Was Captain America: TWS better than its sequel?

Yes

The Cpatain America is one of the very few trilogies that actually got better with each sequel..maybe the only one?

No. Tighter =/= Better.

Look, a movie is nothing if not held by characters. Your characters need to carry the film. Your story can be interesting, but if your characters are flat, I will not enjoy the film all that much. In Civil War, the film is 100% carried by character dynamics. The ideologies of Steve and Tony, Bucky's sympathetic nature, Scarlet Witch afraid of her own powers, Vision getting accustomed to humanity, Black Widow's caring nature + T'Challa and Spider-Man. Virtually every character was a scene stealer.

That's what made Civil War such a great film. Not the action, or the fan service. Yes, those elevate the movie into something incredible, but I will not care all that much if not for the characters. And in this case, Civil War was great because you got to watch each character unfold in their own way. It was fantastic.

The Winter Soldier ISN'T bad, but not a whole lot stood out, IMO. With the exception of some great set pieces, the film was average-to-above average. Partially because I do not find the characters all that interesting.

CW was better imo.

Let me clarify.....

It had a better focus naturally but Civil War's bigger scope puts it above in my opinion.

Yes.

I thought Winter Soldier was better.

Civil War was very good though.

Yes. It's my second-favorite MCU movie after Guardians.

I really enjoyed the action scenes in TWS but most of the fights in CW were just as or even more impressive as the ones in the previous film, likely due to the scale of them. I really enjoyed the introduction of Bucky as a villain in TWS but I also had a lot of fun in watching each character choose their side in CW as well as the premier of Black Panther. They're pretty similar in my eyes.

I thought it was way better than CW.

My second best CBM.

TWS is overrated.

No, I prefer Civil War.

I would say so. I had a ton of problems with CW. Tony's character in particular and there was a ton of fat.

Better than CW? No way!

Better than CW! Especially the action.

Civil War was an Avengers movie. Lets be real here.

Absolutely yes.

And...

I honestly dont know but I -do- know is that both movies are better than BvS!

Yes, by a good margin.

I have no qualms conceding that about it, it does feel like Avengers 2.5. But I still find it a toss up between TWS and CW personally.

I would say so. In terms of action and character development.

Not really a fair question as TWS hasn't really had a sequel. I know CW is billed that way, but c'mon, that was an Avengers movie. Still, TWS was better than CW, CW had quite a few faults folks over-look because...I don't know why, maybe because it's an MCU movie? To be fair, so did TWS. That said, both were good movies but I liked TWS better.

@petey_is_spidey: i hope number 1 is none other than TDK

CW is a trash covered all over with hype.

No.

TWS is so much better than Civil War. It really isn't close. I'd rather see it again for the fourth time than go back and watch Civil War.

@wbr17: Well...like...that's only your opinion man. CW was better than TWS imo

CW was garbage, Spiderman wasn't necessary. Wanda and Vision's relationship was extremely corny. Zemo trying to commit suicide, boy the hell? That corny *** scene where Steve smiles n bout to break em out is corny. Cap was supposed to die in Civil War.

MCU is absolutely garbage, with Disney looking over their backs and telling them what to do, they will never be good.

CW is just hyped trash, this travesty is getting good reviews.

WS was much better.

@incursion2: Ok...

@theamazingspidey: Wow, great explanation. You convinced me.

@petey_is_spidey: whats number 1

Civil Dispute was just Avengers 2.5. Winter Soldier was an actual Cap movie and felt like it was trying to be more than a CBM.

TWS is the "better movie", but I liked Civil War more for the characters

Green Lantern

WS was much better than CW. Felt like a complete movie rather than a five minute action scene.

Glad I could :)

From one movie fan to another, I find everything occurring being important to the story a bit overrated.

Vision and Wanda's story arcs ensure that they feel like 3-dimensional people. Not just characters.

Spider-Man is just a TON of fun.

Besides, Vision and Wanda didn't detract from the overall quality of the film. The ideological conflict between Iron Man and Captain America is still explored.

When your story is more layered then your characters, it's usually a problem. The Winter Soldier is that.

Yes. It was a better, more balanced movie.

I preferred Civil War, but TWS was brilliant.

That still doesn't explain why you believe that the development of Vision and Wanda hurt the film. Because it - the film - still explored the psychology of Tony Stark and Steve Rogers to a sufficient degree. The primary focus of the film.

If we were left with the film of poor logic and character development, your case would be registrable. But in this case, we got an ideological conflict which made it very difficult to pick a side. That is the main focus of the film, and seeing as it succeeded in that regard, the overall quality of the film was not hurt.

Besides, Wanda being held in solitary is integral to fleshing out her motivations.

Here's the thing. The story can be the greatest thing dropped on the superhero genre, but if i) characters are more layered than plot and ii) I simply don't care.

The Winter Soldier suffered in both of these aspects, and Civil War excelled where The Winter Soldier could not.

1) Characters are more layered than plot: Yes, this applies to Civil War. You continuously praise TWS for a plot in which every story beat matter. Eventually, I think it boils down to personal preference. Every thing you disliked about Civil War, I loved. I love that they developed Wanda and Vision because they felt like people, not movie characters.

2) I simply don't care: No matter how good a story is, I can only appreciate it so much if it doesn't matter to me. The Winter Soldier ISN'T a bad story. It's actually quite thrilling in parts. But I didn't care a lot for it. Spider-Man is in Civil War, but I care. Because I NEVER thought I'd see Spider-Man side by side with the Avengers any sooner. But I did.

Nah, enjoyed Civil War a lot more. Character dynamics and motives were pitch perfect, story was a lot more emotional and deep, arguably the best villain in the MCU, Spider-Man, and the best fight scene in a CBM.

Winter Soldier didn't do nearly as much for me by comparison.

This summarises my thoughts to an extremely relatable degree.

That's also exactly how I feel about The Winter Soldier. It didn't do a whole lot for me. In contrast to Civil War, which pulled off everything you cited.