LET LOOSE THE DOGS OF WAR!

The Marvel Cinematic Universe Prepares for Civil War

Marvel’s Civil War is probably the most successful event comic of the last 15 years which is saying something considering the amount of events that have followed it. Its combination of hero vs. hero battles and the topical question of government control in a post 9/11 world set it apart from any other superhero book on the shelf. It’s also set the tone since for what it means to be a hero in the Marvel universe, they may be needed but can they be trusted? So it’s kind of a no brainer that the Marvel cinematic universe would try to adapt it in some kind of fashion.

It was recently announced that Robert Downey Jr. would be reprising his role as Tony Stark/Iron Man for the third sequel in the Captain America franchise in order to introduce the idea of a brewing Civil War between the costumed heroes of Marvel. For those of you who don’t know, the story of Civil War in short goes as such, following a tragedy with a lot of collateral damage caused by a group of young superheroes, the government decides all superheroes must unmask and register their identities. Tony Stark and various heroes agree while Cap and various others don’t. This leads to a war between the two groups with humanity trapped in the middle. Rumors have begun to swirl quickly with this one as Tony Stark isn’t the only hero that might appear in the film as Jeremy Renner has noted the possibility of a visit from Hawkeye as well.

No one knows the details yet about how the story will be structured. Will Cap 3 feature the actual war that will break everyone apart in time for a reconciliatory battle with Thanos in Avengers 3 or will Avengers 3 serve as the actual war? Either way my question is whether the Marvel movie universe is ready for an event of this proportion? It’s a game changer to be sure but have they laid enough groundwork? Here are some topics I think Marvel and the audiences both need to prepare themselves for Civil War.

BRING ON THE VIGILANTES

The main topic of civil war is secret identities and if they can be allowed or not. The problem with this is that there aren’t really any secret identities in the current Marvel films. Iron Man outted himself in his first film and Steve Rodgers has an exhibit in the Smithsonian. Black Widow and Hawkeye are agents of SHIELD which is more or less the US Government and Bruce Banner isn’t exactly a well kept secret. So we need some masked men in these movies ASAP to really cement this argument. If unmasking for registration isn’t a big deal you have no movie. Upcoming films and television shows will introduce us to Daredevil, Ant-Man, and Iron Fist who all could choose to keep their identities a secret. The main hero that they really need though is Spider-Man as he plays a massive roll in the comic. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that there are talks of Marvel and Sony sharing the popular character at the same time the idea of civil war on film have surfaced. Both franchises would benefit from the sharing of the web head as Marvel would get to play with there most popular icon and Sony gets to save their ailing franchise. You want to make Spider-Man relevant to audiences again? Have him team up with the Avengers and threaten to reveal his identity to the world.

Prepare for Casualties

You can’t make war part of your title without having some casualties. Civil War is famous for leading to one fatality in particular which would really shake things up for the Marvel movies. With actor contracts quickly coming to an end, it might be time for a changing of the guard. There have been talks of Avengers 3 having a radically different roster then the previous films. We’ll be meeting characters like Dr. Strange, Luke Cage, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, and more then likely Black Panther and Ms Marvel sooner then later. With each new character you get a new contract. Anyone of these characters could become a breakout hit that warrants them taking on a larger role in other films. Bucky actor Sebastian Stan supposedly has a nine picture deal so it’s pretty likely we’ll see him outside of just the Cap sequels. This also helps Marvel with the idea of switching actors for the big three, it’s been said in the past that head honcho Kevin Feige wants to treat the parts like James Bond and recast when necessary. Let other characters grow and the sting of losing RD Jr. will fade eventually.

Team Tony or Team Steve

Part of the hype around the Civil War event was the idea of making fans choose a side of the battle to root for. The problem with this for me was that by the middle of the series no matter how right Tony sounded at times, he still acted as the villain of the series. His actions made him pretty unlikable for the next few years and I think it’s safe to assume none of us want RD Jr.’s last appearances in the role to be as an unlikable dick. So we need the fight to be as conflicting for the audience as possible. We should be excited to see the heroes throw down but at the same time it shouldn’t ever feel right.

Civil War is really the biggest boldest thing Marvel could do after pulling off the Avengers. It’s a gamble to be sure but one I think they can pull off. They just need to have as much planned out as possible. It feels as if Feige has had this idea in his back pocket for a while so hopefully they really have been building to it for years. Otherwise the only casualties of this war will be the audiences watching it.