Captain america: civil war
Steve Rogers and Tony Stark pick super-teams.
THE GREAT DIVIDE
Captain America: Civil War Starring Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Chadwick Boseman, Elizabeth Olsen Directors Anthony Russo, Joe Russo ETA 29 April
It’s the first time Steve doesn’t really know the answer,” admits Chris Evans of Mr Rogers’ conundrum in his latest ‘solo’ adventure. “In the first Captain America it’s pretty clear Nazis are bad. We can all agree with that. In Captain America: The
Winter Soldier, it’s S.H.I.E.L.D. being run by Hydra. In the Avengers movies, aliens are no good; we want to fight them.” For a complex cinematic universe that so far comprises 12 movies across two distinct ‘phases’, he has a way of making it all sound pretty simple. One of the most thoroughly decent good guys in a landscape of sometimes shady, often snarky antiheroes, Steve Rogers (aka Captain
“There are no clear lines between what is right and what is wrong. there’s just a point of view...” Chris evans
America) has found himself with reasons to rally against authority since emerging from the deepfreeze, but Captain America: Civil War – the first film in the MCU’s Phase 3 – sees the clean-cut soldier at his most conflicted when he finds himself facing off against his former teammate Tony Stark, aka Iron Man.
“It’s always been pretty cut and dry for him to know which side of the coin to fall on, but this one is tricky because this conflict is a little more akin to a day-to-day struggle that we all go through where there are no clear lines between what is right, and what is wrong,” continues Evans. “There’s just a point of view, and I think it’s hard for him to understand what the right thing to do is and what his role is this time around.”
There’s a lot to wrap your head around when it comes to Civil War; the dizzying cast list has seen it dubbed ‘ Avengers 2.5’. Featuring almost a full roster of Avengers (Chris Hemsworth’s Thor and Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk are sitting it out), it boasts a line-up usually reserved for one of the phase-capping event movies. Picking up story threads from The
Winter Soldier and Avengers: Age Of Ultron (with
a dash of Ant-Man), a ‘Previously in the MCU’ prologue wouldn’t go amiss, particularly as this is a franchise in which there are stakes and consequences. In The Winter Soldier, S.H.I.E.L.D. crumbled; by the credits-roll on Age Of Ultron, there was an entirely new Avengers line-up.
“We do very much pick up the storytelling where The Winter Soldier and Age Of Ultron left off,” explains director Anthony Russo, one half
of the sibling duo who also helmed Cap’s last outing and will oversee the upcoming twopart Avengers: Infinity War. The directors are chatting to Total Film after a couple of days of reshoots. (“All the [ TV] shows we’ve worked on, we always had a policy of reshooting,” explains Anthony’s brother/directing partner Joe. “You make the movie three times: you write it, you shoot it, you edit it. You can really move the needle of the movie [ with reshoots].”) Picking up from The Winter Soldier means dealing with Bucky Barnes. Cap’s former brother-in-arms turned brainwashed assassin, Bucky (Sebastian Stan) is struggling to fit into a world where he’s an an outcast and a criminal. “Where you see him at the postcredits scene [ in The Winter Soldier], which is at that museum, he’s starting to put the pieces together about his past and learn about what he’s been up to,” laughs Stan. “It’s a very difficult starting point for him.”
And picking up after Age Of Ultron means dealing with the Sokovia incident, the Avengers’ most recent escapade that saw a considerable chunk of the Eastern European city hoisted skyward by a rogue AI, before it all came crashing to the ground. The similarities between this year’s Batman V Superman:
Dawn Of Justice and Civil War don’t stop at the clashing heroes; both films see their supers having to face the cost of their world-saving missions. “Tony is confronted by a civilian who gets in his face and in his head about the Avengers’ collateral damage,” explains Robert Downey Jr., returning to the role of the genius, billionaire, playboy philanthropist for the sixth time (if you’re not counting his post-credits sting in The Incredible Hulk). “Tony looks back on things, gets his bearings and doesn’t do the obvious thing; he takes a conservative point of view.”
