Marvel Studios has released the official synopsis and cast list for Captain America: Civil War — a cast that includes some real surprises.
Let's just get right to the good stuff, shall we? Here's the plot description everyone's so eager to read.
Captain America: Civil War 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, political pressure mounts to install a system of accountability and a governing body to determine when to enlist the services of the team. The new status quo fractures the Avengers while they try to protect the world from a new and nefarious villain.
So you've got elements of the Civil War comic book in there for sure, but it sounds like they're downplaying the "Superhero Registration Act" aspects (which doesn't really make sense in a world where none of the superheroes have secret identities anyway) in favor of something a little less specific. It's still kicked off by a tragedy involving collateral damage caused by heroes — probably the new recruits as seen in Age of Ultron — though whether or not that will include the destruction of an elementary school remains to be seen. And of course Cap and Iron Man are going to fall on either side of the issue.
But where that was pretty much the entire plot of the comic book, the movie goes a step further by adding an actual villain to the mix. We're guessing that villain is Baron Zemo, who Marvel has confirmed is in the movie as played by Daniel Brühl. Also plotting Cap's downfall will be Crossbones (Frank Grillo), who debuted in Winter Soldier.
The playing field will also see the unexpected return of General Thunderbolt Ross, as played by William Hurt. Marvel hasn't gone out of its way to reference The Incredible Hulk in its subsequent movies, even though it was the studio's second film. But Hurt was one of Hulk's stars, so it's a nice bit of continuity to see him turn up here all these years later. No doubt he'll be one of the voices calling for that "system of accountability and a governing body" over the Avengers.
Captain America: Civil War has been referred to internally as Avengers 2.5, and looking at the roster of heroes scheduled to be part of it, it's easy to see why. Chris Evans is back of course in the title role, and Robert Downey Jr. joins him as Iron Man. All of the supporting players from Winter Soldier return, including Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, Anthony Mackie as Falcon, and Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes. The rest of the roster is filled out with every single superhero from Age of Ultron minus Hulk and Thor. Aside from Iron Man and Black Widow, expect to see Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, Don Cheadle as War Machine, Elizabeth Olsen as Scarlet Witch and Paul Bettany as Vision.
Here's another unexpected entrant, although it's not entirely surprising: Paul Rudd's Ant-Man will join the new Avengers in Captain America: Civil War. (Which means: yes, you better believe he'll be showing up in Avengers: Infinity War.) The next newbie was already expected to appear. Chadwick Boseman will make his Marvel debut as Black Panther in the film. And Emily VanCamp will return as Agent Sharon Carter.
One name not mentioned in Marvel's press release is perhaps the most conspicuous: Spider-Man. The new Marvel/Sony deal to share the wall-crawler between franchises may yet result in the character appearing in Civil War, but Marvel's not ready to announce it yet if so. Or it's entirely possible that the character hasn't been cast yet and Marvel's saving him for Avengers 3.
One last cast member is mentioned, and it's the one that was just announced yesterday: Martin Freeman. Whatever role he's playing — and we're expecting to see him as a powerful civilian or politician, though wouldn't it be a hoot to see him as a hero or villain — Marvel's keeping a tight lid on it for now.
That is an enormous cast, easily one of the biggest in any Marvel movie so far. We really hope Captain America doesn't get shortchanged in his own flick, but it's going to be hard to service that many characters without several of them being cameos.
Captain America: Civil War was written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, who co-wrote the first two Cap films together. Anthony and Joe Russo will return as directors before prepping to do the same for the two-part Infinity War.
Production has officially begun in Atlanta, Georgia, with other locations scheduled to include Germany, Puerto Rico and Iceland. Captain America: Civil War will be in theaters May 6, 2016 — almost one year to the day after the release of Avengers: Age of Ultron.
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