The long awaited “Captain America: Civil War” is fast approaching and like you, we’re excited to see what’s in store when the film is released. Marvel comic book fans, especially, have been hoping for Civil War, one of the all-time great comic book events, to one day make it to the silver screen.
And now that it’s finally becoming a reality, we thought that it’d be apt to compile some fun facts to help you better understand the fascination with “Captain America: Civil War”. Don’t worry, we tried to keep this as spoiler-free as possible.
1. In the beginning, its working title was not “Captain America 3”
We can’t even make this up even if we tried! We all knew it as “Captain America 3” because that was as much as Marvel would tell us. But when principal photography for “Captain America: Civil War” began on 27th April 2016 in Fayette County, Georgia at Pinewood Atlanta Studios, its working title was actually “Sputnik”. What is this “Sputnik” and how is it relevant to “Captain America: Civil War”? Sputnik is was the first artificial Earth satellite that he Soviet Union launched it into an elliptical low Earth orbit some 60 years ago. It was visible all around the Earth and its radio pulses were detectable. This surprise success precipitated the American Sputnik crisis (a period of public fear and anxiety about the perceived technological gap between the US and Soviet Union) and triggered the Space Race, a part of the larger Cold War. Cold War, Civil War, you get the point*.
*This hasn’t been verified by Marvel so we’re just guessing.
2. How “Captain America: Civil War” will kick off
Initially, fans assumed that the film would focus largely on the fallout from “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”, with Steve Rogers hunting for his brainwashed former BFF Bucky and facing the remnants of Hydra alongside Natasha Romanoff and Sam Wilson. But last October, Marvel confirmed that “Captain America: Civil War” would centre on the comics’ divisive Civil War storyline from 2006, which sees Steve Rogers and Tony Stark go head to head over superhero civil rights. The plot picks up where “Avengers: Age of Ultron” left off, as Steve Rogers leads the new team of Avengers in their continued efforts to safeguard humanity. After another international incident involving the Avengers results in collateral damage, politicians form a system of accountability and a governing body to settle on when to call in the Avengers. This results in the fracturing of the team into 2 opposing factions, which start from Steve Rogers, who performs without any sort of regulation from the government, and the other by Tony Stark, who highly supports the government.
3. The film may be a little different from the comics
Although “Captain America: Civil War” will be based on the comic versions, there’s a high chance that it won’t be completely faithful towards the comics. The Russo brothers spent more than a year with the screenwriters and producer Nate Moore combing through the script to make sure each character’s emotional arc tracked correctly. However, they cautioned that at some point “you have to sacrifice logic for expediency” otherwise you end up with a 3-and-a-half hour movie. In fact, the superhero conflict between Captain America and Iron Man will be slightly altered from the source material. But that is in no way insinuating that the film won’t be a great because it is still one of Marvel Comics’ biggest crossover events. The movie’s plot will be tied into the aftermath of “The Avengers: Age of Ultron” and the conclusion of Marvel Cinematic Universe’s (MCU) Phase Two.
4. It’s basically Avengers 2.5, but a few characters won’t be in it
It’s true, and we already know by now that the Hulk (played by Mark Ruffalo), Thor (played by Chris Hemsworth), the Fantastic Four, and some villains from the comics aren’t in the film. But “Captain America: Civil War” will make up for that by introducing another Marvel character, Black Panther, in a big way. Marvel Studios announced the film in October 2014 but they certainly took their time to confirm that Black Panther aka T’Challa would be in it. It is believed that he would be playing a crucial role, similar to the part in the comics played by Spider-Man i.e. torn between both sides. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige confirmed this previously when he said, “The reason we introduced him is because we needed a third party… We needed fresh eyes who wasn’t embedded with the Avengers and who has a very different point of view than either Tony or Steve.” The film is also going to be a big welcome home for Spider-Man to the MCU. In the comics, Spider-Man initially sides with Iron Man but later has a change of heart and chooses to side with Captain America.
5. Who is in it and who is on whose side?
At this point, almost everyone is in it. And for a while, the golden question was, “Who is on whose side?” As seen in the Super Bowl 50 “Captain America: Civil War” spot, on Team Cap, there’s Falcon (played by Anthony Mackie), Hawkeye (played by Jeremy Renner), Ant-Man (played by Paul Rudd), plus of course the Winter Soldier (played by Sebastian Stan), whose friendship with Cap will play a major role in the movie. Team Iron Man’s (played by Robert Downey Jr) side is led by the Vision (played by Paul Bettany), Black Widow (played by Scarlett Johansson), as well as long-time ally War Machine (played by Don Cheadle) and newcomer Black Panther (played by Chadwick Boseman). The Hulks was originally slated to be in it but the screenwriters wrote him out because they felt that he would’ve made the fight uneven since he’s so powerful.
