Marvel Fans Argue Captain America: Civil War Is an Avengers Movie, Not Captain America 3

Marvel fans split into Team Captain America versus Team Avengers while debating whether Captain America: Civil War, which divided Earth's mightiest heroes into two warring factions led by Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) and Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), is actually Avengers 3. After the ending of the World War II-set Captain America: The First Avenger brought the long-lost Rogers into modern day, the star-spangled superhero partnered with the Falcon (Anthony Mackie) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) to unravel a conspiracy involving best friend Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), a brainwashed assassin for the HYDRA organization, in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

The final installment of the Captain America trilogy found the Avengers on opposite sides of a new status quo created by the government-imposed Sokovia Accords, a system of accountability intended to keep superheroes in check.

While Rogers found himself again fighting to protect his childhood best friend — secretly manipulated by Helmut Zemo (Daniel Brühl) and framed for a bombing that killed Wakanda King T'Chaka (John Kani), father of the vengeful T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) — Rogers also emerged as the de facto leader of a movement opposing oversight, arguing the Avengers should remain free to defend humanity without government interference.

When the debate escalated into a friend-versus-friend feud, forcing the Avengers to pick sides, the conflict pit Team Cap — Bucky, Falcon, Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) — against Team Iron Man, backed by allies Black Widow, Black Panther, Vision (Paul Bettany), War Machine (Don Cheadle), and a newly recruited Spider-Man (Tom Holland).

The fallout of Civil War would ultimately tee up both Avengers: Infinity War — the Avengers lost to Thanos (Josh Brolin) because the team disbanded over Steve and Tony's rift — and the upcoming Black Widow, set in-between the events of Civil War and Infinity War. Wounds wouldn't fully heal until Avengers: Endgame, which wrapped up character arcs for both Steve and Tony first set up by their fractured relationship in Civil War.