Captain America: Civil War

Captain America: Civil War is a 2016 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Captain America, produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is the sequel to 2011's Captain America: The First Avenger and 2014's Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and the thirteenth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film is directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, with a screenplay by the writing team of Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, and stars Chris Evans as Steve Rogers / Captain America, alongside an ensemble cast including Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Don Cheadle, Jeremy Renner, Chadwick Boseman, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Rudd, Emily VanCamp, Tom Holland, Frank Grillo, William Hurt, and Daniel Brühl. In Captain America: Civil War, disagreement over international oversight of the Avengers fractures them into opposing factions—one led by Steve Rogers and the other by Tony Stark.

Plot[]

In 1991, the brainwashed super-soldier James "Bucky" Barnes is dispatched from a Hydra base in Siberia to intercept an automobile carrying a case of super-soldier serum. In the present day, approximately one year after Ultron's defeat in the nation of Sokovia at the hands of the Avengers,^{[N 1]} Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, Sam Wilson, and Wanda Maximoff stop Brock Rumlow from stealing a biological weapon from a lab in Lagos. Rumlow blows himself up, attempting to kill Rogers. Maximoff telekinetically contains the explosion and throws it upward, damaging a nearby building and accidentally killing several Wakandan humanitarian workers.

U.S. Secretary of State Thaddeus Ross informs the Avengers that the United Nations (UN) is preparing to pass the Sokovia Accords, which will establish a UN panel to oversee and control the team. The Avengers are divided: Tony Stark supports oversight because of his role in Ultron's creation and Sokovia's devastation, while Rogers has more faith in his own judgment than that of a government. Meanwhile, Helmut Zemo tracks down and kills Barnes' old Hydra handler, stealing a book containing the trigger words that activate Barnes' brainwashing. At a conference in Vienna where the Accords are to be ratified, a bomb kills King T'Chaka of Wakanda. Security footage indicates the bomber is Barnes, whom T'Chaka's son, T'Challa, vows to kill. Informed by Sharon Carter of Barnes' whereabouts and the authorities' intentions to kill him, Rogers decides to try to bring in Barnes—his childhood friend and war comrade—himself. Rogers and Wilson track Barnes to Bucharest and attempt to protect him from T'Challa and the authorities, but all four, including T'Challa, are apprehended.

Impersonating a psychiatrist sent to interview Barnes, Zemo recites the words to make Barnes obey him. He questions Barnes, then sends him on a rampage to cover his own escape. Rogers stops Barnes and sneaks him away. When Barnes regains his senses, he explains that Zemo is the real Vienna bomber and wanted the location of the Siberian Hydra base, where other brainwashed "Winter Soldiers" are kept in cryogenic stasis. Unwilling to wait for authorization to apprehend Zemo, Rogers and Wilson go rogue, and recruit Maximoff, Clint Barton, and Scott Lang to their cause. With Ross's permission, Stark assembles a team composed of Romanoff, T'Challa, James Rhodes, Vision, and Peter Parker to capture the renegades. Stark's team intercepts Rogers' group at Leipzig/Halle Airport, where they fight until Romanoff allows Rogers and Barnes to escape. The rest of Rogers' team is captured and detained at the Raft prison, while Rhodes is partially paralyzed after being inadvertently shot down by Vision, and Romanoff goes into exile.

Stark discovers evidence that Barnes was framed by Zemo and convinces Wilson to give him Rogers' destination. Without informing Ross, Stark goes to the Siberian Hydra facility and strikes a truce with Rogers and Barnes, unaware that they were secretly followed by T'Challa. They find that the other super-soldiers have been killed by Zemo, who then shows them footage that reveals that the automobile Barnes had intercepted in 1991 contained Stark's parents, whom Barnes subsequently killed. Enraged that Rogers kept this from him, Stark turns on them both, leading to an intense fight, in which Stark destroys Barnes' robotic arm, and Rogers disables Stark's armor. He departs with Barnes, leaving his shield behind. Satisfied that he has avenged his family's deaths in Sokovia from the Avengers' actions by successfully fracturing them, Zemo attempts suicide, but he is stopped by T'Challa and taken to the authorities.

In the aftermath, Stark provides Rhodes with exoskeletal leg braces that allow him to walk again, while Rogers breaks his allies out of the Raft. In a mid-credits scene, Barnes, granted asylum in Wakanda, chooses to return to cryogenic sleep until a cure for his brainwashing is found. In a post-credits scene, Parker explores the features of the web shooters built for him by Stark.

