Captain America: Civil War

• 1. Introduction

  ›

  Captain America: Civil War arrived in theaters on the 6th of May 2016, carrying a question that no superhero film had seriously asked before: what happens when the heroes who save the world cannot agree on who gets to decide how? The answer cost more than a billion dollars to put on screen, fractured one of cinema's most beloved ensembles, and set off a chain of events that would shape the Marvel Cinematic Universe for years to come.

  At the center of the story sits a fundamental disagreement. Steve Rogers, a World War II veteran whose moral compass is calibrated to his own conscience, cannot accept that a United Nations panel should control the Avengers. Tony Stark, guilt-ridden over his role in creating Ultron and the devastation of Sokovia, believes exactly the opposite. Between them stands a cast that the press would soon call "Avengers 2.5" in scale, though the filmmakers insisted, and the film ultimately proved, that this was something more personal than an ensemble spectacle.

  How the Russo brothers navigated a story involving nearly two dozen named characters, a Sony licensing deal that almost collapsed, and an internal fight with Marvel executives over the film's ending is a production history as dramatic as anything on screen. And waiting at the end of it all was a villain whose plan required no superpower at all, only patience and a stolen book of trigger words.

• 2. A Rivalry Built on Guilt

  ›

  Robert Downey Jr.'s involvement was not guaranteed. By October 2014, he had entered final negotiations to reprise Tony Stark, and Variety reported he would receive $40 million plus backend for his participation, with an additional payout if the film outperformed The Winter Soldier. Marvel had initially wanted his part to be smaller, but Downey pushed for a more substantial role in the plot.

  The emotional architecture of his character runs through the visions Tony Stark witnessed in Age of Ultron. Joe Russo described a guilt complex that "drives him to make very specific decisions," calling his arc "very complicated." That guilt is what makes Stark's support of the Sokovia Accords legible rather than arbitrary. Anthony Russo said Stark's egomania, paradoxically, is what allowed the writers to bring him to a point where he was willing to submit to authority.

  On the other side, Chris Evans earned $15 million for his portrayal of Rogers. Director Anthony Russo described Rogers' arc as taking him from "the most ra-ra company man" to "a somewhat willing propagandist" to "an insurgent" by the film's end. The directors deliberately chose not to kill Rogers in the film, as their predecessors had done in the comics, reasoning that "the more difficult and more interesting place to leave a family fight is: can these important relationships ever be repaired?"

  Downey's personal trainer Eric Oram said the key to staging the final fight between Rogers and Stark was showing Iron Man using only the "minimum force" necessary to win, a choice that preserves Stark's moral coherence even as he turns on his former ally.

• 3. The Villain Without a Mask

  ›

  Helmut Zemo, played by Daniel Brühl, does not wear the signature mask his comics counterpart is known for. Brühl was cast partly because of his German accent, and he described his version of the character as "loosely connected" to the source material, a Sokovian colonel-turned-terrorist motivated entirely by the loss of his family in the Avengers' battle with Ultron.

  Anthony Russo called Zemo "an everyman," elaborating: "His approach was: I've seen these guys fight enough to know I can't win. But what I can do is figure out ways to undermine them." Producer Kevin Feige described him as "very much a product of the Cinematic Universe and all that has occurred within that universe up to this point." Executive producer Nate Moore added that the Phase Two films had delivered "world-ending experiences" and it was time to ask "what is the world's reaction?"

  Zemo's plan hinges on a book of trigger words that can activate Bucky Barnes' brainwashing, a detail that traces back to a 1991 Hydra operation in Siberia. The film's November 2014 iteration, before Downey was confirmed, would have used a different weapon entirely: the Madbomb from the Captain America comics, which would "turn hordes of people into berserkers." That alternate storyline was eventually repurposed as a plot point in the first season of the Agent Carter television series.

  Co-director Joe Russo cameos in the film as Theo Broussard, the psychiatrist Zemo murders to steal his identity, a casting choice that gives the directors a small and darkly appropriate role in their own story.

• 4. Spider-Man and the Sony Deal

  ›

  The November 2014 hacking of Sony Pictures' computers exposed emails between studio executives suggesting talks between Sony and Marvel about Spider-Man had broken down. In February 2015, the studios reached a licensing agreement, and reports confirmed the character would appear in Civil War.

  The Russos had been lobbying for months to include him. Anthony Russo stated flatly that they never created a backup plan despite Marvel's instruction to have one: "It was very important to us to reintroduce Spider-Man in the film. We only have envisioned the movie with Spider-Man." At the end of May 2015, six teenage actors were screen-tested against Downey and Evans in Atlanta for chemistry; Tom Holland was cast the following month.

