars)

If "Thor" made me think that Tom Hiddleston is one of the best actors alive today, "The Avengers" (aka "Avengers Assemble" aka "Marvel's The Avengers" aka "Marvel Avengers Assemble") has confirmed it. It's a tribute to his acting talent that even though he was the bad guy I wanted him to win.

Isn't he the coolest bad guy ever? That subtle grin is so disarming.

He even looks cool in that silly hat.

But please spare some sympathy for our heroes. Saving the world is hard work.

Yes, I know I haven't written much about the film today. Do I need to? It was the most successful film of 2012, and the fifth most successful film ever. Does anyone still need convincing to watch it?

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