captain america civil war

As a fan of Matt Fraction and Salvador Larroca's Invincible Iron Man run a few years back, it brings me a tiny bit of joy to see the "Bleeding Edge" armor making its debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As such, it also brings me a tiny bit of happiness to see that Hot Toys is adapting the new set of Iron Man's armor into die cast action figure form. While the MK XLVI armor is just the 46th different suit we've seen in the movies, this is something like the 60th Iron Man figure Hot Toys has released since Iron Man hit theaters eight years ago. He's easily the company's most revisited character in that same time span, but I've given up complaining. It's time to embrace the machine.

The only real downside to all of these Marvel movies is the number of Hot Toys figures we're supposed to try and keep up with. With one or two major Avenger movies per year, Hot Toys has been able to pump out the likes of Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow and more with regularity. While that's good for Hot Toys and fans with a tremendous amount of expendable income, it's not easy on the wallet for the rest of us. I mean, it feels like just yesterday Hot Toys announced a Captain America: Civil War Captain America, and there's already a new version announced. Though Cap has had his fair share of expensive action figures, the Scarlet Witch is still new enough to the process that her second figure in a calendar year doesn't feel too pushy. Perhaps it's the dramatic difference between her first figure from Age of Ultron and this New Avengers-styled interpretation, but it feels right to get another Scarlet Witch for this movie. That, and the reworked paint app for the head sculpt has done wonders for its likeness accuracy.

Watching a movie is fine and all, but eating a movie is where it’s at. There’s nothing better than celebrating a great cinematic achievement by pouring it into bowl, covering it with milk, and devouring it as quickly as you can before it turns soggy. This is the true magic of cinema; consuming it and then, several hours later, excreting it.

By now you're well-aware that Captain America: Civil War is arriving in just a few weeks, and though we've seen a good amount of footage via trailers, TV spots and photos, there's still one character we've yet to meet: the villainous Baron Zemo, played by Daniel Bruhl. Marvel has finally provided a look at Civil War's big bad (who doesn't look so big or bad), along with a few new images and four (yes, four) magazine covers.

Since Hot Toys first started showing off its Captain America: Civil War figures, many collectors have been waiting for the first glimpse at the Black Panther. Unlike many of the other characters getting figures from the upcoming sequel, Black Panther won't merely be an update to an existing toy. This is the first time he'll be joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and as such, is the first time he'll be getting a figure of Hot Toys' quality. It's unfortunate then the figure itself is a little disappointing. In the pages of his Marvel comics, Black Panther's suit is simplistic. It's loaded with all kinds of Wakandan technology, but it lacks definition. It's sleek, like the character's namesake. To pop a little more on screen, the costume designers applied some fantastic texturing that pays tribute to T'Challa's heritage. Hot Toys gets a lot of details right. The suit from the upcoming film is incredibly intricate, and that starts with the cowl. There's all kinds of wonder Wakandan art inscribed throughout, providing so much more personality to the character than his more traditional comic costume.

Back in 2014, Marvel held a big event in Los Angeles to announce their upcoming slate of films. Marvel President Kevin Feige took the stage and announced the new Captain America movie would be called… Captain America: The Serpent Society? After much confusion (and even a fake logo!), Feige eventually let everyone in on the joke, bringing out Robert Downey, Jr. and Chris Evans to announce Captain America: Civil War. But it turns out there was some truth to that gag. According to the writers of Civil War, Civil War wasn’t always Civil War.

Even the films that are considered “lesser” in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (Thor, Ant-Man) still tend to generate some positive buzz, though most fans would agree that the Captain America films are superior — and Winter Soldier is almost unanimously revered as the best of the bunch. So it’s not quite surprising that early word on Civil War is good, but the reactions so far are overwhelmingly positive, especially when it comes to that new Spider-Man.

In a few weeks, all the lead-up to Captain America: Civil War will finally come to a head. Long after the movie's release however, Kotobukiya will still be celebrating the big throwdown between the heavyweights late into the fall. Following up on the Hulk vs Hulkbuster and Batman vs Superman ArtFX+ statue series done previously, both Captain America and Iron Man will get new pieces meant to connect together to form one larger statue. As with the previous works Kotobukiya has released in this style, Cap and Iron Man will be made available separately, with each captured in a pose that works well enough on its own. If you manage to snag both however, you get to create a nifty little diorama of Steve and Tony facing off in extremely close quarters.

It’s hard not to think that Marvel’s latest promo for Captain America: Civil War was inspired by the fan-made “Road to Civil War” super-cut from a couple of weeks ago. Like that video, the official “The Past Is Prelude” teaser takes us through the evolution of Tony Stark and Steve Rogers, from their first solo films all the way through Avengers: Age of Ultron and into Civil War. It’s much shorter than that fan-made super-cut, but it still packs an emotional punch.

This post contains spoilers for ‘Captain America: Civil War’ You may be reading that headline thinking, “Wait, Alfre Woodard is in Captain America: Civil War?” She is, though Marvel only officially revealed that little casting tidbit today...