By We’ve known for a while now that the upcoming third Captain America flick, Civil War, would pit Steve Rogers and Tony Stark against each other. However, we had no idea how the two characters would find themselves at odds – until now.
In an interview with Empire, Robert Downey Jr. reveals director Joss Whedon seeds Stark’s about-face in the upcoming Avengers: Age of Ultron:
The main thing to me is, and this is where I think the Russos are quite brilliant and where Kevin backed the play, is what sort of incident could occur and what sort of framework could we find Tony in? The clues are in “Ultron” about where we might find (Tony) next. But what would it take for Tony to completely turn around everything he’s stood for, quote-unquote, because he was the right-wing guy who could still do his own thing….There’s always the bigger overarching question, that Joss brings up all the time – it’s kind of weird that these guys would have all these throw downs all over planet Earth and it looked like a little collateral damage happened over there, and yet when the movie’s over, it’s like nobody minds. You have to figure, ‘Were you to ask the question, what would the American government do if this were real? Wouldn’t it be interesting to see Tony doing something you wouldn’t imagine?
RDJ’s involvement in Civil War was announced to much fanfare and led to speculation that the movie wouldn’t so much be Captain America 3 as it would Avengers 2.5. Downey puts that speculation to rest, and says it’s not quite accurate to suggest he’ll be the villain of the piece:
I wouldn’t put it that way. Ultimately it’s Steve’s story; it doesn’t say ‘Iron Man 4: Civil War’. I think that’s great too. I think Chris [Evans] has been hungry to bring even more of an underside and some shadow to that. I remember the comics – on the surface you got the sense that Cap was baseball and apple pie, but underneath there was all this churning stuff of being a man out of time. Now we know he’s made his peace with that. What’s the bigger issue? It can have a little something to do with the past, but it can be about someone becoming more modernized in their own conflict.
The full interview is well worth your time – RDJ talks working with James Spader, Tony’s motivation in Age of Ultron and his relationship with the Vision, played by Paul Bettany (who voiced his AI companion JARVIS in the Iron Man films).
Civil War will draw inspiration from a Marvel Comics crossover event that ran from July 2006 to January 2007 – after a superhero scuffle ends in a tragedy that results in the death of hundreds of civilians (including dozens of children), the U.S. government passes legislation requires superpowered individuals to register with S.H.I.E.L.D. When Captain America strongly opposes the bill and goes on the run, an all-out superhero war breaks out with the pro-registration forces, led by Iron Man. The mini-series also saw Spider-Man reveal his identity as Spider-Man to the world and set up other status quo changes that reverberated through Marvel’s line for years to follow. However, it’s unknown how much Civil War will adapt the series – other MCU movies, like Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Age of Ultron, only loosely adapt the comics they’re based on.
Avengers: Age of Ultron hits theaters on May 1, and Captain America: Civil War is due out May 6, 2016.
[via Empire]