One Marvelous Scene Playlist
So, with Endgame coming out in three days, a variety of Youtube personalities have decided to band together and analyze their favorite scenes from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. They’ve collected them all in a playlist here: (x)
I’d love to join them, but I don’t have the right equipment or footage to edit a whole video essay. I do, however, have a whole collective of followers on Tumblr, along with the rest of the site that might come to read a little.
So, uh, this is my favorite scene from the MCU:
A little background on this. I didn’t actually watch Captain America: Civil War when it first came out. I was in high school, the most I heard of it was from classmates. I wasn’t big on the MCU back then.
I loved the Thor movies because of their scope, visuals, and world-building. The first Avengers was a big meme among my friends because we picked roles to fill on the team.
Then, I got into college and started studying screenwriting. I watched a bunch of video essays, read books, and so on. I really want to write for films, shows, etc. I want to create my own animated show, I’ve already got a whole story, cast of characters, and scenes plotted out.
In studying all of that, though, I started to focus on the down-to-Earth quality. The grounded and relatable content. And surprisingly, the final battle between Iron Man and Cap and Bucky is one of the most grounded in the MCU.
But, back to that scene. The scene in which the Avengers are left fractured and broken.
There is so much that goes into this scene. So much that it does in return.
In the background, we have Tony Stark, who started out infamous for being a playboy and a notorious corporate ass. Then, he’s nearly killed and kidnapped in the Middle East. That experience changes him after he learns that these extremists who held him hostage were using his own weapons.
His entire arc has been his attempt at becoming accountable for his actions. He’s struggled with completing it though. The first time he really succeeds is when he returns from the Middle East and stops production of Stark Industries’ weapons. The next is when he becomes Iron Man and deals with the extremists himself. Going onwards, however, he continually experiences a cycle of success and failure. When he joins the Avengers, he does not actively help the team. However, he redeems himself by redirecting the nuke into the Chitauri portal, thereby saving New York City. When he faces the Mandarin in his third film, he discovers that his enemy is a demon from his past that he originally brushed aside due to his ego. In the second Avengers film, his trauma from the first one prompts him to create Ultron. That act nearly causes a cataclysm, but they minimize it to the destruction of the city.
Civil War sees his full transformation from privatizing world peace to handing the power to institutions because he believes that is the best method of ensuring accountability.
On the other side of the spectrum is Steve Rogers, who started out an idealist that just wanted to do his part. He gets that chance and picks up his shield, becoming Captain America. However, he later wakes up to a world that prefers pragmatism over idealism. He is forced to confront that clashing of beliefs in his second film, in which S.H.I.E.L.D is revealed to be a front for a reborn Hydra.
His arc has been his attempt at upholding his philosophy on responsibility and adapting to a new, different world. Cap’s first film establishes his character, who he is and what he’s about. He doesn’t want to join the army to kill Nazis, he wants to go to Europe to do his part and stop some bullies. By the end of the movie, the audience knows he is. Then, when they see him in the Avengers, they see him trying to get his bearings in this strange, new world. One of the most iconic moments is the first major argument between the Avengers, when he accuses S.H.I.E.L.D and Nick Fury of being just like Hydra, then attacking Tony for his narcissism. The Winter Soldier brings that argument further when he learns that the institutions he fights for are planning on pointing a gun at the world instead of trusting it with that gun. That conflict of beliefs happens even before the big reveal by Arnim Zola. The entire film is a political thriller that ultimately leads to Steve consolidating his philosophy and taking a stand against extreme pragmatism, placing good faith over cold efficiency.
When we finally reach Civil War, both characters have had their philosophies inverted by the modern world. Thanks to the guilt of his own actions Tony now believes in handing responsibility over to the governments of the world to make sure they are held accountable. In contrast, Steve’s experience with corrupt institutions pushes him to not trust the governments of the world and therefore keep that responsibility to themselves as they are the only ones that they can trust.
But do you want to know the craziest part of this entire spiel? It’s all backdrop. It’s not the main issue, but the reasoning behind the main issue.
Tony’s belief in accountability lead him to work for the UN in an attempt to capture Bucky Barnes, who was framed for a terrorist bombing.
Steve’s belief in responsibility lead him to uncover the truth on his own, as well as save his childhood best-friend from being held accountable for a crime he didn’t commit.
The political beliefs come to a head in the iconic airport battle where the music ramps up, but doesn’t meet a grand, climactic note. Instead, there’s a crash and a symphony of tragedy. The Avengers clash: Cap battling Iron Man, Wanda flinging cars at Spider-Man, Black Panther pouncing on Bucky, War Machine flying after Falcon, Black Widow pinning Ant-Man, and Vision phasing through Hawkeye’s shots. The entire sequence is full of wide, fluid shots and grand, complex plans.
