Civil War – Nerds on Earth https://nerdsonearth.com The best place on earth for nerds. Mon, 29 Jun 2020 23:10:16 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://nerdsonearth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/cropped-nerds_head_thumb2-100x100.png Civil War – Nerds on Earth https://nerdsonearth.com 32 32 All the podcasts from NerdsonEarth.com, under one umbrella. We create short run podcasts for nerds, covering D&D, Marvel, Starfinder, and more! You vote for your favorite shows and they just might get a second season. Civil War – Nerds on Earth false episodic Civil War – Nerds on Earth jason.sansbury@nerdsonearth.com podcast All the podcasts from NerdsonEarth.com, the best place on Earth for nerds. Civil War – Nerds on Earth https://nerdsonearth.com/wp-content/uploads/powerpress/noe-podcast-logo.png https://nerdsonearth.com/blog/ Let’s Talk Hamilton, Captain America, and Heaven Help Us, 2020 American politics. https://nerdsonearth.com/2020/06/captain-america-civil-war-hamilton/ Tue, 30 Jun 2020 12:00:00 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=31682

The politics of Captain America: Civil War: It's almost as if Iron Man was quoting directly from Hamilton the Musical and the Federalist Papers.

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Listen, I feel it too. It’s a tightness in our chests that is coming from the politics of the last few years. It’s scandal after scandal. Even 3 minutes on Facebook or Twitter threatens to turn you either into the Hulk or a sobbing gelatinous blob, so you instead become numb to it all.

We’re all dreadfully, painfully, wearingly tired of our current political discourse. But I’m hoping you can stay with me for just 800 more words, because Captain America: Civil War can help us understand our current politics by calling back to the politics surrounding America’s Revolutionary.

To do that, we need to dig into Hamilton the Musical. But the timing on that is ideal, as it is being released on Disney+ on July 3, 2020. (View trailer.)

Captain America civil war comic and movie comparison
The comic vs the movie

Did Hamilton the Musical SPOIL the Script for Captain America: Civil War?

Like it or not, politics are often presented through pop culture, and comics have been no different. In fact, Stan Lee’s Soapbox often discussed the politics of the day in clear, direct, and uncompromising terms. So it’s not surprising that a movie such as Captain America: Civil War or a musical such as Hamilton has on-the-nose political theming. 

First, let’s learn some nitty-gritty history. Between the years 1787-1789, statesmen like James Madison and Alexander Hamilton supported the proposed Constitution of the United States and were called Federalists

They published The Federalist Papers, which documented the tenets of this early federalist political movement in an effort to promote the proposed Constitution and push it toward adoption. This is all covered impressively in Hamilton the Musical, and if you haven’t been able to get tickets to that, you’ll have to listen or catch it on Disney+.

The Federalist Papers were written because the authors believed in a strong and effective central government. Inspired by philosopher Thomas Hobbes, the Federalists aligned lockstep with the Hobbesian view of a social need for government. 

This is important to note, as the Federalist view argues that the only way to secure a civil and just society is through willing submission to a set of checks and balances, which would provide a counter-balance to the self-centered nature of human beings. Accountability for the greater good, in other words.

If you can’t fully recall the movie, Captain America: Civil War begins with some nice explosions and punch ’em ups, then quickly begins to focus on the Sokovia Accords, which is an international agreement to provide oversight and accountability to superpowered individuals. A set of checks and balances, in other words.

The Avengers were torn on the Sokovia Accords and their disagreement split the Avengers into two groups. Iron Man signed the Federalist Papers Sokovia Accords, hoping that submission to accountability would preserve trust among the world’s population, who has begun to see the Avengers as dangerous because of heavy civilian casualties.

Iron Man was chastened by the events in Avengers: Age of Ultron and was willing to submit to increased accountability and oversight. The drafter of the Accords, General Ross, spoke of the danger of superpowered individuals and the need for accountability: “If I lost a 30 megaton nuclear bomb, there would be consequences.”

Captain America civil war teams
Are you Team Tony or Team Cap?

But Captain America, using very Libertarian language, was adamant that sacrificing any freedom to the government creates bureaucracy or potential corruption that could undermine their ability to protect the people who needed them.

Iron Man could be seen to represent the Federalist belief that a strong central government is essential to preserving the trust and the will of the people. Captain America, on the other hand, represents other figures of American history.

There were Anti-Federalists in 1786, who were led by Patrick Henry of Virginia and Aaron Burr of New Jersey, among others, and they published their own papers, the appropriately named Anti-Federalist Papers. The Anti-Federalists wanted more power to the states as they feared that the presidency would drift into a monarchy.

The Anti-Federalists argued that when people lost any freedoms, it allowed the government to be masters of the people. Captain America says to Tony, “If we surrender, we give up our right to choose.” The Anti-Federalists rejected any idea in which individuals lost their voices.

Iron Man attempted to reason the importance of accountability and oversight, echoing the words of Thomas Hobbes, Alexander Hamilton, and the other Federalists. Indeed, Iron Man’s rationale resonated so well with these early Federalist ideals that one would certainly think this part of history was included in the writer’s research as the screenplay was being written. At the very least, the writers must have listened to Hamilton the Musical!

History shows that Alexander Hamilton responded to the Anti-Federalist arguments, offering assurances that the new nation described by the Constitution would indeed fully represent individuals despite its size and centralized structure. (Think: Individual voting, First Amendment, Bill of Rights, etc.) But says Tony, “If we can’t accept [some limitations], we’re no better than the bad guys.”

While there weren’t any pistol duels in Captain America: Civil War, there was some popcorn-worthy punching in the movie, and I’m thankful for that. In fact, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison predicted this conflict way back in 1787. In Federalist Paper #10 they wrote that “human passions, have, in turn, divided mankind into parties, inflamed them with mutual animosity, and rendered them much more disposed to vex and oppress each other than to co-operate for their common good.” Called it, right there, they did.

But the fact that I write this from the United States of America and not the Confederated States of America is historical proof that the Federalist argument won the day, although it must be said that the Federalists genuinely acknowledged and compromised with the Anti-Federalist side of the argument, the proof being documents like the Bill of Rights that protected individual freedoms.

Yet, today, we are no longer as aligned with Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and the other Federalists as we thought. After all, Captain America: Civil War was a Captain America movie and not an Iron Man movie. This is significant. Had it been the name ‘Iron Man’ on the movie poster, the de facto hero of the story would have been Tony. But it being a Captain America movie implicitly grants a bias toward Cap, positioning Captain America on the “right” side. Binaries of good-bad are just the way narratives work in movies. At least Tony Stark wasn’t shot by Aaron Burr.

