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Captain America Directors Reveal How Civil War Sets up Infinity War

Plus, a key scene that hit the cutting room floor.

The Marvel machine is moving full steam ahead, and Joe and Anthony Russo are two of the most important cogs in it.

The directing duo are coming off Captain America: Civil War, which comes to home video in September, and just moved to Georgia to start working on Marvel\'s Avengers: Infinity War. That film, and its as-yes-untitled sequel, mark a culmination for 10 years and -- by the time of Infinity War\'s 2018 release -- 18 films that lay the groundwork for the biggest threat Earth\'s mightiest heroes have ever faced.

Captain America: Civil War brought together the most Marvel heroes yet in any of the studio\'s releases, as Steve Rogers and Tony Stark each assembled two separate groups of superheroes to fight one another over the future of the Avengers. Juggling the 12 Avengers featured in the film was a good exercise to prepare the Russos for the next two Avengers films, which -- in theory -- will bring together every superhero established in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. (Marvel has stayed mum on whether that includes TV heroes like the

In anticipation of Civil War\'s home video release, Joe and Anthony got on the phone with IGN to talk about the lessons they learned from their work on the third Captain America movie and how it\'s primed them for taking on Thanos in the two forthcoming Avengers films. Read on for the full Q&A.

IGN: Reflecting on the months since Captain America: Civil War\'s release, what are you most proud of with your work on that movie?

Anthony Russo: One of the great privileges of getting to make that movie is getting to work on such a large ensemble of not only great characters but also great actors. Joe and I love ensemble storytelling, and we worked very hard in that movie to make sure that no matter how much screentime somebody had, their intersection with the movie would be very exciting and memorable and have a good emotional arc to it. I think for us, the fact that we were able to work so many of the characters into the film in ways I think felt meaningful and exciting to audiences, that is a big part of what we\'re most happy about.

IGN: I heard when you were doing Civil War you went through each character arc individually and workshopped them. Do you plan to continue using that strategy looking forward, like on Avengers: Infinity War, which has even more characters than Civil War did?

Anthony: Joe and I, throughout our careers, we\'ve been attracted to ensemble storytelling and it\'s been a large part of our work, starting with our very first movie Welcome to Collinwood through our TV work with Arrested Development or Community or Happy Endings. We love ensembles. That\'s part of what we love about our Marvel work as well, so the fact that we get to carry that process forward into Avengers: Infinity War, and not only carry it forward but at a scale and a scope that we\'ve never even attempted before in those films, because those films are so much intended to be a culmination of everything that\'s unfolded in the MCU up until this point. These movies are definitely a step up for us in terms of the challenges and thrills of ensemble storytelling.

IGN: You had an interesting challenge in having the Avengers go up against each other, because obviously someone like the Vision has a different degree of powers and abilities than someone like Black Widow. What did you learn about balancing the powers of the Avengers in a way that lends believability to having these people go up against each other, since -- again, looking forward -- I imagine Hawkeye\'s arrows aren\'t going to be all that effective against Thanos once he eventually assembles the Infinity Gauntlet?

Anthony: It\'s a very astute question. We\'ve spent a lot of time [thinking about it]. Very early on, when we first started to think about the logistics of the movie and how these characters would confront each other, that exact issue came up, what you just said. The way we do it is for us we always structure all of our action around character beats and story beats. For us, it was figuring out, yes you\'ve got characters like Scarlet Witch and the Vision who are extremely powerful, and they\'re going to have to intercept with characters who they might be able to overwhelm on a strictly power level, but how do we put those characters into emotional conflicts that will cause them to either limit or hinder their use of powers so we can even the playing field that way, so to speak.

That\'s part of the reason why we put Scarlet Witch in that compromised position of having to save Cap\'s life in the beginning sequence of the movie, but making a small mistake while she does that that ends up becoming a big mistake when it actually kills some people. She\'s a little trigger-shy throughout the movie -- or at least for a good portion of the movie -- because of that experience, and because that experience sort of catalyzes the governments to come after them at that moment for the Sokovia Accords. She\'s dealing with complexities like that.

Vision is dealing with the same thing when he shows up at the airport in Leipzig and confronts the rogue Avengers, he is doing so with this guilt of having basically imprisoned Scarlet Witch, and the fact that she looks at what he was doing as a betrayal and he has feelings for her that is coming in conflict with. He\'s pushing through that during this battle at the airport, and it ends up complicating how he engages with the fight and limiting how he engages with the fight. He even causes a misstep because of that fact. That\'s really how we do it is these characters not only have their abilities, but they have an emotional life and a psychology that is as important to everything they do as their abilities are.

