Ranking The New Characters Of Captain America: Civil War

As well as featuring almost every super-powered person who exists in the MCU (minus Thor and Hulk, of course), Captain America: Civil War also introduced us to a bunch of new characters. Though the movie’s major players are Iron Man, the Winter Soldier and Cap himself, many of the new guys had a surprisingly sizeable impact on the film and will continue to be important fixtures of the cinematic universe in the future. The Russo brothers, and their screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, really have to be commended for giving us a good flavour of each of these new heroes and side characters, as it would have been a lot easier to simply drop them in without any characterization (we’re looking at you, Batman V Superman, with your teasers of the Justice League). Obviously not everyone had an equal chance to shine, but overall, the filmmakers handled the new additions very well and left us eager to see more of these characters in future MCU movies. So, on that note, read on for our ranking of all eight of the significant, new characters in Captain America: Civil War. And, as always, feel free to take to the comments section afterwards and let us know if you agree with our thoughts or not. 8) Redwing OK, Falcon’s handy drone isn’t technically a new character, but it is based off an actual animal in the comics, so we can just about count it. Though we have seen him in two films previously (Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Avengers: Age of Ultron), this was really our first proper look at Sam Wilson as a fully-fledged superhero. Given this, it was great to see his skillset get an upgrade with this new robotic toy. As I said above, Redwing is actually a living, breathing falcon in the source material, something which would have been nice to see in the movies, but we can understand why they made the alteration. That being said, we’re sure audiences could buy into one of the superheroes having a pet bird, seeing as they've already accepted a Norse God with a magic hammer. But hey, what do we know? 7) Maria Stark Given Howard Stark’s prominence in the MCU - in either the younger, playboy guise of Dominic Cooper or his elder S.H.I.E.L.D. statesman mode as played by John Slattery - it is surprising that we haven’t met Tony’s mother, Maria, before Civil War. As well as the tragic sequence showing the Starks’ death at the hands of the Winter Soldier, we see Maria in the scene where Tony recreates his last memory of his parents with some super high-tech doohickey. The scene acts as both a reminder that Tony has had as much a troubled history as Cap and also handily pre-empts the reveal about their murder later in the film. Actress Hope Davis does a fine job as Maria, but audiences were probably mostly distracted by the scarily good CGI used to de-age Robert Downey Jr. into a teenager. 6) Everett Ross The announcement that Martin Freeman was to appear in Civil War spawned many a fan theory regarding who he would be, including such gonzo ideas as Captain Britain and a rejuvenated Red Skull. However, as we now know, the actor plays the role of Everett Ross, a counter-terrorism agent who aids the superheroes with containing Bucky and re-appears at the end when they have captured Zemo. Despite the hype around the character, he really is a very minor part of the plot. In fact, the most important thing to note is the American accent Freeman gamely tries to grapples with. Here’s hoping Ross has a much larger role in the MCU films to come (he is expected to be a bigger player in Black Panther, for example), and that he will meet Doctor Strange at some point. Yah know, just so we can have that Sherlock reunion. 5) King T’Chaka Civil War not only set up the royal superhero Black Panther, but it also introduced his father T’Chaka - the King of African nation Wakanda. Due to the attack on his people at the start of the film, T’Chaka supports the Sokovia Accords in the name of peace. Sadly, he is assassinated by what appears to be Bucky Barnes, meaning T'Challa reluctantly ascends to the throne. The king is dead. Long live the king! Through T’Chaka, the backstory of Wakanda as a secretive yet peaceful country is very fluidly worked into the film, ready to be mined further in Black Panther. What’s more though, John Kani comes across as a suitably wise and regal presence, so it's a shame we don’t get to see more of him. Hopefully the character will reappear (perhaps via flashbacks) in the aforementioned solo film. 4) Aunt May When news arrived that Marisa Tomei had been cast as Peter Parker’s usually elderly Aunt May, fans were bemused by the decision to go in such a different direction with the character. While we don’t get a lot of Tomei in Civil War, we do get a sense of why Marvel cast her - and we're eager to see more. May is always a key part of Peter’s character, and Tomei and Tom Holland thankfully seem to have a nice familial chemistry in the small amount of screen time they share. There is also some fun stuff involving Tony flirting with her and being surprised by her attractiveness, directly lamp-shading the furore over the actress’ casting. Currently, May also doesn’t know that Peter is Spider-Man, which is a nice hint that at least one MCU hero will keep up a secret identity. 3) Helmut Zemo In Civil War, Daniel Bruhl plays Helmut Zemo, the man responsible for manipulating the Avengers into turning on each other. Thankfully, he gives a strong performance, which somewhat makes up for the character being quite far removed from the source material. Rather than a German nobleman with ties to the Nazis, here Zemo is an ex-mercenary with a surprisingly sympathetic backstory – another tragedy caused by the Sokovia incident. Once again in the MCU, the villain is one of the less fleshed-out parts of the film, though in this case the bad guy was merely a means to get the heroes fighting one another. In that respect, Zemo did his job with aplomb. Kudos to the Marvel marketing people for keeping a tight lid on the character beforehand, as well. It's just a shame he never wore the signature pink mask that we saw on the comic book version of the character. 2) Black Panther The Russos have said that Black Panther was only originally written in to Civil War because they didn’t think they would get Spider-Man. After they did, however, they decided that T’Challa had become such an important part of the movie that they left him in anyway. Let’s be thankful they did, as the character makes a big impression in what is his debut big screen appearance. Amazingly, considering how much else is going on, T’Challa even has his own character arc – as he thirsts for revenge for his father before coming to terms with it and deciding not to kill Zemo. Chadwick Boseman is a great addition to the Avengers ensemble and the Black Panther looks fantastic in the fight scenes. We really can’t wait to see more of him. However, although Black Panther is awesome, someone swung in just before him to clinch the top spot… 1) Spider-Man The most highly anticipated addition to the MCU in Captain America: Civil War was, of course, Spider-Man. Finally, Marvel’s most famous hero has come home to rub shoulders with the Avengers. Fans will be pleased to know that this new Spidey is a hugely entertaining presence, who works perfectly alongside the other heroes. Everything you could want from his appearance here is delivered, including a fan-pleasing friendship with Tony Stark, quipping during a fight and slugging it out with Captain America. Tom Holland is an amazing find as Peter Parker, making the part his own and selling Marvel’s vision for a much younger Spidey than we are used to. Alongside Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man, he is the welcome comic relief of the movie and, while he might not outright steal the film, it would be much less fun without him. Spider-Man has come home – now let’s hope he never leaves.