by Amanda Keats

Avenger fans, assemble! Or, rather, unassemble. The latest Captain America offering, Captain America: Civil War, takes many of our beloved Avengers (and some exciting new additions) and pits them against each other, forcing them to choose whose side they actually want to avenge.

It’s not like this is a particularly new concept in the Marvel franchise. After all, Bucky went from best friend to freakishly strong enemy. People who we thought were the good guys turned out to be part of Hydra. Loki, the brother we all love to hate, just wouldn’t stop trying to fulfil his glorious purpose. Tony Stark created an AI set on global destruction. Hulk’s smashing got a little out of hand. So what’s changed for Cap since we saw him last? Here’s a recap on how far our favourite superhero has come.

Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

Steve Rogers has had one of the most dramatic journeys of the group, seeing as he started his quite a bit earlier than the others. When fans first met him in Captain America: The First Avenger, he was physically weak but emotionally strong, fuelled on a diet of integrity and moral fibre. A hint of magical serum later and he had the physique to match that never-wavering moral compass.

Avengers Assemble (2012)

Avengers Assemble brought Cap into the modern era with a jolt and, after taking his frustrations out on a few punch bags, he proved his leadership skills and composure by guiding the avengers in a fight against Loki and his evil army, who were trying to take over the planet. He saved the day, and then went for shawarma. And it was glorious.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

In this second Captain America film, however, the waters were more than a little muddied for our patriotic hero. Starting to doubt whether he was actually fighting on the ‘right’ side, he started to dig deeper into SHIELD’s secrets and uncovered the truth behind Hydra, an organisation buried deep within SHIELD and one with its own, very unpleasant, agenda.

 Avengers: Age of Ultron 

These cracks just got bigger when, in Avengers: Age of Ultron, serious doubts were raised as to the extent of Tony Stark’s God complex. In trying to fix the world, Stark created Ultron. As they fought to stop Ultron, the team started to break off into its own smaller groups. Hulk started to pull away from the others, Hawkeye (Clint Barton) revealed that he had a family hidden away, and two new enemies were persuaded to join the avengers. Oh, and Paul Bettany got to use more than just his voice with the creation of the Vision.