Cast[]

Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/Captain America
Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man
Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow
Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier
Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson/Falcon
Don Cheadle as James Rhodes/War Machine
Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton/Hawkeye
Chadwick Boseman as T'Challa/Black Panther
Paul Bettany as Vision
Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch
Paul Rudd as Scott Lang/Ant-Man
Emily VanCamp as Sharon Carter/Agent 13
Tom Holland as Peter Parker/Spider-Man
Daniel Brühl as Helmut Zemo
Frank Grillo as Brock Rumlow/Crossbones
William Hurt as Secretary Thaddeus Ross
Martin Freeman as Everett Ross
Marisa Tomei as May Parker
John Kani as King T'Chaka
John Slattery as Howard Stark
Hope Davis as Maria Stark
Alfre Woodard as Miriam Sharpe
Kerry Condon as F.R.I.D.A.Y.
Gene Farber as Vasily Karpov
Florence Kasumba as Ayo
Stan Lee as FedEx Driver
Gozie Agbo as Theo Broussard
Cornell S. John as Attaché

Sequel[]

Captain America: Civil War will be followed by Captain America: New World Order which is scheduled for 2024.

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

This is the thirteenth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the first film of Phase Three.
This is the highest grossing Captain America film.
This is the highest grossing film of 2016.
This is the third film in the Captain America series.
This is the first Captain America film to gross 1 Billion at the worldwide box office.
This is one of the few MCU films to reach 1 Billion worldwide the others were The Avengers, Iron Man 3, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Black Panther, Captain Marvel, Spider-Man: Far From Home and Spider-Man: No Way Home.
When the production of the film wrapped, Sebastian Stan and Anthony Mackie raced each other while in their superhero suits.
The film coincides with the 75th anniversary of Captain America, the 10th anniversary of the original Civil War comic book, and Black Panther's 50th anniversary.
Screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely's original idea for this movie was a vastly different and much smaller film without the other Avengers, but producer Kevin Feige suggested they adapt Civil War instead. Certain parts of their original idea still made into the movie, such as the emphasis on Steve and Bucky's relationship, as well as the use of Baron Zemo as the villain.
Robert Downey Jr. acted as the younger Tony Stark, along with John Slattery and Hope Davis. Lola FX provided the "de-aging" visual effects on the face and hair of Downey with footage and photos of his early career as references.
Tom Holland is the youngest person to portray Peter Parker, a.k.a. Spider-Man, on-screen, at nineteen years old.
The film shows a bond beginning to form between Scarlet Witch and Vision, who were married for a while in the comic books.
Spider-Man was very nearly removed from the film, as Sony Pictures originally rejected Marvel's proposal to allow them a cut of the profit if they could pull Spider-Man over, but Sony Corporation expressed disappointment in the financial returns and the critical reception of The Amazing Spider-Man series and decided to negotiate a deal again.
The film was going to feature The Incredible Hulk, but he was shifted to Thor: Ragnarok (2017), and so the filmmakers chose Secretary of State Thaddeus E. "Thunderbolt" Ross (William Hurt) in the film, as a substitute to illustrate the theme of destructive power: "We thought it would be interesting to use a character who had a fanatical anti-superhero point of view, built on experience. He's cornering The Avengers politically now, he's out-maneuvering them."
Anthony Mackie described the film as "The Avengers: Part 2.5". Jeremy Renner said it would be like an Avengers movie, due to a lot of characters being involved.
This was the longest Marvel film, at two hours and twenty-seven minutes, before this record was broken making it the third longest after Avengers: Infinity War (2018), at two hours and twenty-nine minutes and Avengers: Endgame (2019) at three hours and two minutes.
Chris Evans has stated that this film will set up Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019).
This is the live-action debut of T'Challa, the Black Panther, one of the first black superheroes in American comic books.
The Black Panther costume is a combination of a practical costume and visual effects.
Tom Holland made audition tapes together with Jon Bernthal while filming Pilgrimage (2017), with Holland landing the role of Peter Parker, a.k.a. Spider-Man, and Bernthal the role of Frank Castle, a.k.a. The Punisher, in Daredevil (2015).
Marisa Tomei was in her fifties when portraying Aunt May, in contrast to Rosemary Harris being in her seventies in Spider-Man (2002) and Sally Field in her sixties in The Amazing Spider-Man (2012).
Thor and The Incredible Hulk's absences in the film were explained in Thor: Ragnarok (2017).
In the Civil War comic book series, Tony Stark builds Spider-Man an "Iron Spider" suit. It's red and gold, and laden with armor and gadgets. In this film, Spider-Man receives a suit in his normal red and blue cloth attire, but it does have gadgets. The Iron Spider suit would be teased in Spider-Man: Homecoming and officially debut in Avengers: Infinity War.
