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.

Out of character to create Ultron? Because I think it was totally in-character.

This question isn't spoilery, so. I thought it was OOC a bit, because he had kind of gotten his shit together by the end of IM3, and to have him sort of rebound to "build big shit to fix things!" seemed retrograde. But a lot of the character work in AoU was off, as we noted at the time -- it definitely seemed like a movie that forgot about CA:TWS as well.

It's not a point I'm going to fight too hard to defend, though. The bigger point of CA:CW not acknowledging the difference between truly external forces and actual failures/wrongdoing on the part of various Avengers still stands, though. Basically, I wanted more build-up and better character development to support the conflict, and I don't really think we got it.

It didn't surprise me at all, though, to have Tony bring in a 16-year-old kid. Because Tony. Also, I don't think anyone considered this a fight to the death, except possibly T'Challa and Bucky himself. And frankly the only way this storyline works is because they're all superhuman and can't be killed by being thrown into the side of a plane from 30 yards away...

More like Iron Man 5, after AoU.

NO HEADBANDS. Way more tight shirts, though.

One thing I keep thinking of, I love that Steve basically attracts people who are all, "I'm in." no questions asked. It's something I thought they did really well with Sharon. I'm also thinking, based on Sam's reaction at Peggy's funeral, that they'd been interacting some with Sharon in the time between AoU and Civil War, possibly with some additional awkward low-key flirting like we saw in Winter Solider.