--- title: "Captain America: Civil War" year: 2016 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/captain-america-civil-war" fi1m_score: 74 critics_score: 78 critics_reviews: 19 published: "2026-09-19T11:59:53.104418+00:00" updated: "2026-09-19T11:59:53.456995+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Captain America: Civil War (2016) Directed by Joe Russo, Anthony Russo · 2h 27m · MPA PG-13 · Adventure, Action, Science Fiction **Fi1m score: 74** · Critics 78 from 19 reviews *In a sentence:* Marvel stages a serious debate about oversight, then remembers where it left the airport > The Russo brothers set their heroes against each other over who should be allowed to tell them what to do, and get one of the best action sequences in the series out of it. The question they start with is dropped the moment the punching improves. ## Synopsis Lagos, the present day. Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) leads Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen), Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) and Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) against mercenaries lifting a biological weapon from a laboratory, and when Wanda hurls a bomb clear of a crowded street it goes into an office block instead. The dead are counted on the news. The United Nations draws up the Sokovia Accords, which would put the Avengers under a government panel’s orders, and Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), carrying guilt of his own, signs. Steve will not. Then a bomb goes off at the signing ceremony in Vienna, the security footage points to Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), the brainwashed friend Steve has spent years trying to get back, and Steve sets out to reach him before the police and a newly arrived T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) do. ## Review Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely open their script with a real question. The Avengers have knocked down a good deal of the world by now, and somebody ought to answer for the rubble. Tony Stark thinks that somebody should be a committee. Steve Rogers thinks committees have agendas and he would rather answer to himself. For the first forty minutes *Captain America: Civil War* takes this seriously, and it is a better film for it. Then the argument turns into a fight, and the fight is so good that nobody, on screen or off, remembers what it was about. Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr. carry the first stretch, and they are worth watching. Evans plays Steve as a man who has stopped apologising for being right; he says less than he used to and stands stiller. Downey’s Tony is tired in a way he has not been before, flinching at the word Sokovia, joking to fill silences and then not bothering to finish the joke. Their scenes together are staged as arguments between colleagues who used to like each other, in kitchens and corridors and a glass-walled compound Owen Paterson has designed to look like a well-funded university. Sebastian Stan’s Bucky, meanwhile, says almost nothing and is the reason for nearly everything. The airport is the sequence everyone will tell you about, and they are right. Twelve heroes, two sides, an empty terminal, and nobody actually wanting to kill anybody. Trent Opaloch pulls the camera back and lets us see the whole board, and Jeffrey Ford cuts it so that every pairing gets its beat: Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man riding an arrow, Don Cheadle and Anthony Mackie arguing while flying, Paul Bettany’s Vision drifting through walls looking faintly embarrassed, a chattering teenage Spider-Man who has plainly never been in a fight this size and is having the best day of his life. We grinned through the whole thing like children, because it is a workplace dispute conducted with repulsor blasts, and the jokes land in the same breath as the hits. It is the one time the film’s crowding is an asset rather than a queue. The trouble is what happens on either side of it. The villain, who we will not name, is a quiet man with a plan that requires a great deal of luck and a great many people to behave exactly as he needs them to, and the film cannot find much for him to do but wait. The Accords, having caused all this, are not mentioned again with any conviction. By the end the fight is about a mother, not a mandate; a question about power has been swapped for a grudge, because grudges are easier to film. Henry Jackman’s score does its job with brass and low strings and leaves nothing behind you could hum. Opaloch’s handheld work in the Lagos opening is choppy enough that we lost track of who was hitting whom, and at 147 minutes there are two scenes of people explaining things in rooms for every one of people doing them. Chadwick Boseman is the best of the new arrivals. Judianna Makovsky gives T’Challa a black suit that reads as fabric rather than armour, and Boseman moves in it with a stillness the rest of the cast do not have; he waits, then goes, and the camera waits with him. He is also the only person in the film whose grievance stays the same size from first scene to last, which makes him the only one whose politics we could describe. Anthony and Joe Russo made *Captain America: The Winter Soldier* two years before this, and that film had a shape: a man, a conspiracy, a city. This one has a roster. It is generous and well-drilled and it never quite decides whose story it is telling, and its best scene is the one in which that does not matter. The fight it has been building towards we will not describe, except to say that when it comes the film finally hits as hard as it has been promising, and it hurt more than we expected. That is two sequences out of many. They are enough to fill an evening, provided the genre is already yours. *Fi1m score 74, published 19 September 2026.