Captain America: Civil Waris a tremendous balancing act.
CHRISTOPHER MARKUS: You know, almost everybody made it in.
There was a period where we talked about bringing Wasp in.
They would be this pair.
Everybody else we would talk about them and then theyd go away, but we got most everybody back.
What was your backup plan if you didn’t get Spider-Man?
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MCFEELY: It was Black Panther.
Yeah, I mean, we always had a recruitment section which allowed for smaller arcs.
Because not everybody should have the same screen time, the same arc otherwise it would just be unwieldy.
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Yeah that’s the best way to answer it.
So Black Panther would have beena recruit?
MCFEELY: Yeah, I guess I don’t mean that.
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Would he have been that guy?
MARKUS: It would have functioned differently.
MCFEELY: Yeah it wouldn’t have been the same.
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MARKUS: There was also like, you would see recruiting Ant-Man.
That’s what it was.
There was a whole scene where they go get him in San Francisco.
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Just didn’t shoot it.
Which is a weird thing we come upon everymovie.We write the first draft and then, “Oh yeah.
Absolutely need this.”
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I know that."
Like, “We do not need to explain this.
It is naturally occurring in a viewer’s head already.”
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Well the best “We don’t need to explain this” was Spider-Man’s freaking back story.
MCFEELY: No because those movies already did that for us.
Like let them deal with it however they want to deal with it.
Like, he’s bitten by a spider in the airport?
MARKUS: It’s like, “Don’t you remember this guy?”
MCFEELY: No, but okay [Laughs].
MARKUS: No, but I can look it up.
There was a Black Goliath in 1978, and that’s him!
So it’s fun to kind of just pluck Spider-Man fully born and bring him in.
MCFEELY: Then they cast the hell out of him.
It was also cool because you guys kind of did the origin story without talking about it.
It was all there in the scene, just subtle.
MCFEELY: There’s clearly something he is regretting, right.
It is respectful I think.
MARKUS" You know, when we were writing it, just the usual four or five Marvel people.
They read them afterward but it was, I would say, very few notes.
MCFEELY: On that end.
And changes were, we only made changes really because of Robert [Laughs].
But, in general, that’s a pretty faithful version to the first draft coming out there.
Looking ahead a little bit, you guys have the two partAvengersbonanza down the road.
MCFEELY: I can’t be here.
[Laughs] It’s down the road, but realistically, not really for you guys.
We are here not writing it.
So how far are you guys in your drafts?
MARKUS: We’re nearing being done with first draft.
Then you get back your notes?
And pick up the phone to have them go, “Yeah this is insane.”
It looks like a serial killer’s lair with all the cards and the stuff on the walls.
MCFEELY: We know that.
MARKUS: “That’s another story.”
MCFEELY: We know this.
MARKUS: “And those are two movies.”
And then, now how can we surprise people?
This is a case where people know the villain, people know about the stones and stuff like that.
So like it is actually a little more known than the other movies we’ve done.
We’re starting a little less from scratch.
But then what do you do with all that?
If you read the comic …
I’m saying too much, but if you read the comic it’s bonkers how it turned out.
MCFEELY: It’s pretty crazy.
MARKUS: How much acid are we expecting the audience to take [laughs]?
MCFEELY: I have said this,Winter Soldieris not the ‘Winter Soldier’.Civil Waris not ‘Civil War’.
They’re not direct interpretations.
Well, you know, likeWinter Soldierwas your political thriller.
This one’s a bit of a mystery.
Do you guys have an angle that you’re working out with that one?
MCFEELY: We probably can’t tell you.
MARKUS: It’s literally based on everything.
Very often it’s modeled on the movies that have come before.
That’s why I think it works pretty well because it’s paying off something you love already.
In terms of how much acid are you expecting the audience to do.
We’ve gotGuardian’s whichis pretty far out.
By the time we get there, how free are you guys?
MCFEELY: That’s a great point.
We do – We look at all the movies that are coming and go, “All right.
This is weird what we’re writing now.
MARKUS: I mean in the vaguest possible way we have no limits at the moment.
But, at the moment, anything we have the rights to, is in the bucket.
And that’s the appeal of this project.
We need that character anyway.
Oh, it’s one of the greatest actors in history.
Let’s get him.
MCFEELY: Who was very good, and very nice to us, and eager to play him.
It’s the biggest challenge of our screenwriting lives I think.
MARKUS: Certainly on a logistical level, but I’m told we’re going to make it!
Thanks guys, and congratulations.