When the government proposes the Sokovia Accords agreement – to monitor and regulate the superheroes – Cap and Iron Man come down on different sides of the fence. Stark’s surprise choice sees him enter an “uneasy alliance” with Thaddeus Ross (William Hurt, reprising his
Incredible Hulk character). “I love that Steve gets to develop friction with Tony Stark,” says Evans. “They’re very different men but they really do want the same thing. It’s like politics – we all want a happy result, we’re all trying to fight for good, but we just have very different beliefs and very strong convictions about how to do it.”
If the rift starts with the Sokovia Accords, it’s intensified by Cap’s relationship with Bucky. “Bucky is Cap’s best friend,” states Evans. “He’s his oldest friend in the world.” Having previously faced him as the Winter Soldier, Cap is sympathetic to his old bud’s predicament, and as evidenced by Ant-Man’s post-credits tease, he’s not willing to hand
him over to the authorities. “They both have the same thing in common, right?” Stan asks
TF while ruminating on the relationship. “They’re two people out of time. They don’t really have a past. Their past, their family, their world: it’s all gone. Their relationship now is based on what those things are that they have in common, much more than it is ‘best old pals from the ’40s’.”
An incident between Bucky and James ‘War Machine’ Rhodes (Don Cheadle) further drives the wedge between Steve and Tony, resulting in the rift that spawns the civil war of the title. The epic-scale in-fighting is the “smart, sexy Marvel idea” in contrast with the colossal Avengers events, according to Downey. For the Russos, once the genie was let out of the bottle, it was never going to go back in. “Once we started thinking about Civil War, we just kept coming back to it,” says Anthony Russo. “The idea just kept getting stronger and stronger in our minds.” Taking inspiration from the Mark Millar-penned 2006/7 comics run of the same name, Civil War is not a straight-up adaptation. “It’s a very different take on it,” confirms Joe Russo. “It’s loosely based on the comic. It borrows from the spirit of the comic… It’s the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s war.”
With war, there are always sides to be chosen. “I think team Cap stacks up pretty well!” laughs Evans. “We certainly hold our own.” Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson (aka Falcon), is a newly minted Avenger, and he’s building on his relationship with Cap from TWS. “You see Sam become more of a confidante and a colleague of Cap,” says Mackie. “And also, you see Sam more on his own, making decisions and working as
an Avenger on his own.” Naturally Bucky also sides with Cap. “It’s easy for Bucky,” confirms Stan. “Bucky just goes, ‘I’m going to follow the guy that I might have a future with, that might help me live a life.’” Also on Steve’s side are Ant-Man (Scott Lang being a Cap fanboy), Hawkeye, and Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen), another recent addition to the Avengers team who actually hails from Sokovia. “Where we pick up,” says Olsen, “I think it’s roughly about a year after the Sokovian disaster. [ Wanda] has adopted the Avengers as a surrogate family, so she’s now part of the team. She’s more confident in her abilities.”
Stark has an equally intimidating line-up on his side. “I was tickled to get Black Widow,” chuckles Downey. “Since Iron Man 2 Natasha [ and Tony Stark
have] never shared an hour where one of them wasn’t trying to deceive the other one. Particularly after Captain America: The Winter Soldier and how close she and Cap were.” Scarlett Johansson, returning to play Widow for the fifth time, eyes the teams from a cooler perspective. “Natasha doesn’t take things personally and isn’t really about taking sides, per se,” she says. “I don’t think she sees things quite so black and white. She likes to live in that grey area.”