* ## What the critics say Most critics come away pleased, and several call it the studio’s best film yet. The praise gathers around how many heroes and storylines the film juggles without losing its shape. The falling-out between Steve Rogers and Tony Stark, and Rogers’s loyalty to Bucky Barnes, are credited with giving the fighting real weight, with Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr singled out for carrying it. The airport battle is the sequence most often named as the high point, and the introductions of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man and Black Panther are widely welcomed. The reservations are mostly small: several reviews find it overlong, Radio Times thinks the villain weaker than earlier Marvel antagonists, and Sight and Sound says the action grows repetitive. The sharper dissent concerns substance. The New Yorker treats the oversight debate as an excuse for spectacle, and Slant Magazine argues the enjoyable fights undercut the film’s own theme of collateral damage. The spread runs from five stars at The Telegraph to Slant’s dismissal, but the bulk sits firmly in approval. ### Reviews we read (19) - **The Telegraph**, Robbie Collin (5/5): This is Marvel's peak, a film that invests deeply in its characters as a long-form drama and delivers emotional payoffs alongside spectacular action. It has pin-precise tone control and faith in its heroes, making for the ultimate superhero showdown. [Read](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2016/04/20/captain-america-civil-war-is-marvels-best-film-so-far---review/) - **Empire**, Dan Jolin (90/100, inferred): The critic calls it the best Marvel Studios movie yet for its skillful juggling of multiple characters and their arcs while advancing the overall continuity. It singles out the emotional core of Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes' friendship, along with the smart handling of the central conflict without a conventional supervillain. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/captain-america-civil-war-review/) - **Screen Daily** (90/100, inferred): The review describes the film as a gargantuan, well-paced entertainment that balances spectacle with emotional resonance and character-driven storytelling. It highlights the confident juggling of multiple superheroes and the plot's legitimate stakes. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/captain-america-civil-war-review/5102527.article) - **Variety**, Justin Chang (90/100, inferred): This is the most mature and substantive Marvel Cinematic Universe film yet, with dramatic coherence, thematic unity, and inventive action that shows restraint. The sibling directors and writers demonstrate the benefits of continuity in the franchise. [Read](https://variety.com/2016/film/reviews/captain-america-civil-war-review-1201752643/) - **Total Film**, Jordan Farley (85/100, inferred): The critic describes it as the superhero slugfest the summer deserved and up there with the best of Marvel, praising the emotional stakes, inventive airport battle, and Tom Holland's Spider-Man stealing scenes. It highlights how the film explores the cost of the Avengers' actions meaningfully while delivering fun, character-driven action. [Read](https://www.gamesradar.com/captain-america-civil-war-review/) - **Film Comment**, Michael Sragow (80/100, inferred): The critic finds the film solid, engrossing, and inspired, delivering taut storytelling and legitimate drama rather than just setpieces. They single out the introduction of Black Panther and the strong ensemble performances, especially Downey and Evans, for particular praise. [Read](https://www.filmcomment.com/deep-focus-captain-america-civil-war/) - **Radio Times**, Jeremy Aspinall (★★★★): The critic praises the thumping, well-choreographed action and strong performances from Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr. in the hero-vs-hero slugfest, while noting the villain feels weaker than prior MCU antagonists. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movies/captain-america-civil-war-review-thumping-action-comes-thick-and-fast-in-this-stupendous-slugfest/) - **Time Out**, Tom Huddleston (4/5): The review celebrates the film's joy, humor, and well-crafted character conflicts alongside spectacular action, calling it Marvel at their best. It singles out Tom Holland's Spider-Man introduction as one of the series' sweetest scenes. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/captain-america-civil-war) - **Sight and Sound**, Kim Newman (70/100, inferred): The critic finds the film prioritizes emotional depth in its central conflict over pure spectacle, making it superior to similar superhero showdowns like Batman v Superman through strong character work. Action sequences are effective but eventually repetitive. [Read](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/captain-america-civil-war-review) - **The Guardian**, Peter Bradshaw (70/100, inferred): The film delivers entertaining mayhem as Avengers split over government oversight, with engaging action and a twisty plot involving betrayal. It is a tasty but insubstantial snack that gets upstaged in places by its ensemble but remains fun overall. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/apr/20/captain-america-civil-war-review-an-aspartame-rush) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, Sheri Linden (70/100, inferred): The critic finds the film overlong but surprisingly light on its feet, delivering fan-thrilling goods with strong action sequences and character contrasts, especially between Steve Rogers and Tony Stark. It singles out the winning introductions of Black Panther and a new Spider-Man for praise. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/captain-america-civil-war-film-882017/) - **The New York Times**, A.O. Scott (70/100, inferred): The film is a crowded but reasonably enjoyable Avengers installment that succeeds by not trying to transcend genre conventions. The airport battle stands out as the most entertaining sequence due to its relatively low stakes and inventive spectacle. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/06/movies/captain-america-civil-war-review-chris-evans.html) - **The New Yorker**, Anthony Lane (60/100, inferred): The movie reduces the Avengers to a group of enhanced individuals squabbling over UN oversight, leading to a team-vs-team fight that serves as an excuse for spectacle rather than genuine political depth. It features clever cameos but feels like a collection of trailers for future films. