The formula of a comic book movie has an easily identifiable blueprint. It typically includes a flawed, yet inherently good protagonist, who by a freak occurrence is bestowed with powers beyond that of normal mortals. Once they learn to master their newfound powers, they use them to defend humanity against a villain who threatens widespread destruction in order to fulfill their own vision. While Marvel Studios didn’t invent the formula, they definitely are culpable for cementing it in the public’s consciousness.
With their next film Captain America: Civil War, Marvel is tasked with not only adapting their popular story, but also with altering the superhero formula for an audience whose appetite has clearly changed. At the same time, directors Joe and Anthony Russo must also find a way to convincingly put former Avengers at physical odds. While addressing an audience at the Salt Lake Comic Con recently, actor Chris Evans went into depth about the storyline and motivations in Captain America: Civil War, that leads to the MCU’s heroes coming to blows.
“Tony actually thinks we should be signing these accords and reporting to somebody and Cap, who’s always been a company man and has always been a soldier, actually doesn’t trust anymore. Given what happened in Cap 2, I think he kind of feels the safest hands are his own. And these are understandable concerns, but this is tough, because even reading the script, you think I think I agree with Tony in a way, and I do agree that to make this work, you do need to surrender to the group. It can’t just be one person saying this is right and this is what we’re going to do.”
We first heard of the Accords in the stinger scene of Ant-Man, where Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson discuss who they can trust with their acquisition of Bucky Barnes, aka the Winter Soldier. Readers of the Civil War storyline from the comics know that the Superhero Registration Act was at the center of its conflict. It’s clear that the Accords, will be the legislative stand-in for the cinematic conflict at the heart of the movie.
A few weeks ago actor Anthony Mackie, raised some red flags when he described the “war” between the Avengers in a rather unexpected way. He explained that “it’s not MMA, we definitely have gloves on, but it’s more of a family dispute.” While no one is predicting that the movie will be a disaster, it’s hard to imagine how real drama can be drawn out of a scrimmage or play fight. While everyone assumes that they will team up by the movie’s end, there is a certain expectation that Batman and Superman won’t be pulling punches (at least Batman won’t) in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. In the trailer it’s clear that they are fighting not just on physical grounds, but ideological ones as well. Marvel has already distinguished itself with movies that carry an accessible tone. If the stakes aren’t raised the audiences may begin to lose interest.
Evans expands on assumptions that many have made about the nature of the conflict between Captain America and Iron Man. The most interesting, or the most concerning depending on your perspective, part about what he had to say was that he “agrees with Tony in a way.” One of the reasons that the comic arc worked so well was because both sides had legitimate arguments and viewpoints. However, at the end of the day, it was Iron Man who was the antagonist of the battle. Robert Downey Jr. has built a huge reserve of goodwill for the character of Tony Stark and Iron Man. It will be fascinating to see how screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely will structure the story so that fans who are choosing Team Stark or Team Rogers before entering the theater, walk out out of the movies with a satisfied conclusion.
While the ultimate villain of the movie is presumably the intentionally under-publicized Baron Zemo, played by Daniel Bruhl. The Russo Bros will have a delicate balancing act of keeping the dramatic tension high, without letting either Stark or Rogers, become irredeemable in the eyes of audiences. At the same time, this is indisputably Steve Rogers’ movie and the cap on his trilogy. No Marvel character has gotten more than a trilogy of solo films, so it would be safe to assume that this will resolve much of Rogers’ loose threads established in The First Avenger and The Winter Soldier. We will find out how soon, as we are a little more than half a year away from the release.
Captain America: Civil War opens on May 6th, 2016.
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Source: Salt Lake Tribune, Comic Drops