Kapow! Superheroes strike back: As Batman v Superman is panned by the critics, Iron Man and Captain America are in rip-roaring form writes BRIAN VINER

Captain America: Civil War (12A) 

Rating:

Scrapping superheroes are suddenly all the rage. Hardly have the critics stopped mauling the incoherent and insufferably self-important Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice than here comes another clash of irresistible forces and immoveable objects.

But this, I’m relieved to say, is an entirely different kettle of super-fish.

If not quite as stupendously wonderful as some of the breathless early reviews suggest, Captain America: Civil War still deserves a prominent place in what is so grandiosely called the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As befits a film that was colossally expensive to make (Robert Downey Jnr’s fee alone is reportedly enough to make the knees buckle), it is spectacular, exhilarating and showy: the action flits from London to New York via Lagos, Vienna, Bucharest and Berlin.

If not quite as stupendously wonderful as some of the breathless early reviews suggest, Captain America: Civil War still deserves a prominent place in what is so grandiosely called the Marvel Cinematic Universe

But best of all, and unlike the match-up between the Caped Crusader and the Man of Steel, it never takes itself too seriously. Wit is at least as important as volume; the essence of any really good superhero movie.

‘You’re being uncharacteristically non-hyper-verbal,’ says Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow, wryly, to Tony Stark/Iron Man (Downey Jnr), when for a rare moment he falls silent and contemplative.

He has much to be contemplative about. One of the problems with the rival DC empire’s Batman v Superman was that it piled up unsubtle allusions to God, 9/11 and the spectre of nuclear holocaust.

But the superhero universe does need to remind us of our own, and in this film the big issue is that ghastly military euphemism for the regrettable slaughter of innocent people: collateral damage.

The Avengers and Iron Man have caused far too much of it in the relentless fight against evil, and the United Nations, with the backing of the U.S. Secretary of State (William Hurt), want them brought to heel.

But best of all, and unlike the match-up between the Caped Crusader and the Man of Steel, it never takes itself too seriously. Wit is at least as important as volume; the essence of any really good superhero movie

That’s what causes the super-schism: Iron Man and Black Widow, plus others including War Machine (Don Cheadle) and Vision (Paul Bettany), think the UN might have a point. They are willing to make themselves more accountable.

But Captain America (Chris Evans) volubly leads the opposing gang, insisting that the Avengers should kow-tow to no one, especially not politicians.

The formidable band behind him includes Falcon (Anthony Mackie), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen).

Also mixed up in this internecine brouhaha are Ant-Man (Paul Rudd), and the latest Marvel Comics superhero to be made flesh, T’Challa/Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman, last seen playing the ‘Godfather of Soul’ James Brown in Get On Up), as well as one rather more familiar character: Peter Parker/Spider-Man.

This, however, is a brand new Spider-Man, played by 19-year-old English actor Tom Holland, who made his name on the West End stage as the ballet dancing Billy Elliot.

I suppose going from Billy Elliot to Spider-Man is a natural leap.

t’s always fun to watch Marvel films, as I did, in the company of diehard fans, who cheer every quip and nuance

Whatever, Holland should, in forthcoming Marvel movies, become a Spider-Man to savour.

He doesn’t get much screen time here, but directors Joe and Anthony Russo (the brothers from Ohio who also directed 2014’s excellent Captain America: The Winter Soldier), along with writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, weave plenty from what little he has.

They give him the lovely Marisa Tomei as Aunt May, and some prize dialogue. Sweetly, Peter is not sure he can get involved in any international superhero business on account of having too much homework.

And when he does don his famous skin-tight costume, he is properly indignant when Stark accuses him of sporting a ‘onesie’.

Even for those of us who aren’t comic-book devotees, Captain America: Civil War scores as pure cinematic escapism

Eventually, inevitably, the two factions collide, in what is basically a giant game of Rock, Paper, Scissors — can Captain America’s powers trump Iron Man’s? Is Black Widow strong and resourceful enough to deal with Falcon?

Our loyalties are divided, which of course is the idea, but we, the audience — and they, the superheroes — need an antagonist to unite against, and get one in the form of Helmut Zemo (Daniel Bruhl).

He not only has Cap’s former best friend, Bucky Barnes (otherwise known as the Winter Soldier, and played by Sebastian Stan), in his thrall, but might just have masterminded the whole civil war thing in a fiendish bid to get the forces of good destroying each other.

I’ll give no more away, save to say that it’s always fun to watch Marvel films, as I did, in the company of diehard fans, who cheer every quip and nuance, and practically hug themselves with delight when the creator of many of these characters — that spritely nonagenarian Stan Lee — pops up in his usual Hitchcockian cameo role.

But even for those of us who aren’t comic-book devotees, Captain America: Civil War scores as pure cinematic escapism.