IGN: How has the extremely warm reception to new heroes like Black Panther and Spider-Man affected how you\'re constructing the balance of characters in the next two Avengers movies, which have a similar blend of new and old heroes?

Anthony: Hearing your question makes me think of something that George Clooney said to us when we were making our first movie Welcome to Collinwood, which he helped produce and he also had a small role in. I remember we said to him when he took the role we said, "Oh, sorry the role isn\'t bigger than it is," and he said, "No, are you kidding me? My job as a leading man is to show up and let everybody else steal the scene. Now I get to steal the scene. This is perfect." Your observation is Tony and Cap had the very hard job in this movie of being the leading men, and they had to carry a very complicated and many ways dark and tragic storyline forward through the film.

It created an opportunity for characters who didn\'t have to shoulder that narrative to show up in the movie and be much more whimsical and light and spontaneous and unencumbered by the weightiness of the overall narrative. That was an important balance for us to strike in the film because we knew that storyline was so heavy, so we structured it in a way where we could have a lot of fun with these characters who are intersecting with the story in shorter doses and less deeply. We loved balanced storytelling. We love movies that make you laugh, make you cry, make you sing, scare you, whatever the case may be. Being able to do different things with different characters is a very valuable tool in terms of how we craft narrative and how we enjoy narrative.

IGN: While Tony and Cap technically stopped Zemo at the end of this movie, I\'d argue he won because he did fracture the Avengers. Looking forward and knowing what\'s to come with Infinity War, eventually these characters are going to have to start losing -- be it the Infinity Stones or otherwise. What can you say about the obstacle of having your heroes lose become a part of the story?

Joe Russo: Part of what excited us about how we could end Civil War, and the fact that there is this divide between Cap and Tony and their relationship that will be very, very difficult for them to ever repair, the fact that the Avengers are divided in two and half of them are now wanted by the law and the other fact are not too comfortable with their fate moving forward, and the fact that Thanos and the Infinity War are coming -- the greatest threat the universe has ever seen is going to come at the moment where the Avengers are arguably at their lowest, at their worst, at their least strong and most divided since they\'ve been formed -- that for us was a very exciting place for us to be as storytellers because of the vulnerable nature of our heroes in that kind of a situation. For us, as we move forward into Infinity War, the condition of the Avengers is very much an important part of how that story starts and what dangers they face moving forward.

IGN: How much will Infinity War feel like a sequel to Civil War, what with you both directing it and Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely again writing it?

Anthony: From the point of view of Joe and I, we think about all of these movies as a continuity. The story that we told in Winter Soldier set the basis for the story we told in Civil War, and the story that we told in Civil War is again laying the groundwork for the story that we\'re going to tell in Avengers: Infinity War. For us, there\'s a narrative continuity between the movies, and each movie is in many ways setting the stage for the ones that follow. For us, we have a very specific through-line for all those films.

IGN: And you guys had the joy of being the first people to get a chance to work with Chadwick as Black Panther and Tom as Spider-Man. What are you looking forward to again for bringing some of these new characters into the mix farther down the road?

Anthony: That\'s one of the great thrills, to be able to work with some characters who have such a deep, deep history within the MCU at this point while at the same time introducing new ones. It\'s a thrill for us. I can\'t get into too much detail about who we\'re introducing, but these two movies are intended to be the culmination of everything that has happened in the MCU since the very first Iron Man movie. In being a culmination, these movies are in some ways going to be an end to certain things, and in some ways, they\'re going to be the beginning of certain things. I can\'t get into more detail than that, but that\'s part of the pleasure of the storytelling in these movies for us, and we think for fans.

IGN: I would imagine that it would be challenging for these films that both need to serve as a conduit and stand on their own as a film. It will inevitably will have to set up what\'s to come, just like Avengers set up that Thanos was coming farther down the road. So what, to you guys, is the most important balance to strike there? How much do you have to be this being a Baron Zemo battle versus focus on the Avengers, or focus on the Avengers versus establish Thanos, actually as a character?

Joe: We go through a process that is kind of analogous to the one you described earlier. In the same way that we think about the story, we step into the story and think about the story from every single character\'s point of view, and walk them through the narrative. In the process of us laying the movie -- layering the story -- we think about the movie as both die-hard fans. We watch the movie through those eyes. And then we also force ourselves to watch the movie through what we call virgin eyes -- people who aren\'t die-hard fans, who don\'t necessarily know every detail of the universe, or maybe not even know much about it at all. We think about, how is the story unfolding for somebody like that?

The Civil War story in the comics, which debuted back in 2006, pitted two old friends against each other: Steve Rogers and Tony Stark. Chris Evans, of course, stars in the film version of the tale as Cap. This is technically the third film in the Captain America cycle even though it’s chockfull of other heroes as well.

