20 facts you might not know about 'Captain America: Civil War'

For the third time in as many films, the screenwriters for a Captain America movie were the team of Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeeley. On top of that, the directing duo behind The Winter Soldier, Joe and Anthony Russo, returned for “Civil War.”

The Russo brothers have become pretty well known for the lofty influences they cite for their Marvel films, even though they end up being fairly typical comic book action films. After the 1970s conspiracy thriller influences of The Winter Soldier, the Russos cited Seven, Fargo, The Godfather, and the works of Brian De Palma as influences for Civil War.

The screenwriters and directors wanted to adapt the Civil War comic book storyline, but to do that, they needed Robert Downey Jr. to appear as Iron Man. That did indeed happen but had it not, the directors had another option. Had they not been able to do Civil War, the Russos would have used the “Madbomb” storyline from the comics, eventually used in the Agent Carter TV show.

Of course, the desire to do the Civil War storyline allowed Downey to ask for the world to make an appearance. Reportedly, Downey was paid $40 million to be in Civil War, and he was also offered more money if Civil War outperformed The Winter Soldier because Marvel said that would indicate the film’s success was based at least in part on Downey’s presence.

Hey, remember The Incredible Hulk? It’s the lowest-grossing Marvel movie, and after Bruce Banner was recast with Mark Ruffalo, it was mostly forgotten. However, it had a lasting impact on the MCU. William Hurt returned as Thaddeus Ross in Civil War, bringing the character back from the wilderness.

Civil War helps set up the future of the MCU by bringing two new superheroes into the mix: Black Panther and Spider-Man. Chadwick Boseman played T’Challa, a.k.a. Black Panther, but he did not audition for the part. Instead, Marvel met with Boseman and discussed what he might want to do within the MCU.

Casting Peter Parker involved six actors auditioning for the Russos, Marvel bigwig Kevin Feige and Sony executive Amy Pascal, down in Atlanta. Downey and Chris Evans were involved in screen testing. The Russos pushed for Tom Holland, liking his dancing and gymnastics background and the fact he was closer to Peter Parker’s age, which wasn’t the case with Tobey Maguire or Andrew Garfield.

We mentioned Sony executive Pascal, and that is for a reason. Sony had the rights to the Spider-Man character, so Marvel and Disney needed to negotiate with Sony to include Spider-Man in Civil War. The negotiations were drawn out, and there was concern that Disney wouldn’t get the rights. They did, and the Russos never blanched. The directors said they also included Spider-Man as a critical role in their story, believing they would eventually get the rights to use the character.

Initially, the script for Civil War included Hope Van Dyne taking up the mantle of the Wasp, taking over for her lost mother. However, they decided to save that for the Ant-Man sequel, feeling enough was happening in Civil War already.

Both the Hulk and Nick Fury were going to be included in Civil War, but they did not make the final cut. Screenwriter Markus said that having the Hulk around would tip the scales a little too much in the epic showdown, and he also said that they didn’t want Fury having to choose sides.

Remember the first time you seed Thanos in the MCU? That was done before Josh Brolin was cast in the role. For that one appearance, Thanos was played by Damion Poitier. Poitier got replaced, but Marvel still did him a solid. The actor plays one of Crossbones’ henchmen in this movie.

Alfre Woodard has a small role in Civil War as Miriam Sharpe, a woman who confronts Tony Stark. Downey suggested she be cast in the role. What the filmmakers didn’t know, though, was that Woodard was cast as Mariah Dillard in the Marvel show Luke Cage. That means Woodard has two roles in the Marvel world.

Bruhl plays Helmut Zemo, the antagonist of the film. While Zemo is from the fictional country of Sokovia, Bruhl was hired because he’s German, and his German accent worked for the ostensibly Eastern European country of Sokovia. On top of that, Bruhl was able to dub his own character in the German version of Civil War.

In Civil War, Sam Wilson, a.k.a. Falcon, has a drone he uses called Redwing. There is a Redwing in the comics, but it is decidedly different. In the comics, Redwing is an actual falcon with which Wilson has a telepathic link. We assume that Marvel felt that would be a little silly for their film franchise.

Bucky Barnes is hiding out in Bucharest, Romania, in Civil War. This decision may have been made with the actor in mind. Stan, who plays Bucky, was born in Romania and lived there until he was eight. As such, when he speaks Romanian in the movie, it was a language he was already familiar with.

When Captain America grabs the helicopter and stops it from taking off with his bare hands, it was all about the bicep. Literally, the script said, “Zoom in on the biceps.” That bicep is really Evans’ and was not digitally enhanced, but it required intense flexing from the actor to look how they wanted. Evans flexed so intensely that he injured his arm muscles.

Before they became the primary directors for Marvel movies, the Russo brothers were sitcom directors. One of the shows they worked on was Arrested Development, for which they directed the pilot. During the big fight scene at the airport, you can see the Bluth family’s stair car from the cult classic sitcom. We don’t know if they got any hop-ons.

Civil War delivered the potential of a huge superhero fight, and people seemed happy to go to theaters to see that happen. The movie made $408.1 million domestically and $745.2 million overseas for a grand total of $1.153 billion. While the movie was the third-highest-grossing film domestically, it was the top film of 2016 worldwide. The movie’s overseas total was more than The Winter Soldier made in total, so we assume Downey made himself a pretty penny on this one.

Usually, a Marvel movie is good for a technical Oscar nomination or two. Not Civil War, though. It was shut out. The film did win a few other awards. Chris Evans won acting awards from the Teen Choice and Kids’ Choice Awards, while Downey won a People’s Choice Award. Evidently, young people sided with Captain America in this particular war.

A fourth Captain America movie, subtitled "New World Order," has been announced for 2024. It will not be the return of Evans to the role. Evans’ Steve Rogers had his swan song in Avengers: Endgame, and in the TV show The Falcon and the Winter Soldier , Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson took on the role of Captain America. “New World Order” will be his first starring film role as Cap.