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/05/16/the-lobster-and-captain-america-civil-war) - **Slant Magazine**, Jake Cole (30/100, inferred): The review notes that the fun of the action scenes exacerbates the failure of the narrative to adequately contend with its own themes of collateral damage and oversight. It praises the set pieces and character-specific combat choreography but criticizes how the story devolves into hero preference fights and uses personal loss to motivate characters. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/captain-america-civil-war/) - **Collider**, Matt Goldberg (A): The critic praises the film as a tremendous feat that undermines its superheroes to humanize them, balancing personal conflicts with spectacular action, and notes both sides of the divide have merit. [Read](https://collider.com/captain-america-civil-war-review/) - **Den of Geek**, Don Kaye (4.5/5): The critic calls it one of the top MCU films, an epic yet intimate tale that juggles multiple storylines and character responsibilities successfully. They single out the careful introductions of Spider-Man and Black Panther, along with the emotional weight of the hero-vs-hero conflict, for praise. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/comics/captain-america-civil-war-review/) - **/Film**, Ethan Anderton (90/100, inferred): The critic calls it a sharp, astounding, action-packed summer blockbuster and the kind of superhero movie you've been waiting to see your whole life, praising the organized handling of a busy story and the best action sequence Marvel has ever created in the airport battle. The performances of Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr. are singled out as the heart of the film, along with the organic introduction of Black Panther. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/543812/captain-america-civil-war-review/) - **The Ringer**, Alison Herman (80/100, inferred): The review highlights how Civil War addresses superhero genre issues through its conflict, atones for previous MCU missteps with better character handling and levity, and positions Marvel as adaptable and nimble. [Read](https://www.theringer.com/2016/05/11/movies/marvels-self-aware-superhero-machine-ff47640676b) - **The Wrap**, Dave White (70/100, inferred): The film is a satisfying sequel that moves the Avengers to battle each other in service of exploring superhero responsibility and accountability for collateral damage. It balances serious-minded action with character relationships and fun, centered on Evans' empathetic performance as Cap. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/captain-america-civil-war-review-mcu/) ## Details - **Director:** Joe Russo, Anthony Russo - **Director:** Joe Russo, Anthony Russo - **Screenplay:** Stephen McFeely, Christopher Markus - **Cinematography:** Trent Opaloch - **Editor:** Jeffrey Ford - **Music:** Henry Jackman - **Production design:** Owen Paterson - **Costume design:** Judianna Makovsky - **Producer:** Kevin Feige - **Cast:** Chris Evans as Steve Rogers / Captain America; Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark / Iron Man; Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow; Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier; Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson / Falcon; Don Cheadle as Lieutenant James Rhodes / War Machine; Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton / Hawkeye; Chadwick Boseman as T'Challa / Black Panther - **Runtime:** 2h 27m - **Certificate (MPA):** PG-13 - **Release (the US):** 6 May 2016 - **Genres:** Adventure, Action, Science Fiction - **Budget:** $250 million - **Box office:** $1.16 billion - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKrVegVI0Us ## Where to watch in the US - Disney+: streaming, uhd - Amazon Prime Video: rent $3.99, uhd - Apple TV: rent $5.99, hd - Apple TV: buy $19.99, hd - Amazon Prime Video: buy $19.99, uhd *Checked 2026-09-19.* Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HR, HU, IE, IL, IN, IS, IT, JP, KR, LT, MX, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, SI, TR, UA, US, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## Awards - Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Movie 2017: Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Movie (nominated) - Teen Choice Award for Best Villain 2016: Teen Choice Award for Best Villain (nominated) - Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor - Sci-Fi/Fantasy 2016: Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor - Sci-Fi/Fantasy (won) - Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actress - Sci-Fi/Fantasy 2016: Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actress - Sci-Fi/Fantasy (nominated) - Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie: Chemistry 2016: Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie: Chemistry (nominated) - Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie: Liplock 2016: Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie: Liplock (nominated) - Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Scene Stealer 2016: Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Scene Stealer (nominated) - Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie - Sci-Fi/Fantasy 2016: Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie - Sci-Fi/Fantasy (won) ## If you liked this - *Captain America: The Winter Soldier* (2014), Fi1m 77: The Russos’ earlier film, with one story, one city and a shape this one lacks. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/captain-america-the-winter-soldier.md) - *Unbreakable* (2000), Fi1m 81: A superhero film that stays with its question long after most would have started punching. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/unbreakable.md) - *The Incredibles* (2004), Fi1m 88: Heroes outlawed for collateral damage, and a family argument staged as an action film. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-incredibles.md) - *The Raid* (2011), Fi1m 83: Indonesian fight choreography so clear it makes most studio brawls look like weather. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-raid.md) - *Mission: Impossible – Fallout* (2018), Fi1m 87: For anyone who liked the airport and wanted two more hours of readable mayhem. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/mission-impossible-fallout.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/captain-america-civil-war