Then, we get to the Soviet missile silo. Here, the environment is small and cramped. There’s only two ways out: straight up or through the door. The entire film the audience were lead to believe that the big bad guy at the end was a team of super soldiers akin to the Winter Soldier that would be under the command of Helmut Zemo, someone with a grudge against the Avengers. Instead, Steve, Tony, and Bucky discover that each one of the super soldiers were murdered and Zemo was responsible.
He provides brief exposition, telling them about his Sokovian family and how the Avengers had killed them. He tells them about his time planning and plotting and what his final goal is. Then, he plays a recording of a Hydra assassination mission. The same mission Bucky was shown to be performing at the very start of the film.
That moment when Tony recognizes the road, Bucky realizes what is being shown, and Steve discerns what Zemo is trying to do is one of the most powerful moments in the entire film. The following battle is also one of the best in the entire MCU.
It’s not cosmic or grand like in the Avengers’ films. It’s not big and explosive like in the airport battle. It’s cramped, brutal, and primal. There’s not big plans or clever tricks. It’s just a fight for survival.
Iron Man bashes Cap away and tackles Bucky to the ground. He prepares to blast his head with his repulsor, but Cap stops him. He tackles Cap, then shackles him before grabbing Bucky and holding him up against a wall. They struggle and Bucky breaks one of Iron Man’s repulsors before redirecting a missile.
The entrance to the silo is closed off, leaving only one last exit: the roof. Bucky climbs while Cap tries to stall Iron Man. The latter wastes no time with words and flies past him, but gets one of his jet boots broken. The chase goes on for a bit before all three combatants fall into the abyss.
At the bottom of the missile silo, Cap gets up, standing in dim lighting. Iron Man crawls over a platform, shrouded in darkness. They argue briefly before the former launches himself at the other. There’s no more flashy moves or signature attacks, it’s just a fist-to-face duel. Hand-to-hand combat.
Bucky joins in a second later, beginning a short sequence of 2v1. It’s quick, fluid, and absolutely savage. Then, Iron Man blasts Cap back and faces Bucky. The Winter Soldier is able to hold his own and even backs Iron Man up against a wall.
In an attempt at ending the fight, he tries to rip out the arc reactor in Stark’s armor. Iron Man is quick to fire a unibeam, completely disintegrating Bucky’s prosthetic arm. He is left incapacitated as Cap gets up to protect him, leading to an iconic shot taken right from the comics:
Then, we get to the finale.
Iron Man beats Cap by analyzing his fighting style. He goes under his guard and breaks it, beating Cap into submission. Cap refuses to stay down, though, and Iron Man prepares to incapacitate him. Bucky stalls him, though, long enough for Cap to grab Iron Man and throw him to the ground.
He gets on top and wails on him. He grabs his shield and breaks off his helmet.
For a very, very brief second, Tony looks at Steve. Then, Steve raises his shield.
Tony protects his neck and face. Steve goes for his arc reactor. The swelling music reaches a solemn note, then turns into a deeply tragic symphony.
The look that they give each other is telling.
Tony believed that Steve, his friend and teammate, would kill him. That moment, that brief second where he defends himself in vain, is the moment when the trust between them is broken. That is the moment the Avengers are truly broken.
And that’s why I love that scene.
It’s not political. It’s not cosmic. It’s not big and grand or amazing. It’s personal. Deeply, honestly personal.
It’s two friends who stuck by each other despite their arguments and disagreements reaching a head and losing it all. There aren’t any winners. There are only losers.
The fight doesn’t even truly end. When Steve starts to leave, Tony tries to get a final jab in, claiming he doesn’t deserve the shield. It’s not his to keep. It was made by Howard Stark, not Steve Rogers.
And Steve, who has worn red, white, and blue on his uniform and shield for most of his life, drops the shield.
Everything that both sides put into the fight has failed them. Iron Man’s belief in accountability became null and void when Secretary Ross refused to believe his allegations of Bucky’s framing. Cap’s belief in responsibility failed him when he inadvertently got his friends imprisoned for following him.
There is no victory. No triumph. No heroes in the end. Just the solemn truth that these aren’t gods, just people. Humans. Flawed and all.
It’s a lesson I take to heart when writing, because the characters that we relate to aren’t the infallible heroes living power fantasies. It’s the very human characters that struggle and endure, that mess up and make amends.
So, uh, thanks for coming to my TEDtalk. Uh, make sure you check out that Youtube playlist. All those Youtubers are great and excellent at their craft. Their analysis of storytelling, structure, characterization, and what not is exceptional in a way I hope to match some day.
Anyways, have a great day! Also, Happy Earth Day!