  Holland was signed initially for at least three films, not counting Civil War, later expanding to describe a deal for "three Spider-Man movies and three solo movies." To avoid leaking plot information, Holland chose not to read the full Civil War script. On set, he wore a temporary Spider-Man suit with raised webbing and a different spider emblem, or a motion capture suit, since Spider-Man was ultimately a digital double for all his appearances.

  Jon Watts, who would direct Spider-Man: Homecoming, was present on set during Holland's scenes, offering input on details like Parker's wardrobe and bedroom "to make sure we were all on the same page so that Homecoming transitions seamlessly with theirs." Anthony Russo credited Holland's dancing and gymnastics background as a factor in his casting. Downey said Holland, of all the actors he tested with, brought "gravitas and the confidence to be able to take on the mantle."

• 5. The Airport and the Cameras

  ›

  Principal photography began on the 27th of April 2015, at Pinewood Atlanta Studios in Fayette County, Georgia, under the working title Sputnik. Filming moved through locations across the Atlanta metropolitan area before wrapping in Germany on the 22nd of August 2015. German locations included the Olympic Stadium, Potsdamer Platz, and the Leipzig/Halle Airport in Schkeuditz, which served as the setting for the film's central battle between the two factions.

  That airport sequence became the reason Civil War entered cinema history on a technical level. It was the first film to use IMAX's digital 2D cameras, a customized version of the Arri Alexa 65 built in partnership with Arri. Joe Russo said approximately fifteen minutes of footage were captured with those cameras, covering the fight he and his brother called the "splash panel." Director of photography Trent Opaloch considered shooting the entire film with the Alexa 65s but the decision came too late in pre-production to make it practical.

  For the airport sequence, Opaloch rigged the cameras to a Technocrane, a Steadicam, a dolly, and a drone with its own dedicated operating team. The resolution of the Alexa 65 led him to favor medium close-ups over tight close-ups, and to hold wide shots slightly longer, "maybe with a slight camera move that allows the viewer to take it all in."

  VFX supervisor Russell Earl at ILM, which handled most of the airport sequence, said the twenty-minute scene became "almost fully digital," with his team ultimately replacing ninety-nine percent of everything shot, lifting the actors from the background.

• 6. Score and Sound

  ›

  Henry Jackman returned from The Winter Soldier to score Civil War, and found the film demanded a fundamentally different musical approach. Where The Winter Soldier called for a particular kind of tonal restraint, Civil War required a much more symphonic and orchestral palette.

  The challenge Jackman faced was avoiding the temptation to tip the audience toward one faction or the other through character-specific music. His solution was a new main theme for the film, which he described as "a generic theme to balance everything out," one that all the characters could gravitate toward and that would "bind the movie together rather than do endless disparate themes." He also introduced motifs for new characters including Spider-Man, Black Panther, and Zemo, while reprising and developing his themes for Captain America and the Winter Soldier from the previous film.

  For Zemo's storyline, Jackman wrote a thriller theme that appears whenever the mystery of Zemo's plan is explored, inspired by the work of Jerry Goldsmith. The climactic three-way fight between Captain America, the Winter Soldier, and Iron Man received what Jackman called "somewhat operatic and almost classical" music in style.

  The score was released on a soundtrack album by Hollywood Records on the 6th of May 2016, the same day the film opened in the United States.

• 7. Marketing and Reception

  ›

  The first trailer debuted on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on the 25th of November 2015, and within hours became the number one trending topic on Twitter. It was viewed 61 million times in the first 24 hours, surpassing the 34 million views the Avengers: Age of Ultron trailer had achieved in 2014. A second trailer released in March 2016 was viewed close to 95 million times within its first 24 hours, with 240,000 social media posts across Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, and Facebook generated in the same period, more than triple the 81,000 the Age of Ultron trailer received.

  Marvel also deployed viral marketing through the faux news program WHIH Newsfront, featuring Leslie Bibb reprising her role as journalist Christine Everhart from the Iron Man films. A three-day Super Bowl 50 teaser generated the most social media activity of all film trailers shown that day.

  The film held its world premiere at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on the 12th of April 2016. It grossed over $1.1 billion worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing film of 2016. Critics praised the performances, particularly those of Evans and Downey, the action sequences, and the film's themes.

  The conflict between the Russo brothers and Marvel Entertainment executives over the ending had, months earlier, produced an unexpected institutional consequence. Executives had wanted the Avengers to unite against Zemo in Siberia rather than fight each other. The Russos refused, with Joe saying "there's nothing interesting about that film." Producer Kevin Feige backed them, and Walt Disney Studios head Alan F. Horn sided with the directors. The dispute contributed to oversight of Marvel Studios being moved from Marvel Entertainment to Walt Disney Studios in 2015.