Particularly, Captain America represents not just perfect teeth, but as the following 200+ years only served to produce a deepening of this sense of individuality, most of us see strong individual freedoms as the pure and perfect American ideology, and bristle deeply at anything that could remotely be considered surrendering to group accountability.

So, Captain America went Anti-Federalist, saying that individuals (states in terms of history; superheroes in terms of the movie) needed to have full autonomy. Again, the fact that Captain America had his name on the movie poster (and the fact that his character is designed to embody America idealism) made this the through-line narrative.

Indeed, American history (and present demographics) clearly illustrate that different states have different needs. Anyone who has been to both West Virginia and California will tell you that those are two entirely different cultures and a one-size-fits-all model wouldn’t jibe.

In movie terms, Captain America’s team could operate like loosely confederated states with an Anti-Federalist agenda due to their own unique motivations. In short, the superhero community had no formal structure other than coming together when aliens invaded.

But the goal of Iron Man and his team in signing the Accords was to submit to a set of norms and rules to follow to insure they would have accountability and never operate in their individual interests, choosing instead to serve and submit to the greater good.

Interestingly, the story beat that Bucky was brainwashed by Russia (the Cold War subplots in the movie feel crazy relevant to current events, do they not?) was meant to serve as proof that Captain America was right. The movie showed us that only by going against the world’s governments was Captain America able to come at the truth. Fighting against political authority is a time-honored, audience-pleasing Hollywood trope, after all. Alexander Hamilton and the Federalists would be so sad right now.

The movie presented a narrative that positioned the heroic individual versus the heroic institution. Tony was willing to give up a little of his personal freedom in order to keep the team together and to maintain the optics of the Avengers as heroes in the eyes of the public. Cap was willing to punch others in order to not do that.

As a side note, the comic book version of Civil War had Tony set up a 50 state Initiative where each state had their own superhero team. This would have pleased the Federalists, who believed strongly in a centralized accountability, while also pleasing the Anti-Federalists, as it could give individual states more direct contact with their own superheroes.

The comics then ended with Cap surrendering as he recognized that the greater good and the safety of the public was more important than his ideological beliefs.

Yet the movie ended with Cap doubling down on his belief in the individual. “[Individuals] haven’t let [him] down yet,” he says, a “Stark” contrast as viewers had seen two Captain America movies in a row where governments had let Cap down.

There are no heroic governments or institutions, only heroic individuals, Captain America and his movie seemed to say. Ironically, it was written in The Federalist Papers that “if men were angels, no government would be necessary.”

Still, it’s interesting to see how our beloved movie franchises interact with history and the lofty ideals of Alexander Hamilton, who had a sincere belief that we are better united together than we are as individuals. In fact, I imagine that Alexander Hamilton would be really sad at the state of American politics right now.

But none of that matters because Anti-Federalist Aaron Burr shot him dead.

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The Reviews for Marvel’s Civil War 2 are All Over the Place. What’s going on? https://nerdsonearth.com/2017/02/review-marvel-civil-war-2/ Mon, 06 Feb 2017 20:43:50 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=11859

The reviews for Marvel's Civil War 2 are all over the place. Nerds on Earth takes a look on what might be going on.

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What has happened to me? Is there a darkness in my soul? Have I become so jaded with the current state of Marvel comics that I can only see cracked earth where others see gardens ready to bloom?

Case in point: I don’t think the current Marvel Civil War 2 crossover was very good. Civil War 2 was about Ulysses, a new Inhuman precog, who had the power to calculate the outcome of future events with a high degree of accuracy. This predictive power divides the Marvel heroes on how best to capitalise on this information, with Captain Marvel leading the charge to profile future crimes and attacks before they occur, and Iron Man adopting the position that the punishment cannot come before the crime. Think of the plot of Minority Report and you get the gist.

First, Marvel did their first Civil War crossover event only a few years ago, which resulting in folks getting sick of superheroes fighting each other all the time. But Marvel really loves to have their heroes fight each other, so they did it again. Yawn.

Second, the execution was felt even worse this time around. Common complaints were as follows:

  • Brian Michael Bendis (the writer of Civil War 2) missed the voice and tone of many of the characters.
  • The positioning of Captain Marvel never fit narratively and fully damaged the character. they turned her into a super villain, while trying to pass her off as sympathetic.
  • The deaths and “shocking events” felt forced and for marketing reasons, not narrative reasons.
  • The comic was consistently delayed, which made all the editorially directed crossovers a chore to keep up with.

So those are very good reasons why one might think Civil War 2 wasn’t very good. But I can be generous. What the heck, I’ll grade up from ‘wasn’t very good’ and call it ‘pretty good.’

But pretty good isn’t even good enough! These reviewers of the preview event on Amazon must have seen what my dark soul couldn’t, which is that Marvel’s Civil War 2 is a 5-star triumph.

“AWESOME!”, swooned one Amazon reviewer.

“Well written and great art. Very cool storyline,” raved another.

“First time buying and reading a comic book,” begins a third reviewer on Amazon. “I haven’t finished reading it but I am enjoying it. The drawing looks great even though in some parts it looks wonky,” they finished before leaving a 5-star rating.

Wow. Civil War 2….must be really cool. What am I not seeing? Why wasn’t I compelled to CAP LOCKS and exclaimation points?!!!!

Keep in mind that the average rating came out to a 3, so many people are as hardened and blasé as I am, and also had a hard time thinking of Civil War 2 as anything more than pretty good. But iff you are able to appreciate the beauty and majesty all around you every minute of the day, it looks like Civil War 2 might be a Marvel crossover you’ll enjoy

I just wish I enjoyed anything at all about it that much. I just wish I enjoyed anything that much.

Alas, Civil War 2 wasn’t very good in my opinion. But I love that their were some Amazon reviewers out there who deeply enjoyed. Good for them and I certainly don’t want to spoil their fun.

Lesson learned? Us individuals have different opinions when it comes to comic books. I give Civil War 2 one-and-a-half-stars, while another comic fan gives it a full 5 stars. That’s cool.

And if history has taught us anything, it is that Marvel will try it again with another big Universe-wide crossover immediately after this one. Maybe that next one will the the 5-star triumph I’m looking for.

As for you, it’s probably best for you to read it for yourself and make up your own mind. Don’t take mine, nor the Amazon reviewers, word for it. It’s trickling into the Marvel Unlimited app and the collected trade is coming soon from *ahem* Amazon.

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Did Hamilton the Musical Write the Script for Captain America: Civil War? https://nerdsonearth.com/2017/01/captain-america-civil-war-anti-federalist-resurgence/ Sun, 29 Jan 2017 13:24:41 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=8077

The politics of Captain America: Civil War: It's almost as if Iron Man was quoting directly from Hamilton the Musical.

