Captain America: Civil War started filming in earnest over the past few weeks here in Atlanta. As a matter of fact, it turns out the cast was having lunch at the sushi restaurant down the street from our house!
Today, Marvel revealed the full cast along with the official synopsis, and while much of it is old news, the biggest surprises here are that Paul Rudd and William Hurt will be taking part in the film. For Rudd, despite my prediction that Marvel might end up treating Ant-Man in a way similar to The Incredible Hulk (a one-off that sort lies forgotten in the larger machinations of the studio) it looks as though it will matter at least somewhat for the overall MCU narrative. Speaking of The Incredible Hulk, Hurt will be reprising his role as General Ross. I guess you need to hang on to those Blu-rays after all, despite Mark Ruffalo‘s Banner seeming like a completely different character than Ed Norton‘s version.
Here’s the full cast list from Marvel, there are some potential spoilers for Age of Ultron here:
The film returns Chris Evans (“Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” Marvel’s “Avengers: Age of Ultron”) as the iconic Super Hero character Steve Rogers/Captain America along with Robert Downey Jr. (“Avengers: Age of Ultron,” Marvel’s “Iron Man 3”) as Tony Stark/Iron Man, Scarlett Johansson (“Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”) as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow, Sebastian Stan (“Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “Captain America: The First Avenger”) as Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier, Anthony Mackie (“Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”) as Sam Wilson/Falcon, Paul Bettany (“Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Iron Man 3”) as The Vision, Jeremy Renner (“Avengers: Age of Ultron,” Marvel’s “The Avengers”) as Clint Barton/Hawkeye, Don Cheadle (“Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Iron Man 3”) as Jim Rhodes/War Machine and Elizabeth Olsen (“Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Godzilla”) as Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch.
After his debut in Marvel’s “Ant-Man” on July 17, 2015, Paul Rudd (“Ant-Man,” ”Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues”) will make his first appearance alongside the Avengers as Scott Lang/Ant-Man in “Captain America: Civil War.”
The film also includes outstanding additional cast, including Chadwick Boseman (“42,” “Get on Up”) as T’Challa/Black Panther, Emily VanCamp (“Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “Revenge”) as Sharon Carter/Agent 13, Daniel Brühl (“Inglourious Basterds,” “Bourne Ultimatum”), Frank Grillo (“Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “Warrior”) as Brock Rumlow/Crossbones, William Hurt (“A History of Violence,” Marvel’s “The Incredible Hulk”) as General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross and Martin Freeman (“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies”).
There’s no new Spider-Man listed as of yet, but Marvel and Sony may still be in auditions for that role, if the character does indeed appear in the film.
Captain America: Civil War releases on May 6, 2016, here is the new synopsis:
“Captain America: Civil War” picks up where “Avengers: Age of Ultron” left off, as Steve Rogers leads the new team of Avengers in their continued efforts to safeguard humanity. After another international incident involving the Avengers results in collateral damage, political pressure mounts to install a system of accountability and a governing body to determine when to enlist the services of the team. The new status quo fractures the Avengers while they try to protect the world from a new and nefarious villain.
Today Encore will launch a
Maybe we should call this (and Batman V Superman, Age Of Ultron, etc.) the Overstuffed War.
I like the Hulk character in the Avengers movies, but I still think Edward Norton was a better Bruce Banner (I also think “The Incredible Hulk” is an underrated film–I’ve probably seen it more than any other Marvel Studios film).
I really liked Captain America: The Winter Soldier, but the cast for Civil War is so bloated with characters that I can’t imagine the movie being anything other than a jumbled mess. If anything kills the Marvel film franchise it’s going to be the unnecessary interconnectedness that drags down movies that should mostly stand on their own.