Captain America: Civil War shook up the status quo of the Avengers in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. By the end of the film, there is an Avengers schism that has Earth’s Mightiest Heroes divided in two sides (at least). Iron Man, Vision, and a badly injured War Machine are still at the compound while Captain America, Falcon, Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, and Ant-Man are fugitives. Black Widow is also a fugitive, though we don’t know where she ended up just yet. Cap’s pal, Bucky Barnes, is on ice in Wakanda.
Even though Steve Rogers sent “Tony Stank” a message that the former would be there for Stark when needed, too much went down and was revealed in Civil War for everything to just be okay. There are hard feelings and those feelings are not going to be resolved off camera. We will get to see those fences being mended in Avengers: Infinity War, as Anthony Russo, who directed Civil War and will direct Infinity War with his brother, Joe, told The Independent.
We believe things that are important and complex for a character to go through should be seen on camera. The divisions that happened at the end of Civil War were so deep they’re not the kind of things you can resolve or move through off camera; they’re the kind of things you have to directly deal with in the storytelling.That’s our philosophical approach to how we handle those things.
Resolving interpersonal conflicts in the middle of a massive showdown with Thanos may seem difficult, but Anthony Russo wouldn’t have it any other way.
There’s a writing adage that says “write yourself into a corner.” My brother and I have always loved that adage. That was one of our favourite things about Civil War – that it ended in a difficult place where it’s hard to imagine what the road forward exactly is for both Tony Stark, Steve Rogers and these two sides that have suffered the consequences of this division. On a storytelling level, it is a very difficult place and yes, that is very much the condition of the world as we move forward after Civil War. This very much sets the stage for where Infinity War begins – it’s a place of a strong divide.
There are a handful of Marvel Studios films before Avengers: Infinity War, so there’s a chance we can see resolution between some characters prior to May 2018. The big divide between Tony and Steve, however, probably will be saved for Infinity War and that’s the right call. The Russos, along with screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, put Cap and Iron Man there, so they should be the ones to come up with the next major step in the relationship between the top two Avengers.
Repairing relationships off camera or taking any other kind of shortcut would undermine what the Russos accomplished in Captain America: Civil War, so it’s good to know we will actually get to see The Avengers sorting through their problems. We need to see, not be told how they were reunited and have a sense that it’s not just about coming together to beat Thanos and then separating all over again (unless separate Avengers teams is the plan for Phase 4).
Captain America: Civil War is on Digital HD this Friday, September 2, with the Blu-ray to follow on September 13.
