Twelve films and a sniff over $9 billion in box-office receipts later, it can be hard to remember a time when the prospect of a Marvel Cinematic Universe felt like a gamble. But back in 2008, Iron Man was more or less exactly that: a mid-budget blockbuster from an untested studio, starring an actor of then-uncertain pulling power, and centring on a character with then-untested mass-market appeal. In short, it was exactly the kind of risk that Hollywood almost never takes any more. Why not? Because it’s too busy making films like Iron Man.

Eight years on from that initial bet, Captain America: Civil War is the point at which the Kilimanjaro of chips Marvel has accrued since are triumphantly cashed in. Civil War isn’t just the 13th and latest Marvel Studios film, but the franchise’s long-quested-for peak.