With Marvel Comics revealing earlier today that they would be rebooting the famed crossover storyline Civil War, we immediately began speculating that the event would bleed into the goings-on in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We suggested that it was possible that Captain America and Iron Man would end up going toe-to-toe at some point down the line, offering up The Avengers 4 as a possibility. It turns out that we may have been way off. It turns out that Civil War may actually be starting in 2016.
Variety has made the epic reveal that Marvel Studios is now in discussions with Robert Downey Jr. to have Iron Man appear in Joe and Anthony Russo's Captain America 3, which is currently scheduled to start production next year. The idea is that the movie will kick-start a huge event in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that will feature Iron Man and Captain America on opposite sides of a debate regarding whether or not superheroes should be forced to register with the United States government. The film will apparently be directly inspired by the Civil War crossover event that began back in 2006 and was written by Mark Millar and drawn by Steve McNiven.
In the past few weeks there has been a lot of talk about Robert Downey Jr. extending his contract with Marvel Studios, but all of it was generated by speculation and false confirmations by Downey Jr. himself (specifically about Iron Man 4). As things stand, the Iron Man star currently only has two more pictures left on his deal with the comic book company, and one of them is already in the can. In addition to starring in The Avengers: Age of Ultron next year, he is also contracted to appear in The Avengers 3 - which will likely land sometime in 2018. These details came out of talks between the actor and studio last year, but apparently both parties are now back at the negotiating table.
So what does this all mean for the future? Is Captain America 3 going to be called Captain America: Civil War? How will it affect all of the other Phase Three movies that are scheduled to come out? Does this mean that we may not see The Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy crossover until way down the line? Does this mean that Marvel Studios really is trying to bring Spider-Man back into the fold, given how he important he is to the Civil War storyline? At this point we have way more questions than answers, but that's all part of the excitement. We can't wait to hear more details and see it all come together.
Captain America 3, which is currently being scripted Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, will be filming next spring and is set to be released on May 6, 2016.
