Interview: 'Captain America: Civil War' Screenwriters Talk 'Infinity War,' 'Deadpool,' Influence Of 'Se7en,' And More

Captain America: Civil War” is massive in many ways. While it’s officially the latest entry in the Captain America franchise, it’s as big as any ‘Avengers’ movie, and features many characters from the superhero team in prominent roles. It’s also a smash hit, well on its way to $1 billion worldwide, and with plenty more to put in the bank account before the run is over. However, the blockbuster does have unique elements that make it distinct in the Marvel Cinematic Universe so far. For such a huge cast, the story is relatively small-scale, zeroing in on the ideological rift between Steve Rogers and Tony Stark that eventually grows to fault-line size. The picture also introduces two new heroes to the MCU — Black Panther and Spider-Man — each with their own agenda.

READ MORE: 11 Things ‘Captain America: Civil War’ Did Better Than ‘Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice’

It’s quite the task for anybody asked to put pen to paper, but screenwriters Stephen McFeely and Christopher Markus are a key part of the success of ‘Civil War.’ The pair have created a Marvel movie with huge personal stakes, but one that still remains light on its feet and hugely entertaining. They’ve also managed to write a movie that leaves a lot to discuss, and that’s just what I did with duo, talking about everything from their approach to the sprawling story, introducing Spider-Man and Black Panther, and why it’s difficult to get Netflix characters into Marvel movies. Read on below and warning, spoilers ahead.

Review:'Captain America: Civil War' Starring Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Anthony Mackie, Don Cheadle, MoreWhen you first got the call that you were going to be writing ‘Civil War,’ did you lay down any ground rules? What was your approach to tackling the story?

Stephen McFeely: We were working on a hypothetical ‘Captain America 3,’ and in doing that had really teased out a bunch of that Bucky plot. Someone wanted to get him out of hiding, to get him something that only he knew from his past. That would force Steve to defend a guy that everyone thinks is an assassin. That kind of stuff.

Christopher Markus: I guess the most controversial thing he’d done was murder the Starks. What were the ramifications of bringing that up in the middle of the movie? You know? Either you bring in Tony and you have the two biggest Marvel heroes fighting each other, in which case you begin to look a little like ‘Civil War,’ or you don’t give it enough air time and it seems like you just wasted a huge thing.

Stephen: So, we were already starting there and we all sort of leaned towards ‘Civil War’ and once you get Robert [Downey Jr.] on board, then it’s off to the races.

When putting ‘Captain America 3’ aside and writing ‘Civil War’ in earnest, was there a particular scene that you wrote where you felt like you had cracked the story?

Stephen: Once we gave ourselves permission to go with a “smaller third act” not unlike “Se7en.” That was a big model for us. The big secret that’s revealed forces one character to really face an awfulness. Once we were comfortable doing that, everything else sort of slotted into place. That splash panel, all the heroes fighting in the airport scene, was not going to be the end of the movie. It was going to be the end of Act II. We knew we were going someplace really cool.

Christopher: Also, part and parcel with the same answer, we agreed that the fight had to become personal. It couldn’t just be a fight about a political standpoint all the way through the movie. Because you can start fighting about that, but if you’re going to continue fighting, your audience is going to go, “Really? There is no other way you can sort this out?”

Stephen: Emotional investment is super important. It’s why [the villain] Zemo is in the movie, frankly. We couldn’t find a way to have Tony learn Bucky killed his parents early and maintain that intensity over the course of the movie. We felt it was much stronger for him to learn it in a vulnerable moment, and then snap. And that would get us the really passionate third act.

We agreed that the fight had to become personal. It couldn’t just be a fight about a political standpoint all the way through the movie.

One of the things that struck me about the film is that it presents two different sides to an issue, but it doesn’t take a stand on it either way. How did you manage walking that line?

Stephen: [Captain America and Iron Man are] both the protagonists and the antagonists in a way, right? So, we couldn’t go to Robert Downey Jr. and say you’re a straw man [laughs], and we knew that by Steve making a personal choice, he was going to get a little dirty over the course of the movie. That was always our goal: to have people walk out, and you and your date would not be on the same side.

Christopher: If there’s a right answer, we haven’t done our job.

Captain America Civil War Black Panther Chadwick Boseman

When you started writing the script, did you know Black Panther and Spider-Man were going to be part of the mix?

Chris: It came up pretty organically in plotting it out that we needed characters who would fulfill roles that those characters currently do. Kevin [Feige] had kind of gone, “There’s a possibility of Spider-Man,” but you can obviously guess there’s a tremendous amount of corporate negotiations required for that. We kept it as a kind of maybe thing. That’s why he’s recruited. He’s great, he functions well in the story, but Tony couldn’t have gone to somebody else in that section of the story [without it falling apart].

Stephen: We needed people with different points of view. We wanted the splash panel at the airport to be as crowded with people as we could legitimately make it. If it was just three-on-three, it would be kind of sad. But it’s no coincidence that Ant-Man and Spider-Man steal the show there. It’s because they have less emotional investment. They’re not punching their brothers in the face. So they can look at it differently, both sort of wide-eyed and impressed. It’s lighter in a place where we absolutely need to be light.

There’s a lot of responsibility with introducing Black Panther and Spider-Man for the first time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. What was the challenge there? Did you have conversations with Ryan Coogler or Jon Watts as you were figuring out who they would be?

Stephen: Coogler came on board much later, I think after the movie was finished. He has one line in the movie. I won’t tell you what it is, but we were reshooting something, and we asked him, “What are your thoughts?” He said, “What if he said this?” We said great. I think the same goes with Watts. We were pretty far down the road. In terms of introducing them, you know there’s plenty of pressure, I get that. But we sort of had to put it aside and just write the characters, the people inside the suit. So we wrote a grieving son. We wrote a kid who has had incredible powers for six months and can’t tell anybody. As realistically as we could in both cases.