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Can Captain America: Civil War help us understand the politics around America’s Revolutionary War years? You know, Hamilton the Musical stuff.

Geez, this sounds like a snoozer of an article, doesn’t it? Just keep in mind that we got to see Iron Man and Captain America punch each other on a big screen, so it’s not all bad.

Did Hamilton the Musical Flip the Script for Captain America: Civil War?

Politics are often presented through pop culture, like it or not, but it’s hard to complain if the movie is as fresh as Captain America: Civil War or the musical as hype as Hamilton. Indeed, commenters began pointing out the echoes of Hamilton as early as the first Civil War teaser trailer. But first, some nitty-gritty history.

Between the years 1787-1789, statesmen like James Madison and Alexander Hamilton supported the proposed Constitution of the United States and were called Federalists. They published The Federalist Papers, which documented the tenets of this early federalist movement in an effort to promote the proposed Constitution and push it toward adoption. This is all covered impressively in Hamilton the musical, but I can’t get tickets to that. We’ll have to listen.

The Federalist Papers were written because the authors believed in a strong central government. Inspired by philosopher Thomas Hobbes, the Federalists aligned lockstep with the Hobbesian view of a social need for government. This view argues that the only way to secure a civil and just society is through willing submission to a set of checks and balances, which would provide a counter-balance to the self-centered nature of human beings. Acountability for the greater good, in other words.

What does that say about Captain America: Civil War? Particularly, as Captain America represents not just perfect teeth, but also what most of us see as pure and perfect American ideology, then what does it say about how we currently view our federal govementment? Is Cap a Federalist, in other words?

Told you. It’s a snoozer of an article. But stick with me because Captain America and Iron Man punched each other in the face.

If you can’t fully recall the movie, Captain America: Civil War begins with some nice explosions and punch ’em ups, then quickly begins to focus on the Sokovia Accords, which is an international agreement to provide oversight and accountability to superpowered individuals. A set of checks and balances, in other words.

The Sokovia Accords splits the Avengers into two groups. Iron Man and his allies sign the Accords, hoping it will preserve trust among the world’s population, who has begun to see the Avengers as dangerous because of heavy civilian casualties. General Ross, in speaking of the danger of superpowered individuals and the need for accountability: “If I lost a 30 megaton nuclear bomb, there would be consequences.”

But Captain America and his allies are adamant that sacrificing their freedom to the government creates bureaucracy or potential corruption that could undermine their ability to protect the people who needed them.

Let’s cut to brass tacks. Team Tony could be seen to represent the Federalist belief that a strong central government is essential to preserving the trust and the will of the people. Captain America, on the other hand, represents other figures of American history.

So far, ho-hum. But, twist! Indeed, just as physics teaches us that every action must have an equal and opposite reaction, there were Anti-Federalists in 1786, who were led by Patrick Henry of Virginia and Aaron Burr of New Jersey, among others, and they published their own papers, the appropriately named The Anti-Federalist Papers. The Anti-Federalists wanted more power to the states as they feared that the presidency would drift into a monarchy.

The Anti-Federalists argued that when people lost any freedoms, it allowed the government to be masters of the people. Captain America says to Tony, “If we surrender, we give up our right to choose.” The Anti-Federalists rejected any idea in which individuals lost their voices.

Tony attempted to reason the importance of the governmental accountability and oversight, also echoing the words of ‘ole Thomas Hobbes, Alexander Hamilton, and the other Federalists. Tony’s rationale resonated so well with these early Federalist ideals that one would certainly think this part of history was included in the writer’s research as the screenplay was being written. At the very least, the writers must have listened to Hamilton the Musical or something.

History shows that Alexander Hamilton responded to the Anti-Federalist arguments, offering assurances that the new nation described by the Constitution would indeed fully represent individuals despite its size and centralized structure. (Think: Individual voting, First Amendment, Bill of Rights, etc.) But says Tony, “If we can’t accept [some limitations], we’re no better than the bad guys.”

While there weren’t any pistol duels, there was some popcorn-worthy punching in the movie, and I’m thankful for that. In fact, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison predicted this conflict way back in 1787. In Federalist Paper #10 they wrote that “human passions, have, in turn, divided mankind into parties, inflamed them with mutual animosity, and rendered them much more disposed to vex and oppress each other than to co-operate for their common good.” Called it, right there, they did.

But the fact that I write this from the United States of America and not the Confederated States of America is historical proof that the Federalist argument won the day, although the Federalists genuinely acknowledged and compromised with the Anti-Federalist side of the argument, illustrated with documents like the Bill of Rights that protected individual freedoms.

Today, we are no longer as aligned with Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and the other Federalists as we thought. After all, Captain America: Civil War was a Captain America movie and not an Iron Man movie. This is significant. Had it been the name ‘Iron Man’ on the movie poster, the de facto hero of the story would have been Tony. But it being a Captain America movie implicitly grants a bias toward Cap, positioning Captain America on the “right” side. Binaries of good-bad are just the way narratives work in movies. At least Tony Stark wasn’t shot by Aaron Burr.

Indeed, American history (and present demographics) clearly illustrate that different states have different needs. Anyone who has been to both West Virginia and California will tell you that those are two entirely different cultures. And those are only two of the 50 states.

Much like loosely confederated states with their Anti-Federalist agenda due to their own unique motivations, the superhero community had no formal structure other than coming together when aliens invaded. But the goal of those signing the Accords was to submit to a set of norms that gave them accountability outside of their individual interests.

Cap went Anti-Federalist, saying that individuals (states in terms of history; superheroes in terms of the movie) needed to have full autonomy. Again, the fact that Captain America had his name on the movie poster (and the fact that his character is designed to embody America idealism) made this the through-line narrative.

Further, the story beat that Bucky was brainwashed by Russia (the Cold War subplots feel crazy relevant to current events, do they not?) was meant to serve as proof that Captain America was right. Only by going against the world’s governments was Captain America able to come at the truth. Fighting against political authority is a time-honored, audience-pleasing Hollywood trope, after all. Alexander Hamilton and the Federalists would be so sad right now.

[As a side note, the comic version had Tony set up a 50 state Initiative where each state had their own superhero team. This would have pleased the Federalists, who believed strongly in a centralized accountability, while also pleasing the Anti-Federalists, as it could give individual states more direct contact with their own superheroes.]

The movie shaped up with a narrative that positioned the heroic individual versus the heroic institution. Tony was willing to give up a little of his personal freedom in order to keep the team together and to maintain the optics of the Avengers as heroes in the eyes of the public. Cap was willing to punch others in order not to do that.