By the end of the movie, The Avengers logo on Captain America's arm is no longer there, representing the fact that The Avengers are no longer his.
Marisa Tomei is the third Oscar-nominated actress to play Aunt May. Rosemary Harris is an Oscar nominee, and Sally Field is an Oscar winner (Tomei won an Oscar as well).
Zemo is the first primary antagonist of the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies to not be an enhanced supervillain. However, the first one ever in the Marvel Cinematic Universe was Wilson Fisk, a.k.a. Kingpin, on Netflix's Daredevil (2015).
Tom Hollands chatty, excited portrayal of Spider-Man in battle is closer to his comic counterpart than previous iterations of the character.
The Wakandan language spoken by King T'Chaka and Prince T'Challa is Xhosa, a native language of many South Africans.
The title of this movie was jokingly announced as "Captain America: Serpent Society" during the announcement of Marvel Phase 3.
Thaddeus E. "Thunderbolt" Ross' first appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe since his debut in The Incredible Hulk (2008). To date, that is the longest gap between a character's appearances in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (eight years). Despite the long absence, William Hurt reprised the role, though Ross is now Secretary of State, as opposed to a General in The Incredible Hulk (2008). This also makes William Hurt the first actor from The Incredible Hulk (2008) to return in a later Marvel Cinematic Universe film, aside from Robert Downey Jr. and Stan Lee, who had cameos in The Incredible Hulk (2008).
With a budget of $250 million, this movie is tied as the fourth-most expensive superhero movie ever made, after Justice League (2017) ($300 million), Superman Returns (2006) ($270 million), and Spider-Man 3 (2007) ($258 million).
Vision, Hawkeye, Ant-Man, and Scarlet Witch weren't part of the original comic book storyline. The first three were dead at the time, while Wanda was missing and insane.
This is the fourth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to feature a pre-Marvel Studios logo "cold open" scene. The first was Iron Man 3 (2013), the second was Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), and the third was Ant-Man (2015).
Co-director Joe Russo cited Seven (1995) and Fargo (1996) as influences on this film.
Jeremy Renner and Anthony Mackie appeared in The Hurt Locker (2008) and Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015).
This is the only Marvel Cinematic Universe movie featuring Thaddeus E. "Thunderbolt" Ross without Bruce Banner.
This is the first theatrical movie to have Spider-Man team up with other Marvel superheroes.
The reported six finalists for the role of Peter Parker (Spider-Man) were Tom Holland, Asa Butterfield, Judah Lewis, Matt Lintz, Charlie Plummer, and Charlie Rowe.
Marks the sixth collaboration between Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson in twelve years, following The Perfect Score (2004), The Nanny Diaries (2007), Avengers Assemble (2012), Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), and Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015).
Every phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe starts with a film that features Tony Stark as at least one of the main characters. Phase One started with Iron Man (2008), Phase Two started with Iron Man 3 (2013), and Phase Three started with this movie.
Between this film, Black Panther (2018), and Avengers: Infinity War (2018), the Black Panther character has yet to appear in a film that has not grossed less than $1 billion at the worldwide box office.
Chad L. Coleman was considered for the role of T'Challa (Black Panther).
The Marvel video game Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 (2009) was also based on the Civil War comic.
Although Marisa Tomei only appeared for roughly two minutes in the movie, she still had an assistant on-set.
The first time Chris Evans does not appear with Samuel L. Jackson in a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie. (with the exceptions of his cameos in Thor: The Dark World (2013) and Ant-Man (2015)).
The film's cast includes three Oscar winners: Marisa Tomei, William Hurt, and Jim Rash; and four Oscar nominees: Robert Downey Jr., Don Cheadle, Jeremy Renner, and Alfre Woodard.
Second Marvel Cinematic Universe film that does not have Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts appear alongside Tony Stark. The first being Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), (not counting The Incredible Hulk (2008)).
This is the first time Robert Downey Jr. appeared as one of the main characters in another character's film.
This movie takes place in 1991 and 2016.
Damion Poitier, who played Thanos in Avengers Assemble (2012), also had a cameo as a mercenary in this film, marking the second Marvel Cinematic Universe movie on which he's worked.
Marisa Tomei appeared with Rosemary Harris, one of her predecessors as Aunt Mary Parker, in Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007).

Captain America
Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Captain America: Civil War (2016)

Phase Three
Captain America: Civil War (2016), Doctor Strange (2016), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Black Panther (2018), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018), Captain Marvel (2019), Avengers: Endgame (2019), Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)