For about 15 minutes, nerds all over the universe stared disbelievingly at their livestream of choice and squeezed their limited edition Captain America pillows until the stuffing came out.

“Serpent Society? That’s the name of the third Captain America movie?”

Twitter meh-xploded, the Marvel Wiki page for “serpent society” was bombarded, internet commentors went into full troll mode, and Captain America fans all over the world kinda looked down at their shoes, put their hands in their pockets, and said “It’s okay. I guess it’s just a movie.”

It sounds like a club Voldemort started when he was six.

Then Kevin Feige revealed that it isn’t just a movie. It’s Civil War.

Okay, now we’re talking.

You see, earlier this month, Marvel revealed that Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark would be playing a large role in the then untitled Captain America 3. Rumors swirled about the potential for an adaptation of Civil War, (I actually asked the Russo Brothers if this was the title a month beforehand, which rendered them speechless) to the delight of some and to the horror of others. Hilariously, fans split themselves into two factions overnight: Anti-Civil Warrers (ACW) and Pro-Civil Warrers (PCW).

Below, we’ll point out the main arguments of both sides and come to a clean, clear, and fair decision on whether or not Civil War is right for the MCU. Hint: It is.

ACW Point #1: There hasn’t been the proper build-up; the Road to Civil War has not been established.

In the comics, there was infinite space to build up for an event like this. Every major series ran a few Civil War-centric issues in the weeks leading up to actual Civil War event, meaning that just about every character was intertwined into this giant conflict in some meaningful way. That’s what gave it such a powerful kick.

In the comic books, the government had literally hundreds of reasons to pass legislation to restrict superhumans; an invasion of New York, a massive Hulk rampage in Las Vegas, and a group of young reality TV show heroes that botch a televised takedown are just a few incidents to stamp with a big red “let’s keep an eye on these guys in particular.” In the end, it’s when Thor’s clone kills Bill Foster, also known as Goliath, when things really get ugly and the government decides to crack down.

PCW Point #1: There aren’t a hundred events that will lead us to ‘Captain America 3: Civil War,’ but the few that do will really hurt

The MCU has seen its share of woes. Yes, most everyone comes back from the dead, and yes stakes can never seem too high when Avengers: Infinity Wars Parts 1 & 2 get release dates and artwork and a trailer months before Age of Ultron hits theaters, but hundreds of people have probably died by now.

Look at it this way. We have Iron Man’s street brawl with Jeff Bridges in Iron Man. We have a Hulk rampage in Harlem and in South Africa by the end of Age of Ultron. We have a crowded technology expo where the drones became unstoppable killing machines and were just big jerks to everyone in general. Even the minor damage the Destroyer caused in New Mexico was enough to get S.H.I.E.L.D. to finally get up off their asses and start making Weapons of Mass Destruction with that Tesseract they found in the ocean all those years ago.

Welp, we found that unlimited source of power. Better sit on it for a few decades.

We also have the invasion of New York, and now we have three helicarriers at the bottom of the Potomac, one of which slammed into a building and probably killed a ton of people. That’s not even counting the fact that a giant spaceship crashed in the middle of London just just under a year ago, or the fact that the President of the United States was kidnapped and put right in the middle of a huge superhuman blowout fight involving Tony Stark last Christmas.

Now add in exactly one crazy robot that incites enough terror to have a movie called Age of freaking Ultron named after him, and you’ve got plenty of reasons to keep a closer eye on these super-fellas.

ACW Point # 2: Nobody in the MCU has a secret identity, so how can the Superhuman Registration Act have any kind of meaningful impact?

In the comics, the legislation was specifically worded so that everyone with superhuman abilities needed to register their secret identity with the government and submit for mandatory training in case they were needed.

Some heroes, like Spider-Man for example, couldn’t take off their mask and risk the safety of their families. Some, like Captain America, didn’t believe that the government had any right to tell anyone to “submit” themselves. Some heroes believed that restrictions and oversight could be a good thing, and would result in less chaos in general. Some thought that putting themselves on any kind of a list was a great way to get themselves killed.

Every character was affected on a personal level by different parts of the law, and there were so many reasons to be either pro- or anti-registration. That’s what made it interesting. The characters didn’t just arbitrarily pick a side. Each of them had their own specific interests at stake.

PCW Point #2: It won’t be about identities, it will be about submission.

Although the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. was a huge turning point of the MCU, it can be easy to forget everything else that happened in its wake. Like when Black Widow threw all of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s files on the internet, and when major members of the World Security Council (the guys that overrode Nick Fury’s security clearance and threatened to fire Alexander Pierce) had holes burned into their chests. Natasha testified to the rest of the council afterwards, sure, but she basically told them to shut up and deal.

Included in Natasha’s Snowden leak were the identities and past records of everyone that’s ever interacted with S.H.I.E.L.D., which is just about everyone who’s anyone in the MCU. So it’s not about the secret identities, it’s about putting your name on a list and being turned into a mandatory Avenger. It’s about heroes like Falcon and War Machine not having a choice but to suit up and fight whatever battle the American government felt like fighting that day.

