Captain America: Civil War took the MCU down the wrong path

In practical terms, we are years if not decades away from the end of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But if it truly hopes to emulate its comic-book source material in longevity, Marvel will have to accept a formulation of eras — silver, golden, platinum, infinity, whatever you want to call them — delineating various groupings of superhero movies in terms of quality and style, not just their phased narrative arcs. Most people would probably agree that at some point in the past decade, the golden age of the MCU ended. What they might not realize is that the seeds of its destruction were planted by no less a beloved figure than Captain America (perhaps the single character most thoroughly redeemed in his journey from the comics to the MCU) in a movie that was a critically admired, fan-approved box office hit.