Yet Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely have done it withCaptain America: Civil War.
Den of Geek: Do you remember the first conversations aboutCap 3and whenCivil Warcame into the picture?
Stephen McFeely:First conversations were the search for Bucky.
I think a lot of people come out of this one and go, Wow.
Buckys in it a lot…
I mean its not just the Avengers.
Its really about Caps story.
So that was the barebones or the skeleton to start.
It wasnt necessarily an expansion on or an evolution of where weve been before.
So it was coming along, but it was like, Is this…?
McFeely:Yeah, wheres the overall theme?
And then Kevin said, Lets doCivil War.
And then we all went, Oh.
So were just going to…
But we also went, Oh, wow.
He just gave us a chance to do things kind of differently.
We brought in the biggest player in the MCU in an antagonistic way.
This would have becomeCivil Warwhether or not somebody had said it wasCivil War.
McFeely:And that means, Well, when are you doing the splash page?
So we let it go big and then become personal again.
And weve all loved them, but there should be a cost.
You know, particularly with the Russo brothers, were doing the grounded version in many ways.
So what does that mean?
So thats how the accords show up.
So the movie cant go in that direction.
Did you just keep writing that way without necessarily having a Plan B?
Markus:There were times where people would say, I dont know if thats going to work.
Well have to talk to the lawyers…Is there any other version ofCivil War…?
McFeely:We kept yelling: No!
Markus:Well, theres a lame version… Because the personal conflict was so integral to all that.
We can have people who take the governments side, but you dont have that emotional drive.
Imagine if you are building things or youve built the stage or whatever.
Markus:The same thing with Spider-Mans in, Spider-Mans out.
That was my next question, about Spidey and Black Panther.
It was almost like, Lets not have him…lets save his costume for his own gig.
We set him up as a character in just sort of the natural world of the story were telling.
I think we had Spider-Man for a little bit.
Then he went away.
Lets put the costume on (TChalla) because hes awesome.
Lets just have everybody.
So it was a really nice byproduct of that kind of contract problem.
So what was the mandate for everybody in making this version of Spider-Man?
Markus:The primary mandate was young.
McFeely:Realistic and young.
Dont bother about the origin story.
So it was really fun, because everyone else you know, they fought Ultron.
There arent too many wide eyes.
TChalla is certainly not the guy who goes, Geez!
McFeely:Hes not easily impressed.
[laughs]
Markus:So it was nice to have someone who can kind of gape in wonder.
Whats amazing is that everybody really does have an arc in this movie.
McFeely:Not everybody can have a big one.
So it wasnt just, Man, we need another costume here.
They all kind of relate even people like Martin Freeman.
They relate in a certain way.
McFeely:Not in the story.
He was in the tag…
Markus:Yeah, he was in the tag.
One version of a tag.
McFeely:People thought that he was on set.
It was the publicist.
Markus:Yeah, John Pisani looks remarkably like Mark Ruffalo.
Could we have a little stinger?
And they go, Sure.
So that was in a really early draft.
We needed it to be this kind of grinding human battle where no one had supreme physical power.
So if we were going to bring in these huge guns, youd have to diminish their power.
Lets talk someInfinity War.
How do you guys plan to approach that?
Youve been grounded all this time and now you are going…
Markus:Weve approached it.
Were knee-deep in it.
Just with arms wide open.
Do you have a draft done yet?
McFeely:At the end of the month well turn in both.
And I think it will play.
Are there any characters youd like to introduce in these movies that we havent seen yet?
McFeely:I am comfortable with the amount of characters we already have to service.
We have to talk to everybody.
So we check in all the time as were going to do a new revision.
We work on pass after pass of the draft.
And we call and go, I havent talked to you in a couple weeks.
Anybody got any information on this, or this, or this?
I know where that last draft went, and so we have a good sense ofThor.
Its very helpful actually.
Thats probably even saying too much.
But, basically, we know that its a bit of a placeholder.
And then further down the line were going to do that better.
We did the same thing with Spider-Man.
We did the same thing with Black Panther.
Like, I dont know who this guy is.
McFeely:No comment!
Were out of time.
Last thing:Agent Carter?
McFeely:I dont know.
I would love it to come back.
We have a great idea for it.
[laughs]
Markus:I can honestly say I dont understand how popularity is judged anymore.
The data pipe model seems a little outdated.
Guys, I can keep going, but they are going to drag me out.
Captain America: Civil Waris out in theaters this Friday (May 6).
