This episode of The Pop Cult Podcast is all about Captain America: Civil War. We had so much to say that it’s our only major topic this week. Civil War is the 13th movie installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), and we have THOUGHTS. Spoilers for the entire movie are contained within this episode, so wait until you’ve seen the movie before listening.

We start by talking about the central conflict between Captain America, Iron Man, and The Winter Soldier (Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, and James “Bucky” Barnes, respectively). We provide context for how the characters came to be on opposite sides of a Civil War, and for why their fight is of interest. We also touch on why Bucky is so important to Steve, and the moment Jeff describes from the comics is below. Steve’s just been unfrozen, and his first thought is of Bucky.

We branch out from those main characters into the supporting players by looking at the 3 (!) black characters in the film, Falcon, War Machine, and Black Panther (played by Anthony Mackie, Don Cheadle, and Chadwick Boseman). Here we’ve got two established characters kicking butt, and a brand new character in Black Panther that gets a quick (but effective) origin story, setting him up for his own solo movie that’s due out in 2018.

We also talk about the 3 (!) women in this movie, plus the memory of another and excitement builds for the possibility of a Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) solo film after her 5 supporting appearances in the MCU. Bonus points are awarded for running-off-a-motorcycle related awesomeness. Agent 13 (Sharon Carter, played by Emily VanCamp) gets to shine in an emotional speech that serves as a thematic centre of the film, (for the full comic panel that her speech is referencing, check out this link) and I am relieved we didn’t actually have to see Peggy Carter, because it would hurt too much. Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) also gets some narrative space in Captain America: Civil War, and we address her mutant origins and how freakin’ powerful she is.
Vision in a V-neck sweater is up next on the agenda, along with the comic relief and audience surrogate roles filled to perfection by both Ant-Man and our new Spider-ling. After all that excitement, we drop in on some of the themes of the movie, including reconciliation, the impact of parents, consequences in general, and that old standby, with great power comes great responsibility. To sum up: this movie was great, and we think you will like it.
Somehow we didn’t talk about this, the best scene in the movie.
Kool-Aid Picks
Kool-Aid picks end the show, as usual, and I’m drinking in Geena Davis being a gender equality crusader through the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, her Bentonville Film Festival, and by being an idol of mine basically forever. Read the full Vulture article I mentioned here. She also has a