A couple of former allies naturally side with Tony. He and Rhodes go way back (to when Rhodes was actually played by Terrence Howard), and Paul Bettany’s Vision – sprung from Tony’s former operating system-cumbutler J.A.R.V.I.S. – is another natural fit. But Stark also brings a couple of significant new players to the table, including Black Panther, the costumed alter ego of T’Challa, a royal from (fictional) African nation Wakanda (visited briefly in Age Of
Ultron). The first black superhero in mainstream US comics, he’s an important new addition to the line-up, and is played here by Get
On Up’s Chadwick Boseman. (The character has a solo movie, directed by Creed’s Ryan Coogler, earmarked for a 2018 release). “The Russos do not spare his introduction,” chuckles Anthony Mackie, “They introduce him in such a riveting, cool way.” Despite trailers revealing
‘it’s a different take on the civil war. it borrows from the spirit of the comic but it’s the marvel cinematic universe’s war’ joe russo
T’Challa’s allegiance to Tony, don’t expect him to be a straightforward team player. “The thing about T’Challa in this movie is that he has his own agenda and his own world that he has to protect,” reveals Boseman. “He has his own lineage that he has to live up to, so he can’t just take orders from Iron Man, he can’t just take orders from Cap… He has his own agenda. He is not really picking a side.”
Boseman could be one of the film’s most valuable players if the praise showered on him by his colleagues is anything to go by. According to Anthony Russo, “He’s as handsome as a leading man gets, while at the same time he has that great ability to be an intense character actor. It’s an amazing combination.” Downey is similarly effusive. “Chadwick is a really intelligent, interesting, dynamic guy and he’s an excellent choice. You need someone in this story who sees everyone picking sides and drawing lines, but he has his own agenda that is personal to his own trajectory.” Don’t count on Black Panther staying on the fringes of the team forever though; Natasha has her eye on him, with Johansson explaining, “She’s interested in him and interested in recruiting him.”
Another key character that Tony brings into the fold is “Underoos”, better known as Spider-Man, following a behind-the-scenes deal between Marvel Studios’ owner Disney, and SpiderMan’s big-screen custodian Sony. With Spidey now ‘home’ as part of the MCU, his inclusion in the line-up (see overleaf) has been emphatically embraced by fans, to internet-breaking effect (his brief introduction helped the most recent trailer to score 100m views in its first 24 hrs). His presence also ensures that it feels like more of an event movie than your ‘standard’ Marvel MCU standalone. That’s a heady roster of characters, and we haven’t even mentioned the most closely guarded secret of them all, Daniel Brühl’s villain of the piece.
Withheld from all trailers and pre-release stills, little is known about his character. When TF puts Brühl on the spot, he won’t even directly corroborate the IMDb listing that says he’s playing Baron Zemo, a famous supervillain from the comics who continues his father’s Nazi legacy. Having had a slapped wrist for revealing too much previously, Brühl is tight-lipped but charmingly so. “Not that much,” he laughs in our face when we ask what he can tell us. “I was really told not to because there are so many secrets in the film. And also my character’s quite mysterious, so I’m really scared to say too much. The things I mentioned in interviews before were already too much – and I thought it was nothing!”
He will at least concede that his character does fall on the villainous side of the fence. “Yes, but
‘the face-off was pretty surreal. it felt
like the kind of epic moment where you
know it’s really big’ scarlett johansson
what I like is it’s not a stereotype,” he muses. “It’s not a guy who’s mean and sinister, but he’s actually very clever – a very smart guy who does everything out of a very understandable reason and motivation.” The part was written with Brühl (and his skill with accents) in mind. Chances are he might still be a mysterious figure, even after Civil War. “Some of the things that happen in the film, and why they happen, are because of him. He is orchestrating things that happen throughout the film. I think that’s something I can say, goddam it!” Perhaps he’ll be a Christoph Waltz-type villain, a la SPECTRE?
Given that this is Civil War though, it’s going to be Tony Stark who ends up being Cap’s primary antagonist. Avengers will clash. When the teams line up, expect quite the spectacle. “It was pretty surreal having that face-off with everyone on the tarmac,” admits Johansson. “There have been a few moments where you look around and realise you’re in good company. I remember doing the first Avengers and all of us getting together in the circle and having our epic hero moment and again in Avengers 2. This scene felt like that kind of unbelievable epic moment where you know this is really big.”
