Iron Man and Captain America will be forming a united front in their battle against Ultron when Avengers: Age of Ultron opens in May. As Marvel fans know, they will be faced with significant differences in the upcoming Captain America: Civil War, however.
IGN had the opportunity to speak with Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man) and Chris Evans (Captain America), as well as President of Marvel Studios Kevin Feige during the press rounds for Avengers 2 – stay tuned for more on that! While there, we touched on what we can expect from the upcoming Civil War and the rift between these two leaders.
In some ways, the events of the last several Marvel films have given us a Cap who is interested in transparency (given the catastrophic consequences of SHIELD’s secret keeping) and a Tony Stark who is focused on control. As we’ve seen in the promotional materials for Ultron, Tony is looking for one sweeping solution to keep the world safe – and he believes he is the man to find it. When asked if this was the crux of the wedge that is driven between he and Cap, Downey said to some degree, yes. However, as with most things, there is also a more primal element in play for Tony – jealousy.
“On the surface it’s that,” the actor reflected. “But also [Tony] Stark grew up under the shadow of this very close father son/relationship that Howard [Stark] had with Steve [Rogers, Captain America] so I’m sure that it’s driven by some unconscious motives. At the same time, they’re two vastly different generations of moral psychology. And arguably, Cap’s is more righteous. But I think Tony is a realist. So that’s always a fun dynamic to play.”
When asked if Civil War could be a swan song for Iron Man, Downey quipped, “Sure, anything could be. But they haven’t written me out of the schedule yet.”
For his part, Evans is excited to have the opportunity to explore the ideological differences between the two characters.
“This is why I think the next movie is going to be so effective – Civil War – because there’s a flip-flop in the way we approach things,” the actor said of Cap and Iron Man. “Tony’s always been a trailblazer. He’s always been his own man and he bucks authority. He dances to the beat of his own drum. Cap comes from a world or order, and organization, and hierarchy, and structure. And I think after Cap 2 when SHIELD kind of fell that Cap kind of realized that you can’t necessarily trust the people around you – or you can’t trust the system. I think he now is kind of starting to follow his own heart, and do his own thing, and as a result there becomes this kind of flip-flop in perspective.”
As we know, all things in the Marvel Cinematic Universe are connected. Story threads are established that will play out in multiple films. Avengers: Age of Ultron is no exception.
“I showed the scene of the two of them chopping wood together during our announcement,” Marvel head Kevin Feige recalled, referring to the studio’s big slate reveal last year. “It’s one of my favorite scenes – because I thought it did represent the undercurrent of their disagreements to come. So a lot of the groundwork is being laid here.”
In some ways, it may ultimately seem obvious which character to place your trust in, but Feige assures that this will be a complex equation when all is said and done.
“There’s a great moment at the end of this movie [Avengers: Age of Ultron] that we won’t spoil, but it involves the notion of them realizing that the only way through all this is together,” Feige said. “And I love that. It’s one of my favorite moments in the film. And I do think that if it wasn’t for Tony then maybe none of this would have happened. And if it wasn’t for Tony then the day may not have been saved. But his intentions were good, and I think we cary that through in future films in a way that makes it very balanced in terms of who you might agree with in arguments to come.”
