Critics and fans alike loved Marvel's Captain America: Civil War when it released earlier this year.
DC's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice? Not so much. Why is that? Most would say because the films are radically different, but as this Honest Trailer shows, the two superhero versus superhero movies share more than a few similarities.
For example, Captain America: Civil War and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice each feature American superhero icons battling against non-superpowered billionaire playboys (Captain America vs. Iron Man and Superman vs. Batman). Both movies feature a non-superpowered villain whose plan is to pit heroes into battling one another (Zemo and Lex Luthor). The plan of the villain in each film involves blowing up a meeting of government officials as well as using the mothers of the various heroes to manipulate them. Even some of the action scenes look kind of similar when played side-by-side.
Why, then, was one film so well-received while the other wasn't? The Honest Trailer dives into that subject a little bit, too. The action scenes in Captain America: Civil War are simply stunning, for starters, with the Honest Trailer remarking multiple times about the airport fight sequence between the two teams of heroes. Seeing Ant-Man grow to massive size and Spider-Man steal the show in a Marvel Cinematic Universe film for the first time were "Wow!" moments that Batman v Superman simply can't match.
It also comes down to the characters themselves. Marvel took its time to establish each hero as a character over the course of numerous films, which results in some actual emotion when the former friends finally do fight. Moviegoers have grown attached to these heroes over the last decade. In Batman v Superman, on the other hand, fans have just been introduced to Ben Affleck's Batman for the first time. Couple that with the fact that Henry Cavill's Superman only appeared in one film prior, the also poorly-received Man of Steel, and it's easy to see why fans might not feel as emotionally attached to the on screen action in Batman v Superman when compared with Captain America: Civil War.
The Honest Trailer pokes fun at plenty of other elements from Captain America: Civil War as well, including Zemo's convoluted plot and Captain America's various relationships. You can watch the video for yourself above.
