Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin isn’t the only one taking issue with Marvel movie villains, but the problem in Captain America Civil War is a good one to have. The short answer: there really isn’t a clear villain.
Chris Evans returns as Captain America for the character’s third solo film — the term "solo" defined loosely. Civil War sees Steve Rogers go on the run from the government and fight his former teammate, Iron Man, in a politically motivated war over new restrictions on superheroes. Speaking from the film’s Atlanta set, Evans said the situation isn’t so black and white. He tells CinemaBlend:
Cap 1 [The First Avenger], we all know Nazis are bad. Cap 2 [The Winter Soldier], Hydra is no good either. But this one, there’s no clear bad guy, and I think that’s far more parallel to the struggles we go through in our current political state. There’s logic to both sides, and where do you bend? Where’s the compromise? What’s the goal?I think Cap’s struggling because every time he has fallen in line, and has been a soldier, and has taken orders and leaned on the structure of society, it’s kinda turned on him. And I think he ultimately feels the safest hands are his own, because at least he can trust them. But again, that’s not gonna work for the masses. So it’s the first time he really doesn’t know what the right answer is.
Joe and Anthony Russo (who directed The Winter Soldier) helm Civil War from a script by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. The duo hope they blurred the villain and hero lines so well that audiences walk out of theaters arguing with each other over who is in the right. Joe explained,
I'll say this, obviously it will be easier for the audience to get behind Cap because it's his movie, it's his point of view and he has the most screen time; however, Tony has the most emotional motivation in the film. The most human motivation. Cap's is philosophical. We did that as a metric. It's natural instinct for an audience member to want to get behind the person that has more screen time and somebody as likable and root-able as Cap, so you have to work really hard to make sure that this is not a protagonist/antagonist movie.
Even the other characters will be grappling over this dilemma. While the Civil War trailers revealed Team Cap to be made of The Winter Soldier, Falcon, Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, and Ant-Man, and Team Iron Man with Black Panther, Black Widow, War Machine, and Vision, the filmmakers teased that these allegiances may or may not change.
Find out who (if either) will win when Captain America: Civil War hits theaters on May 6.
