What Captain America: Civil War Will Be, According To Anthony Mackie

Anthony Mackie made a lot of headlines a few weeks ago when he referred to the upcoming Marvel Studios film Captain America: Civil War as Avengers 2.5 - but now it seems that he has backtracked on those comments a bit. This is because the actor has now made sure that everyone knows that the 2016 movie will still very much be a Captain America film at its core.

Mackie made these comments to MTV while attending the premiere of The Avengers: Age of Ultron earlier this week. The actor was asked if the 2016 blockbuster would ultimately feel more like a Captain America movie or an Avengers movie, and he revealed that he actually originally had some misconceptions about the project before really digging into the script and understanding what it really is. He explained,

That’s what I thought at first, when I first read it, but not at all. It really plays well with the storyline of Cap, and how he’s evolved into his own man, him doing his own thing, everybody coming together to fight for the common good of man.

While the plot of the film may ultimately be a Captain America movie, it's not exactly hard to understand why early perceptions may see the 2016 blockbuster as Avengers 2.5. This is not only because the movie will have big screen Avengers like Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man and Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow, but also because the movie is set to introduce some big name characters like Chadwick Boseman's Black Panther and the Marvel Cinematic Universe's version of Spider-Man (who has not yet been cast).

At the same time, though, we have heard details about the project that definitely suggest that the movie will be largely seen as the next chapter of Captain America's story - beyond the fact that both directors Joe and Anthony Russo and writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely are returning from Captain America: The Winter Soldier. It's been promised that the movie will see Chris Evans' Captain America continue his search for Sebastian Stan's The Winter Soldier - which is a search that is expected to ultimately have some serious consequences (that may involve Iron Man, considering that Winter Soldier killed his parents).

More details about Captain America: Civil War will probably emerge in the next few weeks, as the truth of the matter is that the movie is scheduled to start shooting down in Atlanta, Georgia very soon. Hopefully this means that we not only learn about some key casting decisions, but also get a real, official plot description outlining what we can expect. As always, you'll be able to find all of the latest updates here on Cinema Blend, and prepare for the movie's arrival in theaters on May 6, 2016.

Eric Eisenberg
Assistant Managing Editor

Eric Eisenberg is the Assistant Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. After graduating Boston University and earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism, he took a part-time job as a staff writer for CinemaBlend, and after six months was offered the opportunity to move to Los Angeles and take on a newly created West Coast Editor position. Over a decade later, he's continuing to advance his interests and expertise. In addition to conducting filmmaker interviews and contributing to the news and feature content of the site, Eric also oversees the Movie Reviews section, writes the the weekend box office report (published Sundays), and is the site's resident Stephen King expert. He has two King-related columns.