From the moment he was introduced Captain America's story has been about the super-patriotic Avenger coming to grips with the nature of modern heroism. As he learned in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the concept of heroes and villains wasn't as black and white as when he faced the Nazis in 'The First Avenger'. And finally, 'Civil War' found his incorruptible standards putting him at odds with the Avengers themselves. So when he laid down his shield at the end of the film it really meant something huge, and the Russo Brothers have revealed to HuffPo exactly what the gesture meant...
“I think him dropping that shield is him letting go of that identity,” Joe Russo said. “[It’s] him admitting that certainly the identity of Captain America was in conflict with the very personal choice that he was making.”
So no more Cap? This has actually happened before in the comics, when he dropped the shield, renounced his ties to the U.S., and became Nomad. Is that the direction we can expect to see the film version of Cap go? Maybe, maybe not, but even if it is don't expect it to last long. We probably won't see Cap until Avengers: Infinity War anyway, and then its eventual follow-up, and he'll probably be back sporting the red, white, and blue by the end of the battle with Thanos. Hey, at least he's still alive which is more than what can be said about the comic book Civil War storyline. But it does open the question as to who is Captain America now. Given how things turned out it's unlikely Falcon or Winter Soldier would pick up the mantle, but then you never know.
However, there's a good chance we never would have reached this point if Robert Downey Jr. hadn't agreed to be part of 'Civil War'. It wasn't always a done deal, and the Russos told EW that they had one other big idea just in case they had no Iron Man for Cap to beef with...
“There was a period where we did discuss a third act that revolved around the Madbomb from Cap mythology,” said Anthony Russo. It didn’t have anything to do with ‘Civil War,’ and if we couldn’t get Downey — in the very, very early conversations before we nailed him — somebody pitched the idea of a third-act that revolved around the Madbomb, which makes people crazy. It almost like zombifies them — but not literally. "
Joe added, “The notion of the Madbomb would have been Cap having to fight civilians and how he would he handle that. We were always trying to put him into these interesting moral conundrums because of his nature. That would have made a compelling third act because if civilians are the antagonists, how could he stop them without killing them? Somebody you know has turned into a zombie and now you have to fight them. And there would have been the emotional component of that."
Meh, doubtful it would have had the same emotional impact. Stories like that rarely do. Let's just be thankful things went as they did, because without it we wouldn't have the below blooper reel from the upcoming Captain America: Civil War Blu-Ray, which you should have already ordered.
So no more Cap? This has actually happened before in the comics, when he dropped the shield, renounced his ties to the U.S., and became Nomad. Is that the direction we can expect to see the film version of Cap go? Maybe, maybe not, but even if it is don't expect it to last long. We probably won't see Cap until Avengers: Infinity War anyway, and then its eventual follow-up, and he'll probably be back sporting the red, white, and blue by the end of the battle with Thanos. Hey, at least he's still alive which is more than what can be said about the comic book Civil War storyline. But it does open the question as to who is Captain America now. Given how things turned out it's unlikely Falcon or Winter Soldier would pick up the mantle, but then you never know.
However, there's a good chance we never would have reached this point if Robert Downey Jr. hadn't agreed to be part of 'Civil War'. It wasn't always a done deal, and the Russos told EW that they had one other big idea just in case they had no Iron Man for Cap to beef with...
“There was a period where we did discuss a third act that revolved around the Madbomb from Cap mythology,” said Anthony Russo. It didn’t have anything to do with ‘Civil War,’ and if we couldn’t get Downey — in the very, very early conversations before we nailed him — somebody pitched the idea of a third-act that revolved around the Madbomb, which makes people crazy. It almost like zombifies them — but not literally. "
Joe added, “The notion of the Madbomb would have been Cap having to fight civilians and how he would he handle that. We were always trying to put him into these interesting moral conundrums because of his nature. That would have made a compelling third act because if civilians are the antagonists, how could he stop them without killing them? Somebody you know has turned into a zombie and now you have to fight them. And there would have been the emotional component of that."
Meh, doubtful it would have had the same emotional impact. Stories like that rarely do. Let's just be thankful things went as they did, because without it we wouldn't have the below blooper reel from the upcoming Captain America: Civil War Blu-Ray, which you should have already ordered.