Cap has plenty of reasons to distrust a powerful centralized governing force (the last one he worked for turned out to be those damned Nazis again), so the drama of the movie will most likely focus on him not wanting to submit to the government after the destruction that’s certain to take place during Age of Ultron.

Don’t forget, it is a Captain America movie.

ACW Point #3: Exactly! Civil War is an epic! It’s certainly too big and awesome to contain in one Captain America movie!

Civil War was a story that encompassed the entire Marvel Universe — it spanned over 40 books, involved dozens of key players across their franchises, and amounted to a lot more than Iron Man versus Captain America. The narrative build up and ground that would need to be covered to do the storyline the justice it deserves will need to dedicate more than one film, and more than just a few characters, to the cause.

If we begin Civil War, complete it in one movie, and then move into Infinity Wars, we won’t have any time to reflect on what is known as one of the greatest and most politically symbolic comic runs of the decade.

PCW Point #3: Yeah, you have a point there. But we still get Tony Stark vs. Steve Rogers!

More than likely, Captain America 3: Civil War will end on a cliffhanger that won’t get resolved until Avengers: Infinity Wars. Either that, or they end the film with Crossbones doing what Crossbones is best known for doing. They didn’t introduce him in Winter Soldier for no reason, folks. No matter what happens, I don’t believe the end of Captain America: Civil War will be the end of the Civil War.

Man, Disney really loves their wars.

It’s a bummer to think that about 99 percent of the Marvel Universe won’t be able to participate in Captain America: Civil War, especially since many of the MCU’s existing and established characters probably won’t be there either. We’ll get Bucky and Falcon and Agent 13 and that whole crowd, but don’t expect to see too many familiar faces other than Tony Stark’s in this crossover event.

However, it will be a fascinating experiment to see if Stark turns out to be Steve’s main antagonist in the film, and there’s certainly plenty of meat there to fill up the film’s running time if that ends up being the case.

ACW Point #4: But they won’t have the friendship and history that they had in the comics, so it won’t be nearly as impactful!

Simply put, Steve Rogers and Tony Stark just don’t have the close friendship that they do in the comic books. In order for Civil War to have the devastating emotional impact it did in the comics, it requires that betrayal — and unless Age of Ultron suggests that they’ve been spending a lot of time together off screen, it’s going to be hard to get around that.

PCW Point #4: Yeah, but they’ve always disliked each other in this universe.

The first time these two talked, they bonded over kicking Loki’s ass in Germany. Before that, however, the two had already made up their minds about eachother. Steve was never particularly fond of Howard Stark during their time together, and Tony has said a few things that seem to imply that he still has several daddy issues connected to Cap (“That’s the guy my dad wouldn’t shut up about? I wonder if we shoulda kept him on ice.”), so their friendship was almost doomed from the start.

Sure, Tony eventually lets Cap give him orders during the battle of New York (a very out-of-character moment for him), but most of their time together is spent trying not to strangle the other. It took a rogue God, an alien invasion, and a dead colleague to get these two to tolerate each other long enough to save the world, so we’re dealing with a very different character dynamic from the beginning.

Now just take a look at what they can accomplish when they put their heads together.

Or maybe Tony was trying to just blast Cap during all the confusion and Cap was too quick for him.

NICE TRY, TONY.

What we’re saying is that they don’t need to be best friends before they butt heads. In fact, the animosity between the two from the beginning will probably elevate the amount of drama we see on screen. They saved the world together, and that’s a bond that’s just as painful to break as a deep friendship.

ACW Point #5: Also, WHERE’S SPIDER-MAN?!

You just can’t do Civil War without Spider-Man. You can’t. His decision to reveal his identity and potentially put his loved ones in danger was a major turning point of the story. To deny Peter Parker of this pivotal moment would truly change everything that Civil War was actually about.

PCW Point #5: HE’S STILL AT SONY, WHERE HE WAS ABANDONED YEARS AGO.

This is still a sore point for many fans, and it’s understandable. Marvel sold Spider-Man to Sony back when they were still scrounging for couch pennies, but now they’ve re-emerged from the ashes as a beautiful phoenix made out of cash. There’s no official word on if Sony is willing to rent out their biggest hero for this once-in-a-lifetime event, but even if they don’t, Civil War can go on without him.

Oh, me? I’m doing fine. Why do you ask?

At this point, the MCU has changed so much from the original comics that it makes far more sense to completely change major aspects of the story in order to better fit it into their pre-existing world. Jamming Spider-Man and Iron Man into a Captain America movie may end up watering down the whole experience and tainting the explosive relationship between Tony and Steve that they’ve been working toward since The Avengers.

Whose Side Are You On?

This was the main tagline for the Marvel’s Civil War event back in 2006, and it applies very well to fans that don’t know which side of the fence to join. Marvel has done an excellent job so far of interpreting these legendary stories for film, which as I’ve written about before, can be an extremely difficult job.

Odds are, a lot of the things that made Civil War work in the comics won’t work on screen. It’s up to the Russo brothers to decide what will make it work and what won’t, and after seeing The Winter Soldier a few dozen times, I’m inclined to trust them.

What do you think? Are you excited to see Civil War unfold on screen? Do you think that this story is better left preserved in the page of the comics?

Donya Abramo contributed her Anti-Civil War sentiments to this feature.