We are almost exactly six months away from the release of Marvel’s next blockbuster, Captain America: Civil War. Earlier in the month we got our first trailer for the movie and now it seems that the filmmakers behind the movie are ready to talk about the film. Anthony and Joe Russo are the sibling directing team behind both Civil War and The Winter Soldier. They won over audiences with their last film and gained the confidence of Marvel Studios, who handed them the keys to The Avengers franchise. However, they have a more immediate challenge in the third Captain America film before they can tackle the Infinity War. In a recent interview with the Russo brothers, they opened up on their new movie, characters, and relationships that we can expect next summer.
The Captain’s New Threads
The evolution of Cap’s uniform has been a fun to track throughout his various appearances in the Marvel cinematic universe. With perhaps his high point coming in The Winter Soldier when he broke into the Smithsonian to reclaim his original WW2 battle suit. It seems that the Russo bros have another costume change in store for Rogers in his next movie also. Anthony Russo explained a little about the evolution of the costume.
“It is a new costume. We were trying to pull forward the work that we had done in Captain America: The Winter Soldier on Cap. So, the innovations that we made to his costume in that form are very much the tonal texture that we are pulling forward. Civil War is very much connected and rooted in The Winter Soldier. So, as far as the specifics of the costume, we don’t want to give too much away, but it is a new costume slightly different from what you’ve seen before. And it’s grounded in that Winter Soldier tone.”
In the comics, Cap’s costume is generally drawn with a scale-like texture that indicates that his suit is an advanced form of chainmail. The stakes will be raised in his next film and he will find himself in hand to hand combat with super-powered opponents, such as Iron Man and Black Panther, who wear a metallic exoskeleton and suit made of Vibranium respectfullly. It would only stand to reason that Rogers will need to upgrade his suit in order to survive the coming battle. This matches up with previous reports that rumors that his suit will translate the scaled look and hopefully the Russos have found another great way to introduce it in the story.
Steve and Bucky’s Close Bond
Marvel has taken a lot of heat for creating one-dimensional villains in the past. However when that discussion comes up, Loki and Bucky Barnes aka the Winter Soldier, are typically left out of the discussion since they are the exceptions to the rule. Bucky began as Rogers’ best friend in Captain America: The First Avenger, before becoming a brainwashed killing machine in the sequel. Their friendship has spanned decades and their bond is at the center of the next film and many have speculated about the true nature of their relationship. Joe Russo explains Cap and Bucky’s connection.
“People can interpret the relationship however they want to interpret it. For us, we’ve always interpreted the relationship as two brothers. They’re very close characters, they have a relationship with each other that is very deep. The bond between them is very strong, [which is] what motivates the storytelling. These are both characters that came from nothing. Captain America was basically an orphan, and Bucky’s family took him in. When he was sleep for several years, he lost everything that was dear to him. And when he took the serum and became Captain America, he gave away a large part of himself for a patriotic cause. So, you have a character who is searching for the only thing that he has left from his past… and that’s Bucky. And people interpreted that relationship all kinds of ways and it’s great to see people argue about it what that relationship means to them.”
Judging from the first trailer, Bucky is the central figure in the Civil War conflict. It appears that Rogers is prepared to protect his friend “to the end of the line,” despite warnings from former allies such as Black Widow. Hopefully their friendship proves to be the emotional hook that differentiates itself from other Marvel films.
Introducing Spider-Man
There will be a few new characters added to the MCU landscape during the course of Civil War. No hero’s introduction is more anticipated than that of Peter Parker, better known as Spider-Man. Tom Holland won the role of a lifetime and while he has been confirmed to appear in the movie, up to this point Marvel has been very tight-lipped about the web-swinger’s introduction. Anthony Russo pulled back the curtain a little more on the newest iteration of the hero and their approach to reinventing Spider-Man.
“This is a completely new version of Spider-Man that’s introduced in Civil War. It was very important to us that we go younger with the character because what we love about Spider-Man is that he’s still a high school student. That’s a part of his vulnerability and it’s what makes him special in the Marvel Universe; he’s very unique. We wanted to play to that aspect of the character. We also wanted to think about ‘Who is Spider-Man today?’ A lot of times when you get interpretations of Spider-Man, they’re very nostalgic to the origins of the character. Sometimes there’s an old-fashioned patina to the tone of who Spider-Man is. We wanted to think about who is Spider-Man today if he’s living in Queens, what’s the texture of his life like, what’s the texture of his relationship with his aunt who lives with him. How can we make the relationship and character very contemporary? That’s our goal with the character.”
There had been rumors that Marisa Tomei would be making her first appearance as Aunt May Parker in the upcoming film, however many were skeptical that she would be introduced before 2017’s solo Spider-Man movie. It sounds as if we will be getting a full-fledged introduction to not only Spider-Man, but of Peter Parker as well. It’s unclear exactly how this subplot will fit into the movie, but it certainly sounds like it is happening. It’s also interesting to consider what Marvel Studios thinks a modern day Spider-Man looks like. Being a nerd, geek, or outsider, doesn’t have the have the same stigmas that it once held in the past. There will be pressure on Marvel internally, from Sony, and from fans, to create a character that is engaging enough to appear in at least six films in the near future. And judging from Marvel and the Russos track record…they have this under control.
Raising the Stakes
Another criticism that has recently hounded Marvel films is that there aren’t real world consequences to the actions, particularly with the deaths that have been rewritten in the Marvel cinematic universe. It seems that the Russos intend on reversing the trend and will be creating a movie where there are harsh repercussions for all of those involved. Joe Russo elaborates on the heighten stakes for Civil War.
“The stakes of both Civil War and the Avengers: Infinity War movies are gonna be very high, and there will be a price to pay [for?] a lot of characters and that’s the whole point of cumulative storytelling. We’re going to go on emotional journeys with these characters. We’ve got a lot invested in the emotion. We have responsibilities to be mindful of how these people feel about the characters and, at the same time, we also have a responsibility to carry through on the storytelling. As filmmakers, we believe in stakes. You can’t have good storytelling without strong stakes. So, there will be a price to pay in Civil War.”
With the resurrection of Agent Coulson and the faked death of Nick Fury, it would seem that Marvel has set an unsavory precedent for their stance on death in the MCU. This could be the string that unravels the beautiful tapestry that they have created so far. The Russos seem to want to change the status quo and will attempt to do so in both Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War. They state that they feel that “people should expect to be shocked when they see the movies,” which is a good sign that there will be many unexpected twists coming to the MCU very soon.
Captain America: Civil War opens on May 6th, 2016.
What excited you the most about what the Russo brothers had to say? Let us know on , , and ! Support the Point of Geeks by sharing our stories! Just click the icons below!
Source: CBM