Ron Seifried | On 16, Oct 2014

The Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase Two will be winding down next May with Avengers: Age of Ultron, and now comes word that Phase Three may include one of the more popular comic storylines in recent years. Planned as the second film of Phase Three, Captain America 3 (5/6/16) reportedly will be based on the popular Civil War comic storyline from 2006-2007. Instead of releasing Iron Man 4, Variety reports that Robert Downey Jr. will get up to $40 million to co-star in Captain America 3 as Cap’s main antagonist and potentially the villain.

 

 

The Marvel Phases

 

Phase One: Avengers Assemble

Iron Man

The Incredible Hulk

Iron Man 2

Thor

Captain America: The First Avenger

Marvel’s The Avengers.

 

Phase Two

Iron  Man 3

Thor: The Dark World

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Guardians of the Galaxy

Avengers: Age of Ultron

 

Phase Three

Ant-Man

Captain America 3

Doctor Strange

Guardians of the Galaxy 2

 

 

The Civil War plot centers on a U.S. Government mandate for a Superhero Registration Act, for people with superhuman powers to register with the government. This pits pro-government Tony Stark against Steve Rogers who believes the act is a violation of personal civil liberties. The seeds were already planted in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, whereby Rogers is already conflicted after the corrupt forces of Hydra have taken over S.H.I.E.L.D.

 

Other heroes join the Captain in opposing the act, thereby forcing many into hiding while Tony Stark/Iron Man becomes the “Inquisitor,” hunting down and arresting his once close allies. The Superhero Registration Act could leave behind plenty of complicated issues that pop up in future films and TV/Netflix series.  

 

If these rumors are legit, this sets up no clear hero or villains in the Avengers universe in Phase Three.  It will be interesting to observe how mainstream audiences respond to Big Gov Iron Man and his army of “law enforcement” or if Captain America will leave a more sympathetic feeling of persecution and resentment.

 

Once a simply predictable plotline path from next year’s Avengers: Age of Ultron to an emotional finale in Avengers 3 when most current actor contracts expire has now come under question.  Captain America star Chris Evans has sent out conflicting signals if he wants to continue past Avengers 3, leading some to speculate that a new Captain may temporally take up the shield.

 

The Captain America 3 conflict may play out over future films in Phase Three, whatever new characters are introduced. Doctor Strange will most likely be released on July 8, 2016, leaving Captain Marvel, Black Panther and even Black Widow solo films to neatly bridge over to Phase Four.

 

The path gets more complicated if Spider-Man is included in the mix, a character that is conflicted between the pro-government forces and the heroes on the run in the Civil War storyline. The problem is Sony controls the feature film rights to the web slinger, and even if the Spider-Man franchise may be the weakest of comic book film series out now, there is no sign Peter Parker may be loaned out to the Walt Disney/Marvel Entertainment Avengers universe. The buzz leading up to The Amazing Spider-Man 2 cooled off after audiences witnessed the forgettable 2+ hour “movie,” leading Sony execs to quickly and quietly push back The Amazing Spider-Man 3, cancel Spidey 4 and shoehorn in The Sinister Six and Venom into their slate of films.

 

The recent Civil War revelation comes at the same time rumors have been flying that Sony is discussing rebooting the Spider-Man franchise once again, an interesting scenario to reintroduce the webmaster alongside the Marvel storyline. Highly unlikely, but it will make the fanboys guessing which is what both Marvel and Sony wants-online buzz.

 

Variety also reports that Downey lobbied for a bigger role in Captain America 3, presumably with Iron Man  4 completely off the table,  pissing off Marvel Entertainment chief Ike Perlmutter to the point to order the screenwriters to cut Tony Stark out of the film. So much for a clear and detailed plan for the next ten years over at Marvel Entertainment that was rumored for some time.  Marvel execs have stated that a feature film outline is set until 2026, making it necessary to introduce new characters as the older ones slip into retirement.

 

Joe and Anthony Russo will return to direct Captain America 3, based on a screenplay by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, writers of the entire Captain America film series.