unconfirmed spoilers for Captain America 3

[kate_nepveu]

Like the subject line says: unconfirmed reports of the plot for Captain America 3 are behind the cut.

EDIT: musesfool kindly provides a direct interview in which the directors call it "highly unlikely" from just last month!

Variety reports Cap 3 will be a Civil War plotline.

Robert Downey Jr. is on the verge of signing on to “Captain America 3,” a move that would bring the Civil War storyline from Marvel’s comicbooks to the bigscreen and trigger the start of a new phase of movies from Marvel Studios.

[ . . . ]

The deal is significant for the Marvel cinematic universe considering the plot will pit Stark against Captain America’s alter-ego Steve Rogers, played by Chris Evans, as they feud over the Superhero Registration Act, which forces anyone with superhuman abilities to reveal their identities to the U.S. government and agree to act as a police force for the authorities.

Stark supports the program, but Rogers does not, saying it threatens civil liberties, causing sides to be taken and Rogers, among others, to go on the run to avoid arrest.

I mean, I guess it makes more sense post-collapse-of-SHIELD and with new powers on the scene for Avengers: Age of Ultron, but still (1) that's not enough secret superheroes for this to make sense and (2) entirely out of character for MCU!Tony!

I just, ugh. This is what I get for procrastinating by opening Twitter.

(And this bumps up likelihood that Cap 3, aka the last movie on Chris Evans' contract, is the Death of Captain America. *pre-emptively mourns*)

Comments

[leighdb]

Ew. I've never actually read the Civil War comic line, but everything I've heard about it suggests that it was awful in multiple ways. Do Not Want.

[kate_nepveu]

musesfool kindly provides a direct interview in which the directors call it "highly unlikely" from just last month! http://wegotthiscovered.com/movies/captain-america-3-avoid-marvels-civil-war-russo-brothers/

[yendi]

It was terrible (Mark Millar is like the King Midas of crappy writing). But frankly, so was the Winter Soldier plotline. The Iron Man Extremis one was also terrible. And Age of Ultron was a hot mess, but no one's expecting the film to fail. I actually think some of these plotines work better simplified on the big screen than in comics.

(That said, aside from the interview linked above in comments to suggesting it ain't so, this is a plotline that would make a lot more sense in an Avengers movie than a Cap one.)

[mmcirvin]

Hmm... I just belatedly saw Iron Man 3, and I wasn't actually that fond of where they went with the Extremis stuff. But it was certainly better than Iron Man 2 (Ben Kingsley stole the movie).

I think Iron Man might just be an inherently icky character to the degree that my limit for taking him as the headliner is one feature film, which stood out because at the time it was different. More just becomes grating. Keep him in an ensemble, with Cap and Bruce Banner pushing against him, and he's diluted enough to stand.

Though the notion of putting the Civil War storyline in the Captain America sub-franchise might just be that that's now the place for darker, more political material, and Avengers has to have a lighter touch and kid appeal.

[kodi]

To me, the core problem with the Civil War plotline is that it deliberately redefines what it means to be a "superhero" in the Marvel world. When it's essential to the plotline to assign some heroes to the "pro" side of fascism, they've just lost me.

[kodi]

Yay! The storyline that destroyed my love of the print Marvel universe is here to destroy my love of the film Marvel universe! I'm so excited.

[kate_nepveu]

musesfool kindly provides a direct interview in which the directors call it "highly unlikely" from just last month! http://wegotthiscovered.com/movies/captain-america-3-avoid-marvels-civil-war-russo-brothers/

[musesfool]

A month ago the Russos said they probably weren't doing Civil War (source), so hopefully that's just rumor-mongering and not actually what's going to happen.

[kate_nepveu]

Oh, I hope! Thanks for the link.

[silveraspen]

Joining in that hope. I mean, I know before I started theorizing on how a Civil War sort of analogue could work in MCU, but that doesn't mean I WANT one.

Thanks for both links - interview here and Variety above!

[mmcirvin]

I don't actually read the comics (though for some reason reading about comics fascinates me), but it sounded as if Civil War had an interesting idea behind it: that there were legitimate reasons for the rest of us to object to people with superhuman powers existing as an extragovernmental lawless elite of crime-fighters, so there could actually be two reasonable sides to this fight.

But then they leaned so far in the direction of the pro-registration side being a cruel, thuggish analogue of the post-9/11 antiterrorist security state... and then sometimes continued to act as if there were two legitimate sides. Weird.

(Given their movie personalities, with Stark's sort of tech-libertarian suspicion of government and desire to control things personally, it might even be more reasonable for Stark to be anti-registration and Cap pro. Except not quite, since I don't think movie Cap would ever assent to supernormals being forcibly deputized whether or not they even wanted to be crime-fighters in the first place. They'd probably both be anti for very different reasons.)

[kate_nepveu]

Yes, there is a conversation to be had about accountability and transparency, but given how hard the movies have been running from that (see the end of Cap 2 and *spits* Agents of SHIELD), I doubt highly that it would be done well.

[intothespin]

I hope so! DO NOT WANT.

[recessional]

entirely out of character for MCU!Tony!

Epically. This is my mouth twisting in disgust. If that gets confirmed then MCU and I are done.

[kate_nepveu]

musesfool kindly provides a direct interview in which the directors call it "highly unlikely" from just last month! http://wegotthiscovered.com/movies/captain-america-3-avoid-marvels-civil-war-russo-brothers/

[quinfirefrorefiddle]

I never read the comics- do they address what happens in the Civil War scenario with superpowered pacifists?

[kate_nepveu]

I didn't read them either, and I'm not sure who falls in that category!

[mmcirvin]

In superhero universes, it seems like good people with superpowers become irresistibly drawn to become super-crime-fighters of some sort, rather than doing all the other stuff you might be able to do with superpowers. Even when they seem to be otherwise inclined, it's the super-crook-fighting that actually seems to matter.

It's always seemed implausible to me... but they do give reasons: the origin story of Spider-Man shows what happens if you try to opt out. Spidey really didn't initially want to be a superhero, he had enough problems already, but he slacked off and Uncle Ben bought it.

I suppose the real reasons come from history. Superman and Batman arose at a time when people were really upset about organized crime, and Marvel Comics rose to dominance during a period when street crime was exploding (Spider-Man's first appearance was surprisingly early in that era, but the increase was already worrying people). In those circumstances super-crimefighters are a thing you really want to fantasize about.

[kate_nepveu]

Yeah. Apparently Pepper's armor-wearing career as Rescue was fairly short-lived, though again, didn't read it, just know about it.

[scifantasy]

Several friends and I collectively sighed in frustration and disappointment as the news circulated. (We hadn't seen the Russo Boys' interview, though.)

Mostly for reason 1 you list, with bonus "also, without the X-Men or Spider-Man?"

[kate_nepveu]

And the first X-Men movie basically *was* "registration is evil" already!

[sovay]

Variety reports Cap 3 will be a Civil War plotline.

Aaaaaaaaaaaagh.

I hope musesfool is right.