Interestingly, the comics ended with Cap surrendering as he recognized that the greater good and the safety of the public was more important than his ideological beliefs. But the movie ended with Cap doubling down on his belief in the individual. “[Individuals] haven’t let [him] down yet,” he says, a “Stark” contrast as us viewers have seen two Captain America movies in a row where governments have let Cap down.

There are no heroic governments or institutions, only heroic individuals, the movie and Captain America seems to say. Ironically, it was written in The Federalist Papers that “if men were angels, no government would be necessary.” Again, Alexander Hamilton would be so sad right now, but none of that matters because Anti-Federalist Aaron Burr shot him dead.

But good gravy, it’s just a movie! And we watched it mainly to see Spider-Man return to the Marvel fold. Still, it’s interesting to see how our beloved movie franchises interact with history and the lofty ideals of Alexander Hamilton, who had a sincere belief that we are better united together than we are as individuals.

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How Marvel Built Such an Impressive Movie Universe https://nerdsonearth.com/2016/08/architects-of-the-marvel-cinematic-universe/ Tue, 02 Aug 2016 12:55:12 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=8075

How did Marvel build such an impressive movie universe? And who are the chief architects of the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

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Did you know that Captain America: Civil War is the 13th movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)? It’s the 3rd film in Marvel’s Captain America series, but it’s as much a sequel to the last Avengers movie as is is to the 2nd Captain America movie.

And Civil War is an excellent movie (I’d give it 132 out of 100 tomatoes, but that’s just me). It’s exciting, funny, and dramatic, doing so while balancing a cast of about a 9,000 superheroes. By all measures, it should have been a hot mess, but it’s a worldwide commercial and critical hit.

How is Marvel consistently putting out quality flicks that use multiple characters across the films, while also spanning multiple genres and creative teams? Did the MCU make a deal with Mephisto? If so, could they ask him to undo Brand New Day?

How Marvel Built Such an Impressive Movie Universe: The Strategy

Architects of the Marvel Cinematic UniverseWell, let’s talk about the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The MCU is structured more like a serialized television show than a collection of movie sequels. It’s as much a management challenge as a narrative one.

The MCU being something of a television show is a concept that was first proposed by Vox’s Todd VanDerWerff who described the MCU as “Marvel’s idea of essentially creating a giant TV show that we all tune in to every six months or so.”

There just isn’t a model for a story so big, and with so many characters. But if you squint up your eyeballs, you can see a little bit of the same thing in HBO’s sprawling epic fantasy Game of Thrones. GoT similarly has dozens of characters that crisscross over multiyear storylines. The MCU just takes it all next level.

But the biggest similarity between the two is how both the MCU and Game of Thrones assumes a commitment from their audiences. GoT doesn’t spend tons of time with recaps at the beginning of each episode. They simply roll with the fact that viewers might be a little lost, knowing that light bulbs will go off for the audience as the story unfolds.

The MCU does likewise. They don’t spend the first 30 minutes of every movie with a recap of the previous movies and characters. They simply jump into a good time, knowing the audience isn’t going anywhere. This commitment to the audience has allowed them to tell a huge, sprawling story over a dozen movies with no end in sight.

The idea of a sprawling, interconnected universe has decades of history in the comics, but t’s new to the movie industry, and has made the MCU the envy of Hollywood. Not only do they reliably produce billion dollar films each year but the MCU also promises a series of bankable films for years to come. In my estimation, Marvel has enough superheroes for 6,400 years worth of movies.

But what can’t be overstated is how hard Marvel has had to work for this audience commitment. Early on, Marvel had to deliver the goods for viewers, and do that every. single. time. Every Marvel movie has to be at least pretty good, and often great. Which is not only why other studios haven’t quite been able to ape the formula, but also why Marvel is gaining more and more freedom to be even more ambitious and expansive in their storytelling. The MCU has ran away from the pack.

This consistency is due in no small part to the way that Marvel develops its movies, planning multiple films years in advance, treating each story as an episode in a grander story.

The Chief Architects of the Marvel Cinematic Universe

So who are the architects of the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Let’s meet the major players.

civil_war___marvel_cinematic_universe_by_phantomzer0-d7eg31p-400x225Since the release of Iron Man in 2007, the in-house Marvel Studios (which was bought by Disney in 2009 for less money than Civil War grossed) has run all of the superhero films based on its various characters through Kevin Feige, the man who oversees the entire film slate.

Fiege, acting as a singular point of creative control, has allowed the studio to coordinate and develop a larger cast of characters and interconnected storylines in ways that no other movie studio had ever really attempted before. Siege oversees the story’s narrative sprawl that are drawn out over the course of multiple films released many years apart.

But even as Fiege represents how Marvel Studios is streamlined, the screenwriting duo of Stephen McFeely and Christopher Markus represent how incredibly collaborative it is. In addition to penning Civil War, they created Marvel’s TV spinoff series, Agent Carter, worked on the scripts for the previous two Captain America movies and Thor: The Dark World, and now they are in the process of writing Avengers: Infinity War.

It is safe to say that McFeely and Markus are the senior architects of the MCU.

Interestingly, McFeely and Markus compare the process of developing a Marvel movie to the process of pitching a story in a TV writers’ room. They state that each film begins with a two-month brainstorming session, during which they’ll be joined by typically by Fiege and directors such as Anthony and Joe Russo, the brother team who directed the last two Captain America movies and are up next with the next two Avengers movies.

McFeely and Markus bounce ideas back and forth in an open-ended manner, with Marvel giving them a fair amount of freedom to develop the story as they see fit, with few (if any) guidelines or requests as the process begins. These brainstorming sessions are where the three act story is created.

It’s unusual for their ideas to be shot down, and then typically only for reasons around the legal rights of a character. (When Marvel was bankrupt over a decade ago, the had to sell a portion of their character rights to Fox, Sony, and Universal in order to stay afloat.)

3-Things-More-Important-Than-Spidermans-reveal-in-Captain-America-Civil-War0-1200x675When Markus and McFeely started working on Civil War, for example, Marvel had not yet finalized a deal with Sony to bring back the rights to Spider-Man. That meant they had to start writing without knowing whether he would end up in the final script — and thus had to build a story that would allow him to be replaced if necessary. Then when it was clear that Civil War was where Spidey would make his MCU debut, the writing duo nailed it.

There are of course the inevitable hiccups and complications that happen anytime you bring multiple people into a creative process, particularly while sticking to release schedules that are announced years in advance, usually at high-profile events. But these are mostly just the challenges of working on any expensive, complex project, and of working with other people.

And Markus and McFeely argue that the cross-film coordination with other filmmakers helps prevent the movies from falling into a creative rut, because contributions from other writers and directors help keep the characters fresh and supply the system with new ideas.

