Find out which Marvel superheroes are fighting on Team Cap in Captain America: Civil War
Phase Three of the Marvel Cinematic Universe kicks off with Captain America: Civil War opening in a little over a month domestically. We’re breaking down the alliances on the road to the eagerly-anticipated superhero clash and today we’re talking Team Cap.
Striving to operate freely without government control under the Sokovia Accords are Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans), Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), Wanda/Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), Sam Wilson/Falcon (Anthony Mackie), Scott Lang/Ant-Man (Paul Rudd), and Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner).
They face opposition by the members of Team Iron Man, who choose to sign the Sokovia Accords in order to allow government oversight on the Avengers after another global incident involving the team. With Cap’s experience during the dismantling of S.H.I.E.L.D. by HYDRA, he and his team are weary of another organization abusing their power to use them as pawns.
Let’s take a look at what what’s at stake for Team Cap’s original Avenger members and the newcomers joining their fight.
Team Cap: Steve Rogers/Captain America
As someone who gave their body to an experiment in building a super soldier to protect and serve, Rogers’ interest has always been to bring the bad guys to justice. After the events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier revealed that he had been unknowingly serving HYDRA when they infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. through Operation Paperclip since the organization’s origin, Cap felt betrayed. Think about it. Here’s another governing body, the one that started Operation Paperclip, coming down on the Avengers to be controlled.
Naturally, Cap only trusts those closest to him and not a group that could very well abuse the power they want over him and his friends. When he and Tony fall out over ideological stances, it divides the team between the two. Steve believes that allowing others to determine when they act could create more of a danger and even more loss of life if they can’t do anything unless told to.
Team Cap: Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier
On the run from the organization that would torture him into submission to do their bidding, Bucky sides with the only person he trusts the most: Steve. He and Cap have been used as weapons for the real bullies this whole time and are fighting to regain control of their identities. As a man with more red on his ledger than Black Widow, he’s also probably not too keen on being persecuted for things he wouldn’t have done in his right mind, but he also grapples with how to make amends for those things anyway. In a world that finds it hard to believe in people who have been controlled, even though there’s now a precedent in Jessica Jones‘ Kilgrave case, it would be really hard for him to be tried fairly for the international level offenses he’s committed. He did assassinate a bunch of people including (allegedly) Howard Stark and might be incriminated for something that’s made Black Panther have a vendetta against him. It’s speculated that he might be tied to the death of T’Challa’s father.
Team Cap: Sam Wilson/Falcon
Of course Cap’s military buddy would side with him. Sam Wilson witnessed firsthand the events in The Winter Soldier and stands by Steve Rogers’ side. He’s not just Captain America to him, he’s his captain and good friend. So whatever Cap needs, he’s ready to get. When they find Bucky a week too late for Tony to help or be informed of the situation, he knows a guy who could be of assistance.
Team Cap: Scott Lang/Ant-Man
Presumably called in by Falcon to help fix something to do with the wiring of The Winter Soldier’s arm, if it turns out that it’s a mode of control over Bucky, Scott Lang finds himself on Cap’s side. Which seems totally fine with him as he’s kinda a Captain America super fan based on the moment shown at last year’s D23 Expo where he meets Cap and fanboys over him. But seriously, Scott not signing the accords probably has more to do with Hank Pym.
As we saw in the Ant-Man flashback opening, Hank didn’t want to compromise the science behind the Pym particles to S.H.I.E.L.D. even with Howard and Peggy’s good intentions. He didn’t trust skeezy member Mitch Carson (HYDRA double-agent) who wanted them pretty bad and ended up getting Pym particles to the face in the form of Hank’s fist. It’s likely that he and Scott don’t know that it’s already fallen into the hands of HYDRA when Carson stole the tech at the end of Ant-Man. So to them, signing would mean that the government would have access to the science and be capable of misusing it. Which is what Pym didn’t want in the first place.
Team Cap: Wanda/Scarlet Witch
Tech made by Stark took the lives of all of her family members. So naturally, these are really strong motivations to be very anti-Tony. To Wanda, its likely that she believes the only person who needs to take accountability is Tony as he is behind most of the actual damage done. Wanda was also used by Ultron for his ulterior motives and became an Avenger when Hawkeye helped her realize she could redeem herself after being manipulated. The people who appealed to her and her brother to make things right are on this team. She became endeared to Clint through his determination to fight for humanity. It was his and Cap’s example that helped her and her brother Pietro (Quicksilver) realize, it’s humanity that they really have to answer to and work for not who’s in power.
Team Cap: Clint Barton/Hawkeye
While we think that his role might be to help bring the family back together (like Natasha on Team Iron Man), there are also personal reasons Clint might be on Team Cap. If the Sokovia Accords mean full transparency, then the safety of his family might be at stake. He can’t just have everything about him out in the open without risking the life he has kept very private. That’s the only thing I can imagine that would drive a wedge between him and Natasha. Yes, he’s willing to risk his life to protect humanity but not for leaders who could endanger his family and Nat is still someone he considers his own. He might see a danger she’s posing herself for by being on Tony’s side. A danger that is mentioned in the trailer that she for some reason seems nonplussed by.
Do you agree with Team Cap? Let us know in the comments below what side you’re on!