6. There’s a high chance that Ant-Man will get supersized
Marvel Studios confidently introduced Ant-Man (played by Paul Rudd) as part of the “Captain America: Civil War” cast even before audiences have officially met him. And now that we all have seen the tiny little superhero in July 2015’s “Ant-Man” movie, some surprises are in tow for the character for “Captain America: Civil War”. For starters, during an “Ant-Man” press tour, Paul said that although he won’t have a huge (cough) role, it will be “a memorable one”. What did he mean? Well, all signs have pointed to an enhanced version Ant-Man’s suit growing to around 20 – 30ft tall instead of shrinking. Apparently, event is set to happen during Iron Man’s Pro Forces, which will make Ant-Man grow tall and battle against him. We’re also looking forward to Ant-Man offering comic (no pun intended) relief when his absurd moments break the Avengers’ intense seriousness.
P/S: By the way, this wouldn’t come as a surprise to fans of the comics because growing bigger is one of Ant-Man’s abilities.
7. “Hey, everyone”
In May 2015, the Russo brothers, along with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige and Sony’s Amy Pascal, held a screen test in Atlanta for 6 teenage actors that were being eyed for the role of Peter Parker / Spider-Man, with the actors testing against Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans for “chemistry”. Tom Holland, who received praise from the Russo brothers for having a dancing and gymnastics background, was cast as the character the next month, to also appear in a solo film. However, at that time, Marvel couldn’t confirm his involvement in “Captain America: Civil War” due to being contractually obligated not to talk about his inclusion publicly.
Note: Spider-Man is owned and controlled by Sony. It was only recently that Sony and Marvel Studios came to an agreement that would allow Spider-Man to appear in the MCU films.
The Russos discussed this, saying that the various business deals and agreements stemming from the sharing of the character rights, such as on a promotional and commercial level were always lagging slightly behind how we were using the character. “We were always in danger of upsetting the deal – there were still sensitive issues going on between the two studios that they needed to agree on,” they said.
8. Let’s talk about the additional cast members
So, Gwyneth Paltrow and John Slattery will reprise their roles as Pepper Potts and Howard Stark respectively, from previous MCU films. Martin Freeman will be introduced as Everett Ross, a member of the Joint Counter Terrorism Center and a character associated with Black Panther in the comics. Freeman described Ross as someone who “works for the American government, works in conjunction with the superheroes, and certain agencies that help to tame the superheroes’ power”. Emily VanCamp will make her return as Sharon Carter. Alfre Woodard, who portrays Mariah Dillard in the MCU TV series “Luke Cage” will appear in the film as Miriam Sharpe, the mother of an American citizen killed in the battle of Sokovia. Marisa Tomei will play May Parker, Peter Parker’s aunt, while Hope Davis and Jim Rash are cast in undisclosed roles.
Oh, and of course, Stan Lee will make a cameo appearance. Because Marvel legend.
9. More than one villain in the mix
In “Avengers: Age of Ultron”, Tony Stark’s arrogance almost destroyed the planet – although everybody quickly forgave him for that. So it’s easy to assume that he could be the true antagonist in “Captain America: Civil War”. Contrary to popular belief (based on the teasers that have been released to date), Iron Man will not go all crazy and try to kill somebody. There are other villains at play and their names are Baron Zemo (played by Daniel Bruhl) and Crossbones (played by Frank Grillo). In the comics, the Hydra-affiliated Baron Zemo was the one who exposed Winter Soldier/Bucky Barnes to the public. Baron Zemo is also the founder of the Masters of Evil, a supervillain ensemble in the same vein as the Avengers. Crossbones, on the other hand, is responsible for assassinating Captain America (in the comics) after the war had ended.
10. “Captain America: Civil War” could end with Bucky picking up the shield
As General Ross said, “There will be consequences.” so there will be some dramatic deaths in “Captain America: Civil War” because the death toll in the comics is high. In fact, the event of the Civil War comics culminated in the death of Steve Rogers, the original Captain America. But it remains to be seen if Captain America’s death will happen in the movie. Also, it is likely that many heroes won’t survive the war unscathed i.e. the trailer features Tony Stark holding the defeated War Machine. On the other hand, the film may not emulate the comics and judging by the upcoming films and contracts, some characters will survive the war e.g. Iron Man (set to appear in Infinity Wars), Black Panther (5 more Marvel films ahead including his own movie), Spider-Man (has a solo movie in 2017).
Directed by the Russo brothers, “Captain America: Civil War” is slated to arrived in cinemas on 6th May 2016.
For more information, hit up the movie’s website.
Sources: WhatCulture, Digital Spy, Civil War Wiki, Sputnik Wiki, Screen Rant, Collider, mdft, Jarvis City / Featured image via Marvel.