3058531-1280_captain_america_civil_war_black_pantherEven though it’s a tightly-controlled process, it never feels like Marvel movies are cranked out of a factory. One year you might the far-out space opera of Guardians of the Galaxy, then it’s followed up by an espionage flick like Winter Soldier.

Regardless, I just hope they keep it up. 7-year-old me never dreamed I’d see Groot and Rocket Raccoon on a movie screen one day, and Captain Marvel, Doctor Strange, and Black panther are poised on the horizon. That’s worth the price of a bucket of popcorn.

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What made Captain America and Tony Stark punch each other? https://nerdsonearth.com/2016/07/cap-versus-tony/ Fri, 29 Jul 2016 12:58:17 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=7773

What made Captain America and Tony Stark punch each other? It turns out they have two very different ethical frameworks. We take a look!

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What makes Captain America: Civil War so interesting is that it features two individual heroes with very defined–yet veeerrrry different–ethical frameworks. It’s a story of two very good people who can fundamentally disagree to a point that they punch each other. Hard.

Captain America: Civil War isn’t like Alien vs. Predator where you don’t care which of the bad guys win because, you know, it’s an alien fighting a predator. It’s more like Turner turning against Hooch. How could a friendship so pure and perfect ever turn adversarial?!!?

The ethical frameworks of the two characters–Captain America and Iron Man–have been portrayed very consistently in their decades of comic book stories. Story beat to story beat, they’ve stayed true to character.

What’s even more interesting is their ethical frameworks trace back to the halcyon days of Greek philosophy, ethics first pondered deeply by the giants themselves: Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle. Listen, I’m not saying you need to wear a toga as you read this article, but I wouldn’t advise against it.

What made Captain America and Tony Stark punch each other?

Let’s get to it. Here are the two popular systems of ethics that frame the decisions of Tony Stark and Steve Rogers:

  1. Utilitarialism, which judges the mortality of acts based on their outcomes (or consequences). Acts are moral if they lead to the well-being or benefit of the most people (the needs of the many).
  2. Deontology, which judges acts according to their intrinsic moral quality. What’s right is right, in other words.

While we see these ethics play out in each hero’s solo books, it’s through their interactions (and especially their conflicts) within the Avengers team that they best illustrate their different ethical approaches.


In case you haven’t figured it out, Tony Stark is deeply utilitarian. As soon as Tony realized that passage of the Superhero Registration Act (nee: Sokovia Accords), a law requiring all superheroes to register with the government, was inevitable, he tried to get in front of it so he could at least make sure it was implemented his way.

Tony: “If We Don’t Do This, It Will Be Done To Us.”

Tony’s reason for the Avengers signing the Sokovia Accords is harsh, but it makes some sense. More, it’s hard to doubt Tony’s sincere motivation to make things better. And rarely can things be made better without breaking some rules or creating some negative consequences, a utilitarian might reason.

What made Captain America and Tony Stark punch each other? Utilitarianism–Tony Stark’s basic ethical system–judges actions based by the goodness (“utility”) of their consequences. An action that creates more good than bad in the world is ethical, they reason, and the action that creates most good compared to bad is the most ethical (or required). They are looking for the BEST choice in a situation.

However utility or goodness is measured, utilitarianism is based on the common-sense notion that outcomes matter and are important to factor in. In the movie the images of collateral damage from Scarlet Witch’s actions, the fall of helicarriors, and rampages of Hulks weigh heavily on the conscience of a utilitarian like Tony Stark, whose brain is rolling through potential solutions to mitigate those types of negative consequences in the future.

While the concept of utilitarianism is very simple, in practice it can become very complicated because measuring the utility of a wide variety of options is incredibly difficult! In order to evaluate and compare the goodness of different courses of action, a person must trace out all the effects of each choice in order to determine the best choice of action.

Of course, Tony Stark regards himself as a futurist, uniquely able to see the results of any event. “Let me tell you how this will play out…” are words you can almost hear in the voice of Robert Downey, Jr.

But when it comes to monumental decisions like exiling the Hulk or supporting superhero registration, the countless and complex ramifications are impossible to know and therefore impossible to full measure and compare.

As we have seen in decades of comics, Tony can get things wrong. So even a self-styled futurist can make mistakes. And since his decisions are only as good as his predictions, Tony’s inability to always account for the results of all actions sets him up as a target for the hindsight snipes from armchair quarterbacks.


Cap on the other hand is a shining, shield-bearing example of deontology, which judges the morality of actions according to general principles or duties rather than consequences. The conflict between deontology and utilitarianism is often put in terms of the “RIGHT” and the “BEST“, in which the best are outcomes to be maximized while the right is something to be adhered to.

In other words, Tony is looking for the BEST action, while Steve is trying to determine the RIGHT thing to do.

When deontologists (like Cap) judge utilitarians (like Tony) for letting “the ends justify the means,” they are implying that certain means to an end should never be taken, regardless of how good the consequences would be, and there is no compromising on that.

So in a movie scene that was ripped straight from the comics, Cap says you plant yourself like a tree and you tell others to move, he’s saying that once you determine what is RIGHT you stick to that and live with the negative consequences.

A deontologists would have the position that no matter how worthy an end–even saving lives–some measures would not be taken as a matter of principle.

A famous thought experiment in this regard is this question: “If someone could travel back in time, would murdering Hitler as a child be the ethical thing to do, because in doing so, you’d save millions of lives?”

3779149-no-you-move-cap-says

 

One advantage that deontology seems to have over utilitarianism is that it doesn’t require us to calculate and compare the good and bad consequences of every decision. Cap wouldn’t work out the pros and cons of the above Hitler thought experiment, because murder is wrong, so we’ll just have to live with the consequences of that decision.

What made Captain America and Tony Stark punch each other? But this neglects the complexity of distinguishing right from wrong. When Cap says something to Tony like, “what’s right is right”, his simple languages obscures the fact that a tremendous amount of deliberation and judgement goes into determining what is right in any given situation.

But unlike a utilitarian who would make that decision based upon potential negative or positives effects or the decision, the deontologist weighs various principles and duties against each other.

This is clearly illustrated in the movie. Cap’s principle is that you stick with your friends and they deserve second chances. But another principle would be that you tell your friends the truth. Cap weighed these principles against one another when he decided to protect Bucky and not tell Tony that it was Bucky who murdered his parents.

(An aside: It is interesting that the Black Widow switched from Tony’s side to Cap’s side. Natasha has thrived/survived because she makes the “best” decision in the moment, but has struggled with self-doubt about if all those decisions were the “right” thing to do.)