Robert Downey, Jr. may not be making any new Iron Man movies anymore, but his presence as Tony Stark remains very important to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While the MCU Iron Man has butted heads with Cap before, it looks like things are about to reach a crisis point between the two Avengers.

Tom Holland is the new Peter Parker/Spider-Man. The young actor is in the unique position of having his version of the wallcrawler appear in both the MCU (starting with Civil War) but also a new series of solo Spidey movies for Sony Pictures.

Spider-Man was a key player in the Civil War comic. He revealed his secret identity to the world in a show of solidarity for Iron Man’s support of the Superhuman Registration Act. This proposed law would require all super-folk to register with the government, which is what splits Cap and Iron Man in the first place. But Spidey comes to realize that he may have taken the wrong side in the struggle…

Peter also had a different costume for part of the Civil War story - the so called Iron Spider Armor designed by Tony Stark. Could this suit make its way into the movie as well?

Scarlett Johansson\'s Black Widow (Natasha Romanoff) will return for the third Cap film, having been a key part of the previous entry in the series, Captain America: The Winter Soldier. In the comics she was on Team Iron Man during the conflict, and despite her close alliance to Steve Rogers in the movies - and her status as a member of the new Avengers line-up at the close of Age of Ultron - that will also be the case in the film too.

In the comics, T\'Challa, a.k.a. the Black Panther, and his wife Storm (yes, of X-Men fame) spent much of Civil War on the sidelines before finally choosing Cap’s side. But obviously the film will depict a younger, Storm-less T’Challa in the person of Chadwick Boseman. This will be the character’s MCU debut.

General \'Thunderbolt\' Ross will finally make his return to the MCU in Civil War, once again played by William Hurt. Hurt was last seen as Bruce Banner’s eternal stalker in The Incredible Hulk all the way back in 2008.

Of course, in the comics Ross eventually became the Red Hulk. And Hurt recently told IGN the following regarding his character in Civil War: ‘What they\'ve done is they\'ve taken a character who was the Ross from the older film and made a new version. This is a much newer Ross. A much different Ross.’ Hmmmm. A much redder Ross, perhaps? Or is that asking for too much? Maybe we\'ll get there eventually...

He’s just a babe in the woods! The woods being up at that New Avengers facility from the end of Age of Ultron, and the babe being Paul Bettany’s Vision. Yep, he’ll be in Civil War for his second MCU appearance, also siding with Team Iron Man. In the comic, a different version of the Vision known as Jonas sided with Cap in the battle.

Don Cheadle\'s War Machine (James \'Rhodey\' Rhodes) also wound up as a new Avengers recruit by the end of Age of Ultron. He\'ll side with Tony Stark though in Civil War - he is of course Iron Man’s best friend…

During the Civil War story in the comics, however, Rhodey was working as a pilot of a new version of the old mutant-tracking Sentinels. Allied with Stark, he was sent on a mission to arrest the Black Panther and Storm, opponents of the Superhuman Registration Act.

Paul Rudd\'s Ant-Man (Scott Lang) - whose solo movie wasn’t even out at the time of his announced casting in this film - is also onboard (on Team Cap, as was alluded to at the end of the Ant-Man film). As for his comics counterpart, Scott Lang was actually dead during the events of Civil War. But don’t worry: He got better eventually.

Of course the Winter Soldier’s status has been a mystery since the conclusion of the last Cap film. But Sebastian Stan is back here as James Buchanan ‘Bucky’ Barnes, taking his old friend Steve Rogers\' side in the battle.

In the wake of Civil War in the comics, Bucky actually became the new Captain America for a time. Could that happen in the movies as well? How many films does Chris Evans have left in his contract again?

Some might’ve thought Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye was retiring from the superhero biz at the end of Age of Ultron, but he will be back for Civil War (on Cap\'s side). So will his arrows, no doubt. He wasn’t present during the comics version of the tale, for reasons that are way too complicated to get into here.

Another new Avenger, Anthony Mackie’s Falcon (Sam Wilson) will support Cap in the film just as his character did in the comics.

And yet another of Cap’s new Avengers, Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch, will also make her second MCU appearance here. The Witch (also known as Wanda Maximoff) was not part of the Civil War story in the comics.

Frank Grillo’s Crossbones - the Shield/Hydra agent who betrayed Cap in Winter Soldier - returns for Civil War, looking more like his comic-book counterpart this time around (considering what happened to him in his previous appearance).

