Arguably more dramatic than Superman’s “death” in “Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice,” when Captain America laid down his shield at the end of “Captain America: Civil War,” it marked an ideological line in the sand. Steve Rogers could no longer in good conscience wear the badge of heroism given everything that transpired between The Avengers. And directors Joe and Anthony Russo confirm it’s a very defining moment for the character.
“I think him dropping that shield is him letting go of that identity,” Joe Russo told Huffington Post. “[It’s] him admitting that certainly the identity of Captain America was in conflict with the very personal choice that he was making.”
But of course, even if Steve Rogers follows the pages of the comics and goes Nomad, it likely won’t be along until the Avengers are reunited and fighting their greatest threat yet: Thanos. And with the upcoming “Avengers: Infinity War” spread over two movies, it’ll give the Russos plenty of narrative space to play with the notions of the splintered group at odds with each other, before inevitably reuniting to face a common foe.
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However, things could’ve been much different had Robert Downey Jr. not agreed to reprise Iron Man for ‘Civil War.’ Early on, it wasn’t certain that the actor would return, and the Russos revealed some other ideas were kicked around for what the third “Captain America” movie would be.
“There was a period where we did discuss a third act that revolved around the Madbomb from Cap mythology,” Anthony Russo told EW. “It didn’t have anything to do with ‘Civil War,’ and if we couldn’t get Downey — in the very, very early conversations before we nailed him — somebody pitched the idea of a third-act that revolved around the Madbomb, which makes people crazy. It almost like zombifies them — but not literally.”
To put it bluntly, the Madbomb essentially turns ordinary citizens into insane, mindless, violent people. And the Russos were intrigued by the idea of Captain America having to face off against the general populace.
“The notion of the Madbomb would have been Cap having to fight civilians and how he would he handle that,” Joe Russo said. “We were always trying to put him into these interesting moral conundrums because of his nature. That would have made a compelling third act because if civilians are the antagonists, how could he stop them without killing them?”
“Somebody you know has turned into a zombie and now you have to fight them. And there would have been the emotional component of that,” Anthony Russo added.
It’s intriguing conceptually, but I’m not sure how that would’ve worked in reality, so let’s just be glad RDJ came on aboard, and everyone moved forward with ‘Civil War.’ And if you want to watch the movie again, it hits home video on September 13th. Check out a segment of the blooper reel below.