Furthermore, deontology avoids the contingent nature of utilitarian ethics, by which a change in circumstances can flip a moral judgement one way or the other. Cap was planted like tree, determined to protect Bucky, despite the fact that it was under the circumstances that he was the murderer of Tony’s parents. To a deontologist, though, RIGHT and wrong do not depend on circumstances but on principle.

On the other hand, Tony if often criticized for flip-flopping in his decisions (or criticized post-event for the outcomes of the decision). But changing one’s positions is admirable from a utilitarian point of view. In Tony’s mind, he is adjusting to circumstances and data, doing the BEST he can with the cards he is dealt, even as the cards changed.


So what happened? Well, Cap did what he thought was RIGHT and assembled other superheroes who felt likewise. And Tony did what he thought was BEST and assembled other superheroes who felt likewise.

Then two very good and very sincere men who were simply reasoning the way they knew how to ending up in a tough situation where they punched each other. Hard.

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What is Next for Marvel After Captain America: Civil War? https://nerdsonearth.com/2016/05/next-marvel-captain-america-civil-war/ Wed, 25 May 2016 12:19:48 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=7293

Captain America: Civil War had a satisfying ending that opened up new possibilities. So what is next for Marvel after Captain America?

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First off, there are going to be spoilers for Captain America: Civil War out the wazoo in this. If you haven’t gone and seen it in theaters, don’t let this ruin for you what looks to be the blockbuster movie of the summer of 2016.

What is Next for Marvel After Captain America: Civil War?

So, this is a mix of questions, ideas, and wild speculation about what is next for Marvel after Captain America: Civil War.

They (maybe) blew the prison break scene. When Ant-Man, Hawkeye, Falcon and Scarlet Witch are all imprisoned, we see Steve Rogers come out of the shadows as General Ross is calling Iron Man.

And, to keep it real, this should have been the scene that merged the Marvel movie, Marvel Netflix and Agents of Shield Universes. There is, undoubtedly, a massive dilemma in trying to sync up all of those things, especially with Netflix’s “Here is the whole season” model.

The last thing you want to do is have to put a timeline at the beginning of the episode/movie/etc. But the prison break felt like it could have been a thing that just happens at an unspecified point in time: they just get busted out at some point before the next Marvel movie.

The idea of Phil Coulson piloting a Quinjet alongside Sharon Carter, as Daisy shakes the ocean and they drop Luke Cage out of it like a cannonball, followed by Jessica Jones just knocking in prison guards heads while Daredevil gets into another fierce hallway fight with a real villain they accidently released? Mack and Luke Cage banter! Make mine Marvel!

emily-vancampAgents of Shield had the weird flashforward where Coulson isn’t the director of Shield anymore. A surprising candidate for the new director: Agent 13, Sharon Carter. The actress used to do exclusively television and the new director would have to be someone that Coulson would trust. It would be an interesting choice.

The Black Panther movie can’t be about the Winter Soldier. I know the temptation is to take that end credit scene and start writing the movie from there. I just think that it would be doing a disservice to the character and the potential.

Straight up, all you need to do is look at the #BlackPanthersoLit on twitter to see that the African American nerd community is ready to see a movie that isn’t reliant on all the white heroes. I definitely agree and want this to be a stellar story. (Wild theory: all these black male actors that they are casting could all be Black Panthers, all from different periods of time. Time travel would be risky but I kind of love that idea. Each a Panther but each very different in some ways.).

Benedict_Cumberbatch_as_Doctor_StrangeWhere does Doctor Strange fit? He is the new piece that they are placing on the table all by himself and I am not sure how or when he will come into the large MCU. Cumberbatch looks like he will do stellar work on the character but there is no telling how this will work.

Doctor Strange was, for most of his comic book life, this wierdo side project that creators would love greatly but could never get his stories to sell. It is going to be interesting to see how they merge him with the MCU, and how they’ll introduce magic to the movies.

Spiderman. It is going to be bonkers. I love the casting, the style, the jokes. For the first time, they seem to really be nailing the essence of teenage Peter Parker. (I still wish they had gone full on Miles Morales but I will live.)

My one reservation: Marissa Tomei as Aunt May. Like, I just don’t like it at all.

Full on hardcore Demon in a Bottle is coming. Iron Man 2 played around to some degree with the famous alcoholism angle in the Demon in a Bottle storyline in Iron Man. It feels like they are going to revisit that.

Some reasons that I think this:

  1. Stark mentions an “electromagnetic migraine.” It feels like they are setting up that he is in pain and self-medicating ever since the reactor came out of his chest.
  2. Pepper is gone. Heartbreak pushes him further down.
  3. One of his best friends just beat the living tar out of him to protect the man who murdered his parents.
  4. His best friend is paralyzed and learning to deal with it.

I just think that the return of Captain America could happen in one of the Infinity movies when Ironman hits bottom and someone has to lead.

chloe-bennet-as-agent-daisy-johnson-agents-of-shieldAgents of Shield. So, the shift to 10 PM worries me. It is a comic book show that kids can’t watch now. I am not sure that I am on board with a season of a new director, Daisy on the run, and all that they foretold. They certainly could undo all of that very quickly but it seems unlikely.

I wish that the Hunter/Morse show had made it because I think it would have added some creative tension that I am worried the show really needs. I hope I am wrong but this could be the last season of Shield, and that makes me sad.

RIP Peggy Carter. Your brilliant two seasons deserved far more eyeballs and love than they ever got and I am sad to see you go.

What about you? What ideas did you have coming out of Captain America: Civil War and the end of this season of Agents of SHIELD?

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What is the Avengers Initiative? https://nerdsonearth.com/2016/05/7287/ Mon, 23 May 2016 19:39:59 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=7287

After the Captain America: Civil movie, you might wonder what happened after in the comics. Let's look at the Avengers Initiative.

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With Captain America: Civil War still going strong in the theatres, you might be curious about what comes next in the comics. While the endings of the movie and the series have some significant differences, there are enough similarities that it makes you wonder what could come next. So what happens if suddenly all these heroes signed and reveal their secret identities?

What is the Avengers Initiative?

Avengers InitiativeIn Marvel Comics, it was known as the Avengers Initiative. As heroes signed up, they became agents of the state, and when you have as many heroes as they did suddenly suited up and ready for duty, you had to have somewhere to put them!

While New York City has long been the center of the Marvel Universe, as a reader, you did have to wonder why all the villains didn’t just move to Portland, take over everything and put a bird on it. In this time in the Marvel Universe, there is an easy answer: the Force of Nature aka Oregon’s very own superhero team!

The Avengers Initiative was a program where heroes were put on teams, then sent to states to guard and defend them. With Iron Man in charge, heroes were guarding far off places like Iowa, and taking down crime across all 50 states. It made for a very interesting dynamic as you see what characters were assigned to what teams and what the team names were.

