All those characters are as involved in the movie as the premise and character allowed.
Because Sharon is a SHIELD agent and the movie heavily involved SHIELD. She could have been a character that's not "just" a love interest.
I really don't think it's the difference that would have made Lawrence being interested in Sharon Carter role, which is too little bite of a cake for her. And I'm not sure Marvel was ready to pay so much money for this one role too. Or maybe they wanted to avoid the same problems they were having with Portman and Paltrow.
As if those two are mutually exclusive.
No, but I'm trying to explain why it's understandable, that the Russos, in order to make the best possible movie, considered BW played by Scarlett being a better option as a female lead in TWS. But yes, that was a bad excuse for giving Sharon such a small role. Two and even three females can have decent roles in the same movie. I'm pretty sure that in IW BW, Wanda, Carol, Gamora, Mantis, Nebula each will have more screentime, than Sharon has in CW. IDK, maybe the Russos didn't like Sharon in the comics and they are biased. We will never know. It's strange, as I've said.
I still think that Sharon should have been on BW's place in Civil War. And BW could have been on hers. I also would have liked to see the stakes raised between Steve and Sharon: to develop a romance properly between two characters, you need to see what happens to them when they're under significant pressure. Sharon saw the devastation of the Winter Soldier firsthand, and many of her colleagues were killed. She would have every reason to believe that arresting Bucky, or simply having Bucky in protective custody, even if she believes he wasnt responsible for his actions, would be the right thing. Instead of it she risks her freedom and career for them JUST BECAUSE Steve told her Bucky told him he was triggered?? It's not even funny anymore. Zemo being a terrorist doesn't automatically mean Bucky is innocent, there is NO proof of triggers whatsoever, so it can't be proved that she wasn't helping a wanted terrorist, if she's arrested. How could she not be aware of that? I don't understand why people still praise the Russos and the screenwriters for doing ALL the characters justice, when it's obviously not the case. They turned Sharon into some kind of Steve's crazy fangirl, which is pretty infuriating by itself.
Unless you argue that TWS was a sequel more to TFA than it was The Avengers.
It doesn't matter, which is sequel to which. The audience had already seen the Avengers, so by your logic they shouldn't have been interested after that in any solo-movies.
But no one was fooled for a second she wasn't going to be back.
It's really very hard to fool the audience these days. And it's because Marvel takes no risks. BW as a complex female villain would be very interesting twist instead of predictable Mordo.
Exactly. So maybe stop pretending Natasha being "platonic" is a big deal.
Because THIS was breaking the mold. (Not extremely predictable "Sharon could be a traitor, but she turned out to be a love interest". Come-on, female lead usually never goes bad, and even if she does, she redeems herself in the end. Remember TDKR? Cat-woman was exactly that.) Everyone, who hasn't read comic-books, thought Cap and Nat would get together. But that didn't happen and it's not gonna happen. That was a really refreshing move for the comicbook flick.
Because Sharon was in the concept art while Wanda wasn't. So they thought that Wanda was being in the movie at "Wanda's" expense.
It's crazy. It's called "Captain America: Civil War", not "The Avengers: Civil War". Sharon being in the movie, should have had a bigger role, than Wanda. And women are not interchangeable. Why it's not Ant-Man, for example, who took Wanda's place?
You mean promo-art, right? I remember Wanda being on concept arts along with Sharon. Wanda's fans need to come to terms that her character being shared with FOX might still have problems with promo/merch materials going forward. Wanda and her brother were absent from AoU promo/merch-arts as well. Why did everyone forget that? We should expect the same with IW. We might need a disclaimer for this, so everyone would stop asking: "Where is Wanda?". Anyway, that was BEFORE the movie. After the movie Wanda's fans should be good.
And tbh, Steggy's fans too. This is why there is no point in being a shipper. Your ship can be broken at ANY second as the situations with Pepper/Tony and Thor/Jane showed. It's not like where was any chance for Steve and Peggy to get back together ever again and CW made it seem like he's interestred in Sharon because of Peggy. And while I did get some kind of attraction from Steve ever since TWS, it wasn't a "I'm falling in love with you", it was more of a feeling he'd like to do her, but falling in love with her? No. This contrast just shows how special was Peggy in his life.
And even BuckySteve fans, what they are angry for? One chaste kiss? Ridiculous. It's not like LGBT couple could ever happen in this kind of movie. People put WAY TOO MUCH importance in the romantic relationships. All the emotional buildup in Civil War (in fact the 2 previous Captain America films as well) occur between Steve and Bucky, not Steve and Sharon. In the entire CA trilogy, Bucky is the damsel in distress, Bucky is the one that put the Cap off-guard, Bucky is the one that causes Cap to become Captain America and give up that same identity (by dropping his shield twice). Bucky is in fact the romantic lead, the cause of Steve's life-changing decisions, not Sharon Carter. BuckySteve fans should be over the moon and stars with happiness. But if they are angry, because the kiss looked like a no-homo outing, then, well, it's hard to accuse them and say they don't have a point, since it was really too rushed for no visible reason, it's like someone panicked. But they should be mad at studio, Marvel, the Russos, the writers, and so on. And maybe even at Evans. Doesn't he have some input in his character, unlike many other actors with less significant roles? IDK, it's strange for him to film this first and only then to say 'it was icky'. What were you thinking, while shooting all this, dude? It's YOUR character, after all.
Again, you bring up sexiness. Why should Steve's "platonic friend" be sexy?
It's not like she SHOULD BE. It's about "why not"? It's not for Steve, it's for the audience. The point is, with all due respect to VanCamp, Scarlett is more entertaining actress because she has all these different traits at the very-very high and extraordinary quality. It doesn't mean, that VanCamp is bad or something, I really haven't seen her much to judge (although her delivery of one line in CW came out being so rushed for me, that I couldn't understand the proper meaning of it for quite long), but it's just that it's very hard to be on the same level with Johansson for like 90-95% of actresses. Add to this, that unlike Sharon, BW has a dark past and grey area to explore, she has more potential as a character.
By that logic, this isn't a comedy, so there should be no jokes.
Did I say there should be NO romances at all? No, I've said that not every single hero needs an obligatory love-interest. It's becoming too repetitive and formulaic, especially when the majority of MCU romances are underdeveloped. It's obvious, that this isn't where their priorities are. Which is fine, but then
don't include it at all, you know.