Captain America: Civil War

More Avengers 2.5 than a solo adventure for Captain America, this exhilarating and dramatic threequel sees Chris Evans's shield-flinging super-soldier battling over friendship and principle as much as the nefarious plans of the bad guys. An explosive mission for Cap, Black Widow and newbie Avengers Scarlet Witch and the Falcon quickly puts the team in the cross hairs of a government bigwig (William Hurt, reviving his military martinet role from The Incredible Hulk) who's had enough of the collateral damage wrought by previous slugfests. Superhero registration is demanded and a world-weary Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) agrees, which soon puts him at loggerheads with a sceptical Cap, a situation exacerbated when the latter's best buddy-turned-brainwashed assassin (Sebastian Stan's Winter Soldier) reappears at the wrong place at the wrong time. Loyalties are shattered, the team disassembles and the mother of all smackdowns looms, with old hands (Hawkeye, War Machine) and fresh recruits (Ant-Man, the debuting Black Panther) signing up to Team Cap or Team Iron Man. It's a multi-fight clash of the titans that has massive consequences for the combatants. Meanwhile the Russo brothers not only deliver pace, thumping action, sharp fight scenes and crisp character interplay but also let Downey Jr and Evans flex their acting muscles, too, as the philosophies and personal histories of Iron Man and Cap collide with desperate effect. New addition Chadwick Boseman makes a noble Panther (his solo debut was released in 2018) while a certain young webslinger (Tom Holland) makes his bow, hilariously shepherded into the Marvel Cinematic Universe by a delightfully wry Downey Jr. Stupendous stuff.