At the same time, the Initiative also recognized that there was a need to train new heroes, or people who have powers but no developed skills. In the comic book series Avengers: The Initiative, you get a great story that lasted for many issues, as you watch groups of mainly younger heroes get trained, deployed and what happens next.

Avengers: The Initiative was really great series and you see some interactions that work really well and some new characters that are still some of my personal favorites introduced in the last 10 years. (Seriously, there had been a long drought of new characters being made until this series.) The series is built mainly around Hank Pym, the original Ant-Man, serving as a mentor and teacher alongside heroes and villains, most notably the Taskmaster, who is a favorite around here at Nerds on Earth.

Avengers_Academy_Vol_1_12And just as the series was launched out of a major event (Civil War), it comes to an end in another event (Siege), but spins off some of the characters in another fairly long running series: Avengers Academy, which took on some of the best parts of the earliest X-men stories (teenagers learning to be heroes) while updating it for the modern age.

Avengers Academy is classic, well done, teenage heroes and angst mixing together, while they work to save the world! If the 1980s and 1990s gave us New Mutants, the 2000s and 2010s gave us this run.

And the same characters go on to be found in Avengers Arena, and then Avengers Undercover, which is an excellent comic run that doesn’t get enough hype; sure, the elevator pitch of Hunger Games meets teenage superheroes sounds ridiculous but the creators make it work extremely well.


If you were to put all of these issues together, you have a solid near 100 issue run mixing relatively new characters into the Marvel Universe in a compelling way, albeit with a less than great finish in Avengers Undercover.

Avengers_Arena_Vol_1_1For the most part, the run was allowed to breathe on its own and took the moments of major changes in the Marvel Universe (Secret Invasion, Dark Reign, and Siege storylines) and used it to propel the characters and “series” to the next level. That isn’t something you see much in comics anymore and it is due in large part to the excellent writing of Dan Slott, Christos Gage and Dennis Hopeless, who all have a great read on these characters and who manage to put them together in ways that make you think, while adding in new characters as well.

In a perfect world, Netflix would agree to a series of episodes, maybe even 50 of them, where each state’s’ team gets one story. I doubt that will ever happen but it would be phenomenal fun. The truth is that I doubt this is the next stage of the Marvel cinematic universe but it certainly is worth reading in the comics and dreaming about what could be.
And if you are curious if your state’s team was ever represented in the comics, you can see the very comprehensive list of teams and members here on Wikipedia.

The titles are available on the Marvel Unlimited app, and Amazon has great deals on the trades:

Avengers: The Initiative: Volume 1 | Volume 2
Avengers Academy

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A Recap and Review of Agents of SHIELD Episode 320: Emancipation https://nerdsonearth.com/2016/05/agents-of-shield-episode-320/ Thu, 12 May 2016 00:31:47 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=7104

With the bombshell that is Captain America: Civil War, have you been wondering if it would impact Agents of SHIELD? We recap and review Agents of SHIELD episode 320: Emancipation.

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With the movie universe dropping the bombshell that is Captain America: Civil War, have you been wondering if it would impact the agents of SHIELD? Nerds on Earth recaps and reviews Agents of SHIELD episode 320: Emancipation in order to take a look at the bomb’s impact.

A Recap of Agents of SHIELD Episode 320: Emancipation

I was impressed with how they used the Sokovia Accords, which basically mean every powered individual needs to register or else, as a launching point to move the television show forward quickly. (And maybe even too quickly.)

Coulson and May have a little debate, as they are back and nursing their wounds, some literally as Mac recovers from the beat down that he got at possessed Daisy’s hands to close last week’s episode. As General Talbot shows up, we get the Civil War tie-in, with Talbot suggesting the President wants to bring SHIELD in, including registering the Inhumans on the team.

Agents-of-SHIELD-Emancipation-Coulson-Talbot-Mack-ElenaOf course, Coulson is Team Cap and is against the idea of his team being registered. So he takes Talbot to the headquarters where he meets the returned Yo-Yo, Lincoln, who is under medical observation and, lastly, Lash.

Yo-Yo and Mack continue their thing, having deep conversations, with her reminding him to have faith, even giving him a cross at the end of the episode.

Meanwhile, Hive and the crazy scientist are trying to again make Inhumans. They have determined that Daisy’s DNA and Kree infused blood from Coulson’s transfusion back in the day make her the best candidate for a donor. So she is giving blood and being wore down, but also hacking SHIELD’s systems, staying one step ahead of Fitz as he works to keep her out. The long game? She hacks into Lincoln’s cell and promises to help him get free.

1431011384jpg-684f4e_765wMeanwhile, Hive and the Aussie decide their best candidates are the Watchdog gang from earlier this season. After the Watchdogs have been “recruited”, they undergo transformation becoming very, well, zombie like. After the scientist asks for another chance, Hive declares them to be good enough.

Lincoln is guided by Daisy to escape, stealing away in a Quinjet. When the Quinjet lands we get a massive twist: Lincoln isn’t on the plane; Lash is. Which most definitely surprises Hive.

They then go all out into battle, with it ending with Lash freeing Daisy from her possession in a dramatic scene, just before he is immediately killed by the Aussie with a fire chain through his chest as the Quinjet flies back to Shield and Daisy is returned and shown to be Hive-possession-free.

A Review of Agents of SHIELD Episode 320: Emancipation

So some thoughts on this episode:

The Lash reveal was awesome. I completely didn’t see it coming and it was great. Honestly, when it happened, I was stunned that we had more episode and it felt like the fight was rushed to get to the endgame. I wish there had been a more epic fight.

9352364_marvels-agents-of-shield-emancipation_8fe89f27_mLincoln is legitimate. It has been a slow burn with him but there is no doubt now: he is all in on Team Shield.

The ending. Feels sort of capped on. Hive evidently has a warhead and weaponized version of whatever happened to the Watchdogs. Next week is a two hour finale and…

We have no idea who is going to die. Yo-Yo giving the cross to Mack seems to doom him, since it has been seen prominently floating. My wild guess? Agent May. They have done much with her character but with the death of Andrew/Lash, I could see her being the Calvary one more time to save her new family: Shield.

8.5 out of 10 Nerds.

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Spoiler Free Review of Captain America: Civil War https://nerdsonearth.com/2016/05/spoiler-free-review-captain-america-civil-war/ Sat, 07 May 2016 11:44:43 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=7006

Is the superhero genre alive and well? Nerds on Earth shares a spoiler free review of Captain America: Civil War.

