What We Know About 'Captain America: Civil War': Separating Facts From Speculation

Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans face off, Disney/Marvel

We still have more than a month before Avengers: Age of Ultron hits theaters, yet Marvel minions have been buzzing about a different comic-based film, one that’s not coming out until May 2016: Captain America: Civil War.

Based on a game-changing 2006 comic-book series — and populated with so many heroes that fans have half-jokingly nicknamed it Almost Avengers — Civil War features an epic showdown between two of Marvel’s greatest heroes and all they stand for. Iron Man backs a government initiative to do away with secret identities and register all heroes as “living weapons of mass destruction.” Captain American chafes at the idea.

Internet chatter has ramped up in recent days as a purported official synopsis, spoiler-filled casting calls, and other tidbits popped up on fan sites, movie blogs, and social media.

But while some of the reports that have surfaced in the past week appear to be on the money, others are half-baked, which prompted us to sort everything out for you.

Beware! Potential spoilers lurk below.

WHAT WE KNOW

Chris Evans will be back as the star-spangled hero facing his toughest adversary yet: his Avengers teammate Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.).Age of Ultron trailers have hinted at the impending dispute, but things are set to get much worse in The Winter Soldier sequel.

The film will be chockablock with returning heroes — Falcon (Anthony Mackie), the Winter Soldier/Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) — lining up behind either Cap or Iron Man. The Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) will also have substantial screen time.

Frank Grillo, who played one of the main turncoat S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives in Winter Soldier, resurfaces in the guise of Crossbones — the character who appears to assassinate Steve Rogers in the Civil Warcomics. And Daniel Brühl (who shared the screen with Chris “Thor” Hemsworth in Rush) has also been enlisted for some unspecified villainy (more on that below).

Crossbones, Marvel

The Disney-Marvel machine is nothing if not adept at synergy, so it’s no surprise an unrelated rebooted comic-book version of Civil War will be launched this summer as part of Marvel’s Secret Wars event. The publishers recently released artwork teasing Cap and Iron Man beating the snot out of each other.

Civil Warvariant, Marvel

Despite several websites citing April 1 as the start date for principal photography, Yahoo Movies has learned the main cast will not report for duty until the end of April, once they wrap up the Age of Ultronpromotional tour.

WHAT WE THINK

Blame this whole mess on Ultron.Civil War will pick up in the aftermath of Age of Ultron. At the most basic level, there will presumably be lingering friction between Steve Rogers and Tony Stark over the creation of Ultron and the resulting damage. That jibes with the unconfirmed synopsis that made the rounds on the Internet last Friday:

Following the events of Age of Ultron , the collective governments of the world pass an act designed to regulate all superhuman activity. This polarizes opinion amongst the Avengers, causing two factions to side with Iron Man or Captain America, which causes an epic battle between former allies.

In the comics, it’s a bit more complex. A minor superhero team engages in a battle that leads to unparalleled collateral damage, including schoolchildren. That prompts the creation of the Superhero Registration Act, which orders all costumed crime-fighters to make their secret identities known and submit to sanctioned training. Iron Man and his loyalists agree. Cap doesn’t. Our guess is the film will streamline the setup and avoid introducing too many lesser heroes, as the story’s already jam-packed enough.

Cap fights a battle on multiple fronts.Aside from his former Avengers allies, Rogers still has the remnants of HYDRA to contend with. Brühl is believed to be playing the insidious Baron Zemo, a second-generation adversary of Captain America who plays both sides in the Civil War comic story line. Zemo is also ringleader of the Masters of Evil, a team of baddies conceived as the anti-Avengers, who could wreak havoc down the line.

Baron Zemo, Marvel

Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man swings by.The biggest question mark is whether Spider-Man will make his debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Civil War. He played a pivotal role in the original comic book, first siding with Iron Man before switching allegiances to Captain America, and Marvel had tried to get permission from Sony to use the wall-crawler in Civil War for ages. But with the twostudios only coming to a recent Spidey-sharing agreement, and the film already stuffed with supers, it’s still not official that the web-slinger will make an appearance. Here’s hoping.

Black Panther plays a big role.The first Age of Ultron trailer hinted at the fictional African land of Wakanda, where the Panther (aka T’Challa) rules, suggesting he might cameo in that film. But expect the mysterious hero to have a much larger impact on the events of Civil War. Based on initial indications, Black Panther appeared to fill the Spider-Man role of hero caught between alliances, which could still come to fruition if Spidey only has little or no presence in the film. An unconfirmed casting notice put out the call for “African men and women (Nigerian, Ethiopian, Kenyan, etc.), ages 18 to 75, casual looks or ethnic wardrobe (is a plus but not mandatory),” which suggests Wakanda will be in full effect.

In any case, Civil War will be a launching pad for the stand-alone Panther feature, so Marvel will likely give T’Challa a meaty part.

Black Panther concept art, Marvel

There will be casualties.What made the original Civil War comic arc so captivating was the hero-on-hero conflict and the ultimate stakes involved. There were deaths on both sides, none more shocking than that of Steve Rogers. (Though, in true comic-book fashion, Rogers wasn’t really dead and came back to fight another day.) Fans are also divided on whether characters like Black Widow, Hawkeye or Nick Fury will make it out alive (though Fury’s involvement may be moot, as Samuel Jackson is not yet confirmed for the film). Regardless, with the Civil War directing tandem of Anthony and Joe Russo just signing on to helm the two-part Avengers: Infinity War, expect the events of the Captain America sequel to have repercussions in the Marvel Cinematic Universe for years to come.

With Ultron promotion about to go into saturation mode, don’t expect anything official from Disney-Marvel on Civil War before shooting begins in Atlanta toward the end of next month. Until then, we’ll just keep on speculating.

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