With that kind of line-up, it’s hard not to have those nagging doubts about ‘ Avengers 2.5’ creep in, but everyone involved is adamant that this is Cap’s film. “Cap still drives the story,” states Mackie. “When you leave the movie, you’re introduced to Cap and where he’s going. It’s 100 per cent a Captain America film, not an Avengers film.” Stan concurs. “He’s the central piece, and it’s his story. Everybody else sort of serves a part. I always though, this was really clever when I read the script… To include Iron Man and all these guys in it, and still have it be a Captain America story. So that will be seen when the movie comes out.”
For the Russos, it’s “without a question” a Cap movie. “I think that the emotional throughline of the movie rests with Cap,” explains Joe Russo. “It’s important to us. This is called Captain America: Civil War – the movie is pulled from his point of view.” Evans himself says he “definitely didn’t have any doubts... It always feels very relatable and authentic. The struggle feels human. None of it feels larger than life.” Emotional might end up being a key word here. The Russos describe the film as a “psychological thriller” (in contrast to how The Winter Soldier was pitched as a political thriller), and it looks set to drill into our heroes’ heads. Ultron’s prophecy of tearing the team apart from the inside might come to fruition yet. Given the audience investment in the sprawling MCU, there’s a lot riding on this. “It’s not enemy vs hero, or villain versus hero,” sums up Evans. “It’s friends vs friends. This is sometimes the most dramatic conflict... Steve and Tony are both uncompromising men. They really believe in what they’re fighting for but they have different outlooks on life – so whenever you put those two people in the room, it’s going to be electric.”
For Stark, his history with Cap extends further back than his own lifespan. “I think the undertone for Tony is that he’s been falling short of his dad’s memory of Steve for a long time and that his best friend is the one that’s creating all this trouble,” explains Downey. “If there’s one thing that’s been very clearly set up, it’s that Steve and Tony have a past and that their past spans several generations.”
That’s what makes the Civil War so tragic – they’ve all been close with everyone,” adds Evans. “Black Widow and Cap bonded in a lot of ways. But the most heartbreaking friendship to see broken up is Cap and Tony.” The audience won’t know who to side with. The Russos admit it’ll be a win if the masses filing out of multiplexes are split 50/50 between #TeamCap and #TeamIronMan.
If that all sounds distinctly weighty, the Russos are doing nothing to play that side of it down. Expect significant ripples to be felt throughout Phase 3, not least in the Russos’ own Avengers: Infinity War Parts 1 & 2, due in 2018 and 2019 respectively. “If you’ve been a fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe,” teases Joe Russo, “this is a payoff movie, sort of a penultimate film on a relationship level for all the characters that you love.”
“The stakes are life and death,” booms Mackie. “The great thing about the Marvel universe is characters can die.” Given that Sam Wilson has recently taken on the Captain America mantle in the comics-verse, could Mackie be shouldering that responsibility in the future? “I don’t want to get myself too excited about the idea,” he shrugs. “And Chris is my boy. If it happens, it happens. And if it don’t, you know, it’s been a good ride.” Stan – whose Bucky Barnes has also been a comic Cap – is similarly non-committal to the idea. “It’s a race, not a marathon,” he reflects. “Who knows what can happen in the next couple of years? I mean, you never know.”
And as far as the Russos are concerned, the future is not yet set. Discussing Marvel’s “one film at a time” attitude, they admit that the story for Infinity War isn’t even completely locked down yet, and the MCU depends on the input from the various filmmakers overseeing the array of Phase 3 titles. “We’re actually very close to a lot of the directors who are working on [ the] other films,” say Joe Russo. “Ideas are bounced back and forth a lot. We spent some time with Peyton Reed last week to go through Ant-Man 2, and talk about what part we were hopeful to have for Scott Lang in Infinity War. That depends on where they go with Ant-Man 2, so it’s very much all give and take. We have a very zen approach to our management level.”
In the battle for Marvel surpremacy, there’s still everything to play for.