by Marc Lutz, Reporter

So now that we’ve all seen Captain America: Civil War, I’m writing this new article on why I’m STILL Team Cap.

Please keep in mind that this is an opinion piece and it’s speaking towards the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  These are my personal opinions and I welcome any conversations about it.  IF you disagree, that’s fine.  Please read the entire post before you try to keel haul me though.  Also please keep in mind this is not a review of the movie; I will attempt to keep my opinions of the movie itself as a non factor.

Now that’s said… After watching the movie, I am STILL Team Cap – with a few reservations.

On the one hand, we have a hero who feels guilty about some of the collateral damage that has been caused while his team runs around saving the world.  In this guilt, he decides that to help himself feel better, he and his team need to be put in check by the United Nations; that there should be over site and accountability.  Of course, I’m speaking of Team Iron Man.

On the other hand, we have a hero who has an amazing sense of duty, honor, loyalty, and a bigger picture mentality of right and wrong.  Coming from a soldiers’ background in a time of war, he knows that there will be collateral damage and people get hurt.  In trying to save the world, there are some decisions that have to be made that are not easy ones.  This, of course, is Team Cap.

On the one hand, Iron Man/Tony Stark is willing to give up his ability to make his own decisions, in the name of over site and accountability.  Why is he doing this?  He’s doing it because a mother of a child who got killed in Sokovia got killed during the fighting, and Tony feels bad about it.  He’s willing to give up his ability to move and make decisions on his own, in order to assuage his own guilt.  Let’s not forget that in Iron Man 2, he very steadfastly told Congress “No you can’t have it, it’s mine.”  He doesn’t want more accountability, he’s Tony Stark!  What he wants is to be able to go out and do things, and not have to feel bad about anything, because “my bosses told me to do it”.  Once again, I call his motivations into question.

On the other hand, Captain America/Steve Rogers is not willing to give up his own freedoms. He’s not willing to give up his own decision making.  He believes that there are greater dangers that lie in the heart of man, and then men in power will push their own agendas.  He realizes that there has been an escalation of stakes (like Vision said) since their group’s founding.  He also understands that Manhattan got beat up pretty bad, that Washington DC got beat up pretty bad, that Sokovia no longer exists, and that people got hurt as a result.  But he also knows that had The Avengers not been there to do what they do, the world would cease to exist, or would be run by a tyrant far worse than any government in place now.

Now here’s where the “but” comes in.  Cap asked the question, very simply:  “What if they send us somewhere we don’t need to be, or don’t send us somewhere we should be?”  I agree with that absolutely.  What if there’s another trans-dimensional alien overlord invasion?  What if they pop up over LA this time, but the powers that be say “Get them over to the Sierra-Nevada Desert and beat them up over there so nobody gets hurt.”  But wait, they’re evil trans-dimensional alien invaders and they don’t cooperate.  The team does their best to move the fight, but it simply isn’t happening.  Then what?  Does the UN call off the fight and everyone goes home?  Do they cancel the whole thing and give up the planet?  OR do they accept the reality of this situation and let the Avengers do what they do, knowing that innocent people are going to get hurt but the planet will be saved?  It’s not like we can call a time-out and let the United Nations go to committee to discuss their options.

However, in principle I agree with Tony.  There should be more accountability.  I disagree with how he’s going about it though.  We don’t need the UN making our decisions for us, simply so we can feel better about causing all this destruction and loss.  I don’t know how there could be more accountability, or even how to enforce it, but at the very least there should be answers.  Why this and not that?  Why this tactic and not that one?  Was this taken into account? And so on.  And how do we even enforce it?

The simple fact of the matter is that we have a group of remarkable individuals who are bigger, faster, stronger, smarter, and more destructive than we are.  As a team, they could take over anything they wanted to, and we’d be hard pressed to stop them.  That scares us to our core, and I realize that.  We have to either trust them to do the best they can in the moment – or not to trust them and have them overly controlled or even disbanded, and risk the planet being taken over by… who know’s what?  Having the UN make decisions for the Avengers so that Tony Stark can ease some of his guilt is not the answer.

I don’t know what the answer is, but I do know I’d rather be alive and free WITH the Avengers as apposed to alive and a slave to some evil overlord.

Freedom of choice is our greatest gift, and our biggest responsibility.  I personally appreciate our heroes (real and imagined) for the things they do to protect us and keep us safe.  I’d rather trust them as individuals and as teams, to be able to do their jobs and keep themselves in check – than risk worse alternatives.  I trust in Steve Rogers as a man, as a leader, as an Avenger.  I’m STILL Team Cap… but…

-Marc Lutz