The Pinoy Hype For Captain America: Civil War And Why I’m Disappointed By It

“Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.”

~Eleanor Roosevelt

2016 sure has quite a bit to show us with a huge lineup of superhero films. So far, we got a taste of Deadpool in February and we can only expect more with other titles like X-Men: Apocalypse and Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice. More importantly however (at least for me and other Marvel Comics fans anyway) we have Captain America: Civil War which will include a huge roster of superheroes including the friendly-neighborhood Spider-Man and the Black Panther who will be making his first appearance in the MCU or Marvel Cinematic Universe.

This time, the story will pit the titular Captain America and his companions against his former ally Iron Man who wants to have a kind of “registration system” for superheroes. After all, according to Tony Stark, would you really want super-powered people to run around and do as they please considering they have the potential to destroy a city by themselves if given enough time? Champion of Freedom Captain Steve Rogers on the other hand believes in personal freedom and thinks that governments are even less trustworthy than superheroes and thus is adamant that the latter should not be beholden to the former.

However, while I am indeed excited for the upcoming MCU film, I’m somewhat saddened by the shallow hype a lot of Pinoys have for the superhero movie. Instead of focusing on the film’s overall theme of “order vs. chaos”, it seems that more Pinoys actually care about the hot bodies of Chris Evans, Tom Holland and, for the guys, Scarlett Johansson. Granted, I’d be lying if I say I don’t find Black Widow attractive and is one of the reasons I enjoy watching the MCU films, I still think that the fanservice she provides is only icing on the cake rather than the cake itself.

Okay, as another example, I’m going to cite the anime Witchblade which I thoroughly enjoyed. As you probably know, just like the American comic series its attached to, the Witchblade anime was loaded with tons and tons of fanservice which focused primarily on the mature figures of the female characters. However, I must add that I enjoyed the domestic drama of the series just as much as the full-figured women of the show or even more so. The story of a single mother trying to raise her daughter in an unfair and sometimes even cruel world reminded me all too much of my own mother’s efforts to make sure I grew up correctly with the right values.

However, now that I think about it, why am I even wondering? Filipinos were the same people who care more about the APEC hotties of 2015 (which, for some strange reason included President Aquino who is anything but) than they did about the actual topic of APEC and the issues that they would have to address. These are the same people who largely ignored Heneral Luna over another infidelity film with a typical plot and lackluster characters but just happens to feature Derek Ramsey’s good looks.

Grimwald

I HAVE RETURNED TO LAY WASTE TO OUR ENEMIES!