Yesterday, Team Cap weighed in on Marvel’s “Civil War.” Now, it’s Team Iron Man’s turn.
When it comes to dancing around story points without really revealing anything, the stars of the MCU are Olympic athletes. And Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) must have the most gold medals in this event, as evidenced by the slick non-answers he gave when he greeted us at Atlanta’s Pinewood Studios last May.
What he did reveal was a small tidbit of info — the Sokovia Accords — but these have large ramifications for the entire MCU. These accords light the fuse on what will cause Earth’s mightiest heroes to implode. Two of Team Cap’s adversaries, Iron Man and Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), sat down with us to set the stage for Marvel’s biggest movie yet.
Robert Downey Jr.
1. “Civil War” finds Tony Stark right in the middle of the Sokovia Accords, which lead to the Superhero Registration Act the government wants to make law as to better hold superheroes accountable for their “dropping Helicarriers on D.C.” activities. “These Sokovia Accords are a big problem,” Downey said. “Tony finds himself in the midst of that.” As we learned from Team Cap’s interview, Tony becomes the public face of these acts — much to the chagrin of Steve Rogers.
2. “This is ‘The Godfather‘ of superhero movies.” That’s how the Russo brothers pitched the story to Downey when they first met to discuss the film. “I said, ‘you just said that, and now you’re gonna be held to it.’”
3. “Age of Ultron” planted the seeds for Cap and Stark’s conflict with the “chopping wood” scene at Hawkeye’s farm (above). But Downey didn’t realize that was happening at the time of filming. “You know, it’s funny, I never know when the seeds are being laid, I’m just like, ‘Wow, that’s a pretty cool scene.’” “I remember when people said, ‘Man, that’s a powerful scene in the movie!’ And I was like, ‘We just shot this thing before lunch, I don’t know, he tears a log apart, I said some words.’
4. In regards to the Accords, it’s not security or control that Stark is looking for, but rather that “he’s saying that as a group of individuals we all require a little bit more supervision than we might imagine.”
5. Stark and Black Widow have a seemingly big scene together, that Downey would not tell us anything about. But he did say that the scene is setting something up for the future of their relationship, perhaps something that will pay off in future Avengers movies.
Chadwick Boseman
6. The actor behind Black Panther said his character is “thrown into the middle” of “Civil War,” and the movie is “definitely not an origin story.”
7. In the film, audiences “meet me as the Prince of Wakanda. You meet me as a politician/monarch, not as a superhero.”
8. According to Boseman, at the time of filming, we will not see Wakanda in “Civil War.”
9. And yes, fans, the character will have a Wakandan accent.
10. To prepare for the role, Boseman went straight to the source material. “I’ve just tried to read all of [the comics], not like it’s really work. It is work — don’t get me wrong — it is work, but it’s just sort of reading them like a kid, you know?” Before being cast, he was not familiar with the character.
11. Boseman believes that what separates Panther from the other superhero heroes is “he has a wit, a wisdom, and a plan — an overarching plan — that a lot of times you don’t necessarily see. So it’s his strategy during a fight or during a battle.” Another big difference, Boseman added, is that he is “a ruler of a country,” and we have yet to see that perspective.
12. When Black Panther shows up in the suit, “everybody knows” it’s the Prince, Boseman said. “He’s not a superhero. He’s a warrior, and it’s part of their tradition. It’s not like he’s like, ‘Who is that masked guy that’s doing this stuff?’ Everybody knows it’s him, and they expect that it’s him, and they pray to God, or even him in some cases, that he would do the things that he’s doing. Which is much different than most of the superheroes, in which you don’t know their identity.”
13. When asked if there was a particular story arc from the comics that Boseman latched onto, he said: “The answer is “yes,” but I’m not going to tell you which one, because if I tell you which one, you’re going to say, ‘Oh, that’s what the Black Panther movie is going to be about.’ So the answer is ‘yes’ and ‘none a’ ya business.’
14. At the time of filming “Civil War,” the script for “Black Panther” had yet to be finalized.
15. But that doesn’t mean that Boseman doesn’t know what is in store for the film, or when it takes place in the MCU. When asked if it is set after the events of “Civil War, ” he gave a very cryptic response: “you assume that [“Black Panther”] takes place after ‘Civil War.’ You assume it’s not set in the past. I don’t think you can assume anything, because there’s also such a thing as a prequel, also. I think anything is possible.”
“Civil War” punches into theaters May 6.
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Black Widow vs. Hawkeye. Winter Soldier vs. Black Panther.
Steve Rogers is against the Act. Tony Stark makes himself the public face of it. Fist-powered disagreements ensue. But the filmmakers promise that the only thing more impactful than the body blows our Avengers deliver are the emotional wounds they inflict — which cut even deeper.
1. Falcon serves as the “in” for the audience. “[Falcon is] being used strategically to ask the audience’s questions,” Mackie revealed, adding that Falcon illustrates this in ways similar to the scene in “Ultron” where Hawkeye pulls Scarlet Witch aside in the middle of the final battle. “He says ‘Look, we’re adults. I’m wearing a suit. I have arrows. I’m not cool, but we have to go out here and fight.’”
4. Mackie is also excited about his character’s new Avengers status, which he didn’t become aware of until the premiere of “Ultron.” “By the end of the movie,” Mackie said, “I turn around and [Cap says] ‘Avengers Assemble!’ I’m like, ‘Holy sh**! I’m an Avenger!’ So I turn around to everybody with me and they were like, ‘Dude! You’re a f***in’ Avenger!’ That’s the story of my Marvel life.”
7. As Tony and Steve battle it out, the writers revealed that Vision is primed to struggle with what it is to be human. As he was created to be a perfect being, now working with very flawed people, Markus said audiences can expect Vision to “have problems with the modern world.” But the writers don’t want him to deal with these problems in a cliched way. Rather, they want to address it similarly to how they dealt with Cap being a man “out of time” in the last film.
9. Another dynamic the writers are playing with here is Black Widow’s relationship with both Stark and Rogers. As seen in the Super Bowl spot, Black Widow is on Team Iron Man — but it’s not easy for her.
12. When it comes to sheer scale, Marvel has outdone themselves here.
“He brings real gravitas to the role,” Joe said. The scene we saw being filmed was the first day that the character appeared on set in costume. And when the actor came out on set, according to Joe, “there were some comic book fans here who were just tearing up. It’s a real moment for people to see this character for the first time on screen.”
21. While the relationship between Cap and Iron Man drives the film’s core conflict, it’s the dynamic between best friends Cap and Bucky that serves as the film’s beating heart, according to Evans.
24. When asked how the rest of the Avengers respond to Cap’s need to find Bucky, considering he was working as an assassin for HYDRA, Evans answered: “They sympathize. Cap’s done nothing but give himself to this group, so I think they understand the value of what it means to Steve to find him. And especially after [Hawkeye’s] been brainwashed, [Black Widow’s] been misled, we’ve all had our share of being taken advantage of, so I don’t think they hold [Bucky] completely responsible for some of his actions.
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