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The superhero genre has become so popular that inevitable backlash has come. It has become the cool hipster thing to badmouth the genre, talk about their limitations, and disrespect the stories told. And, to be clear, some of that criticism is fair; as long as DC is going to make movies, there will be some bad ones. (You know I had to take a shot there.)

But the superhero genre isn’t the issue; the issue is when the genre is used in poor ways to tell bad stories. And the limitations of the genre can also be used incredibly well in the correct hands.

Spoiler Free Review of Captain America: Civil War

Captain America: Civil War is proof that the world of superheroes is alive and well, and Marvel in particular is still thriving. The Russo Brothers, who directed what I held (and maybe still hold) as the best Marvel movie, Captain America: The Winter Soldier. And this movie is served well by their deft hands. In a spoiler free review of Captain America: Civil War, I want to talk about the dangers of the superhero genre and how this movie thrives despite of what could be significant hurdles.

3-Things-More-Important-Than-Spidermans-reveal-in-Captain-America-Civil-War0-1200x675There are too many characters in superhero movies.” If I had a worry about this movie, it was watching the preview and realizing that there were a massive number of characters in the film. While it was entitled as a Captain America movie, in truth, it is an Avengers movie.

And everyone is in it. And then some, as the film introduces two major new characters, the Black Panther and the new rebooted Spider-Man.

Superhero movies are always boring origin stories.” Finally, someone has realized that they can trust their audience and that we don’t need detailed, long origin stories. With Spider-Man, it would be easy to discount this because as such an icon, most everyone knows his story.

But they also do the same thing with the introduction of the Black Panther. The Black Panther is hardly such a public commodity and yet with a few lines of dialogue, they give the audience what we need to know and then show us what a hero he is by what happens in the story. It really is astonishing.

3058531-1280_captain_america_civil_war_black_pantherYou can’t have dramatic, long lasting consequences happen to superhero characters.” It would be a spoiler to say what happens. But one of the heroes is significantly injured and it will have lasting consequences. And it is done in a way that is real, honest and authentic. When people have powers and go to battle with one another, eventually, there should be consequences. And in this movie, there are.

Superhero movies can’t be funny.” Okay, so this is evidently just a DC rule. In all seriousness, the major difference between the Big Two is humor. I watched Batman Versus Superman: Dawn of Justice and the closest thing to a joke I can remember is the Wonder Woman smile in the closing fight.

Captain America: Civil War has great jokes spread throughout it. Part of why people are calling this portrayal of Spider-Man the best one ever is because they nail the witty banter that the character is known for. There is a humorous trio of the Falcon, Captain America and Winter Soldier that kills it with some jokes. Ant-Man is in the film for a short time but, as should be expected, brings the laughs. You can do serious and make laughs at the same time in the same movie. It can be done.


There is much more that I want to say but won’t. Captain America: Civil War is 10 out of 10 Nerds, likely going to be the best nerd movie of the year and you should go see it. It brings to close some chapters and introduces some new ideas that I think we will see have lasting consequences in this movie universe. And I could not be more excited.

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The Superhuman Registration Act, Nerdsplained https://nerdsonearth.com/2016/04/superhuman_registration_act_nerdsplained/ Tue, 26 Apr 2016 13:16:32 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=6760

Adkins gives a quick primer on the Superhuman Registration Act and the Civil War comics arc in anticipation of Captain America: Civil War.

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Captain America: Civil War drops in little over a week and it is the single most anticipated movie amongst us writers since Nerds on Earth launched in 2014 – and that is saying something given the stellar lineup we’ve seen hit the silver screen over those two years!

In the time between now and the movie’s release, you can treat yourself to some superhero v superhero action by digesting the Civil War arc in the comics.  The teams will be pretty familiar (Team Cap versus Team Tony), but most of the rest of it will likely differ in regards to the movie.

Here is a very brief primer on how the Superhuman Registration Act came about, what it meant, how opposing sides developed, and which comics the arc is contained within.

Marvel Civil War: The Inciting IncidentRobert_Hunter_(Earth-616)_Civil_War_Vol_1_1

A team of young superheroes, The New Warriors, has their escapades filmed for a reality TV show.  They track a group of baddies to the little town of Stamford, Connecticut, and engage in a fight that is wholly out of their league.  At its climax, the villain Nitro blows his top – literally – and levels the town, killing 612 civilians.  (Incidentally, this event also birthed one of my favorite character arcs of all time with a character named Penance.)

Stark and the Illuminati had already predicted that such an incident would occur and were actively trying to draft and implement the Superhuman Registration Act before the events at Stamford, but it definitely proved to be the straw that broke the camel’s back.

The Superhuman Registration Act

The Act itself required all superhumans – be they gods, natural superhumans, or those augmented by science, technology, or magic – to register with SHIELD as “living weapons of mass destruction.”  Registration meant oversight and official training with the idea of assigning registered superheroes to a state as members of an Avengers team (this was called The Fifty State Initiative.)

“Whose Side Are You On?”

Tony Stark championed the Act and was joined by the likes of Ms. Marvel, Black Widow, Reed Richards, and Hank Pym.  On the other side of the aisle stood Captain America, Ant-Man, Black Panther, Winter Soldier, and Doctor Strange.

The Anti-Registration group opposed the law arguing that heroes needed their secrecy to protect their families and to respond swiftly against threats to preserve life.  By refusing to register, heroes became outlaws and were actively located and arrested by those heroes (and villains) who had.  Of course, that didn’t stop Cap and his teammates from fighting the good fight underground as Secret Avengers.

Where You Can Read the Arc

This was a massive event and spanned dozens of comics.  The easiest way to find them all is to open up the Marvel Unlimited App, tap on BROWSE at the bottom, hit COMIC EVENTS at the top of the resulting screen, and scroll down to the letter C.  All 103 relevant issues are neatly housed right there!

Barring that, Marvel has a great paperback that collects the core series, or an unreal 11-volume boxed set that collects EVERYTHING!  Below is a screen cap of the wikipedia page for the event listing all the issues by title and number.

Screen Shot 2016-04-25 at 11.06.01 AM

#TeamTony

I am in the minority when it comes to the other Nerds on Earth, but I am Pro-Registration. I agree with the need for oversight, see a tremendous amount of value in providing training for those with powers (something Xavier saw the need for over four decades ago and nobody faulted him), and I think the Fifty State Initiative is a really, really good idea.

However, while I agree with the Superhuman Registration Act in theory I do think its execution left much to be desired. Turning well-meaning heroes who contributed to the safety and peace of the world into criminals basically overnight is a bit much, and coming to aggravated blows over it is even more.  I’m not smart enough to devise a better solution, but I’m confident there is one.


So where do you stand?  Are you #TeamCap or #TeamTony and why?  Let us know in the comments!

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