Emily VanCamp returns from Winter Soldier as Sharon Carter, a.k.a. Agent 13. Will her ties to Cap’s old girlfriend Peggy Carter finally be confirmed this time out? Or will that remain a (creepy) aspect only found in the comics? As for her loyalties in the Civil War comic, she was torn between supporting the Superhuman Registration Act and being loyal to Cap, who she was romantically involved with at the time. In the movie, she\'s siding with Steve.

One of my most satisfying things I hear about Civil War or Winter Soldier is when somebody comes up to me and says, "hey, I brought somebody to this movie, or I\'m somebody who doesn\'t normally go see these movies, but I saw it, and I really enjoyed it." I feel like it\'s so important to try to bring more people into the fold of what these stories are and why they\'re special, and also keep appealing to more, wider and wider audiences; new people you haven\'t gotten to yet. I think it\'s very important and very encouraging as a storyteller. I think part of the thing we do -- I know that\'s not a direct answer to your answer, but it is very much thinking about the movie from different perspectives in the same way that you think about it from different character\'s perspectives.

IGN: Is there any fun character interaction or scene with some of the characters in Civil War that you loved but had to end up on the cutting room floor?

Anthony: There is a scene that is a cut scene. It\'s a small piece of the fight at Leipzig where there\'s a very fun interaction between Cap and Bucky, and it kinds of hints at a favorite storyline in the books. I won\'t go into the detail about it, but there\'s a little tease in that scene that is pretty fun.

IGN: Is that something that you guys are planning to follow up later even though we didn\'t get to see that specific comic book story tease here?

Anthony: It\'s a comic book story, and I can\'t say whether or not it\'s going to factor in to the movies.

IGN: You\'d made a comment before where you said you had 67 Avengers -- or characters -- up the board for Infinity War that you were trying to whittle down. What\'s that number down to at this point?

Anthony: That\'s a great question. We have to do a count I think. I can\'t really say. Whether that number is literal or figurative, it\'s more or less accurate to where we\'re at.

IGN: Do you have to pick your darlings in this movie? Or is it something that you really can just say, you know, we\'re going to find a way to fit everyone in. That\'s sort of what the promise of Infinity War is.

Anthony: It\'s a tough question to answer. It\'s a little bit of both, because you always have to make sure that your choices feel organic to the storytelling, and really, you have to sort of structure them in the way that they need to be there. You have to have them, or they shouldn\'t be in the movie. It\'s a little bit of a dance between the two, where you have big eyes, and you want everybody included in the movie, but you have to go through the process of what can you -- what\'s the best story that you can tell. It\'s the dance between those two things were the movie gets worked out.

IGN: Did you guys yell at Robert Downey Jr. for sharing that fan poster that had everyone from Agents of SHIELD, all the Defenders and stuff like that, that his millions of followers might not realize wasn\'t official?

] We didn\'t yell at him, but it was a little bit of an, "Oh boy, here we go." It\'s so funny because we had just had a big meeting with him just a few days before that about the movie that I think he was heady with the excitement.

IGN: I\'m also curious, what are you guys thinking of Brie as Captain Marvel? What are you looking forward to exploring with her as that character farther down the road?

Anthony: We love her as an actress. And also personally, we know her. She had a small role on Community, a recurring role. We\'ve worked with her before. She\'s an amazing actress and I think she\'s going to be an amazing Captain Marvel. Very very excited for that.

IGN:  You guys are going to be overlapping a bit with Spider-Man: Homecoming shooting down in Atlanta. Why do you think it\'s important to sort of transition from a big Avengers-type film with Civil War down to a high school level movie for that character?

Anthony: We couldn\'t be more excited about it. The youthfulness of the character is obviously very important to how we wanted to re-introduce the character in Civil War. That was always central to what our concept for the character was in that movie, and what our pitch was about that character. We love that dimension of the character -- that he\'s truly a young character. Even though we had limited screen time with him, we tried to play very much to the nature of that character -- him as a real kid in Queens, at that age. Everything that we\'ve seen out of Homecoming is really excited. One of our favorite things about the Marvel films is that you can take a superhero movie and try to hybrid it with another genre, like Winter Soldier is a classic example for us in terms of running very hard at a political thriller with the superhero and seeing where that takes you. The idea that they\'re running right at a John Hughes movies, just a very faithful sort of interpretation of a high school experience but with super powers is a very exciting thing for us. Everything we\'ve seen so far out of the film has been amazing. We couldn\'t be more excited for that movie.

Marvel\'s Captain America: Civil War arrives on Digital HD, Digital 3D and Disney Movies Anywhere on September 2nd, and on Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray, DVD and on-demand on September 13th.

Terri Schwartz is Entertainment Editor at IGN. Talk to her on Twitter at @Terri_Schwartz.

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