How Captain America: Civil War Will Change The Marvel Universe

As Marvel gets set to embark on Phase 3 of their expansive, interconnected universe of superhero movies, the impending Captain America: Civil War is obviously going to play a key part in the next evolution. The next film in the MCU will present a massive shift in the world they created, and a new featurette explores some of these drastic changes that fans and our favorite heroes will experience.

In a new featurette accompanying the new Marvel Phase 2 Blu-ray Box Set, Joe Russo, who, along with his brother Anthony, is directing Civil War, talks about how this movie is really the culmination of all the previous installments, and how the characters have to deal with the ramifications of those films. After Civil War, everything in Phase 3 is going to change, and he said:

It’s going to challenge the way you think about Tony Stark, it’s going to challenge the way you think about Steve Rodgers, and when you come out of that film, nothing will be the same.

In Civil War, all the international tension surrounding super powered folks finally comes to a head due to an inciting incident we’ve heard involves Crossbones. This leads to a massive global backlash, and the world’s leaders draft the Sokovia Accords, which impel superheroes to register and submit to government regulation.

This splits the Avengers and their ilk into two camps, the pro-registration faction, led by Tony Stark/Iron Man, and those opposed to these measures, led by Captain America/Steve Rogers. As the conflict escalates, the two old friends, and the others who are forced to pick sides on this issue, come to blows, and, as Russo says, things will be permanently changed. We’ve already seen hints at what an emotional journey this will be for everyone involved as friendships and alliances shift and crumble under the strain.

There’s a bunch of other cool stuff in this feature. Check it out below.

Right out of the gate with Phase 3, Marvel looks to be changing things around and upping the ante in the MCU. Not only will Civil War significantly alter the landscape of their superhero world, it’s also going to introduce some new vital characters. Chief among these are Black Panther, played by Chadwick Boseman, who get to hang out with a little bit in this video, and Spider-Man, played in this iteration by Tom Holland. While Black Panther showed up briefly in the first Civil War trailer, the Wall-Crawler did not, though both will get their own solo movies coming up in the next few years. We can hardly wait for either one.

We’ll get our first look at the monumental changes in store for the MCU when Captain America: Civil War hits theaters on May 6, 2016.

Brent McKnight