So I saw it last night with fangirls. t waves at Shrift

That was fun, and much what I expected. Most of the character beats made sense to me, although I think that it would have worked better if Steve had signed the agreement and then blown it off in order to protect Bucky. Because Steve cannot be utterly opposed to civilian oversight; he's too smart for that, especially since the Hydra/SHIELD thing went down. Oversight is important.

That said, the whole Sokovia Accords plot element would have made more sense if it hadn't been sprung on the Avengers as a done deal, but if they'd had a chance to participate in the drafting. Or if at least one of them had -- like Tony, or Natasha. Nobody does that kind of big-scale thing in a vacuum, and they would need technical advice and wordsmithing.

I got weary of the endless fighting. Seriously, people, take some lessons in diplomacy and negotiating. Isn't there some room between "I disagree with you!" and "Let's break each other's ribs!" The big line-up at the airport with both groups running at each other -- OMG I kept waiting for a Joss-ish humorous undercut. It was too much, too portentous, too overdramatic. In sum: too many fights.

I saw a nice note on Twitter about how the fantasy expressed by this movie isn't super-strength or magic abilities, but super-resilience. Because nearly all of those people walked away from dozens of hits that would have killed or permanently disabled anyone else. And at least Clint, t'Challa, Natasha, and Carol are regular humans.

I too would have liked more women, and more other kinds of people. The Doctor Strange trailer gave me no reason to see that movie. Also no reason to see the movie about the shark and the woman swimmer, although for different reasons. I did cheer when the Rogue One trailer came up, though.

Oh, post-credits question: What is the meaning of the hologram thing that Parker puts on his ceiling, that came out of his wrist thing? What was that about? Why did part of the audience whisper excitedly about that?

I have complicated feelings about Tony recruiting Peter Parker, because it was probably the only scene where I just had SUPER uncomplicated love for Tony -- you just see how he responds to a kid who is fundamentally JUST LIKE HIM, and it just got me right in the feels -- but then, for real now, WHAT IN THE HELL ARE YOU THINKING recruiting a 16-year-old KID (yeah, superhero, whatever; he's still 16 years old and has, thus far, been stopping purse snatchers as far as we know) to fight in a battle that could have gotten him killed in the first 2 minutes???? SERIOUSLY. You're on board with signing the Accords because you think the Avengers need oversight...and then you go on a secret mission to recruit A KID without the consent of his guardian???

Tony, you got issues. So. Many. Issues.

Ant-Man and Spider-Man were awesome, though. I'm on board with this Spider-Man (though I really loved Andrew Garfield).

I am just going to keep posting stream of consciousness until either: (1) we go to Trader Joe's, (2) I pass out and take a nap because of all the meds I took for this sinus headache, or (3) someone comes along and posts with me.

Also, damn, you guys. ita would have loved Chadwick Boseman in this. T'Challa was fantastic.

ita would have loved Chadwick Boseman in this

She totally would have. Although I had a thought, when I was watching it, borne out of seeing too many argument/discussions online about racism. Which is that it's always the black guy who has to be The Bigger Man, and not react to provocation. This was doubled-down on by the fact that Boseman also played Jackie Robinson in 42, where that was pretty much the defining element of his character. And in this movie it's not the main characters who have to learn to let something go, but the black guy whose father is dead because, ultimately, of Tony Stark and his inability to learn from his mistakes.

I have issues with the way the plot played out in some way: I would have liked more explicit recognition that all of this was a result of Tony's actions in AoU. "The Avengers" didn't cause what happened in Sokovia: Tony did. And as out of character as it was for post-Iron Man III Tony to do it, it's now canon and they need to own it. And I don't think they did.

I have issues with the way the plot played out in some way: I would have liked more explicit recognition that all of this was a result of

Yeah, there was, what, one line where Tony was like, "Ultron, my fault"? Not enough.

And as out of character as it was for

Out of character to create Ultron? Because I think it was totally in-character. A huge part of his character is his PTSD, and I don't think AoU or Civil War really addressed it well.

Tep, as far as recruiting Peter goes--I don't think Tony thought he was recruiting a kid to fight a battle that would get him killed: I think he thought (and, really, was) recruiting a kid to fight a battle that wasn't likely to end in anyone's death, as the whole point was that they'd been given a certain narrow window of time to bring in Steve and company, and in terms of battles, that's not the same as going up against Ultron.

OK, that's what I thought The Thing was! Thanks.

And who the hell does Zemo remind me of?

I thought it was funny that Daniel Bruhl was in this movie, because I only know him from Rush, which I saw for the Hems.

I will say, and I say this as someone who would dearly love to see it again today if at all possible, tomorrow at the latest, it needed more Steve Rogers. They did a good job with a huge cast, but there was way the hell too much Tony front and center for a Captain America movie. I mean, I had complaints about too much Tony in Ultron, but at least Ultron was Avengers: Age of Ultron, y'know? It's not a screen time thing, it's a who got the most character beat pieces. Someone was complaining that it felt like Steve was a supporting character in his own movie, which, yeah, it did feel like that at times, especially the second half of the movie.

Plus, his helmet was on way too much. Needed less helmet, more tight shirts.

Tep, as far as

I get that, but then Tony also thought Ultron was a good idea. He doesn't think his plans through, is what I'm saying. But I still loved that scene. Like the Grinch's heart growing 3 sizes way.

Oh, totally agree that it needed more Steve. It felt too much like an Avengers movie, or Iron Man 4. And definitely less helmet and more tight shirts. And a headband for Bucky.