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The Comic Book Story Line
In Stamford Connecticut a group of C-List super heroes, the New Warriors, attempt to apprehend some recent escapes of Riker's Maximum Security Prison. During the confrontation one of the escaped Prisoners, Nitro, who's power allows him to blow himself up decides to pull out all of the stops and really blow himself up. The explosion levels a large portion of the city leaving scores dead including 60 school children.
The US government responds to the tragedy by passing the Superhero Registration Act, or SRA. The act requires all individuals with super powers to publically announce themselves, give up their secret identities and support or work directly for shield.
There are two clear camps after the law passes.
Tony Stark supporting the SRA encourages super heroes to come forward and is quickly joined by Reed Richards (Mr. Fantastic - Fantastic Four), Ms. Marvel and Natasha Romanoff also form the leadership cadre.
Captain America is ordered to apprehend a series of Superheroes who have failed to Register and he publically balks and begins leading the resistance to the SRA. Bruce Banner, Sam Wilson (Falcon), Matt Murdock (Daredevil), and Doctor Strange quickly side with Steve Rogers.
Peter Parker (Spiderman) is the character caught in the middle, he initially sides with Tony Stark and gives up his Secret Identity. During the course of the Civil War he has a change of heart and later supports Steve Rogers.
The X-Men, under the leadership of Cyclops, pledge neutrality in the conflict. Having recently survived the Decimation (destruction of thousands of Mutants) Cyclops hoped to save as many of the surviving 198 mutants as he could. Cyclops does not however speak for all 198 Mutants, Wolverine quickly supports the SRA and begins tracking Nitro down for Shield. Quicksilver inserts himself into the fray attempt to build his own reputation.
While the two sides battle the Evil Arch-Villains hatched various plans to attack and destroy the superheroes and what they stood four. The Thunderbolts (lead by Hawkeye I believe at the time) we ordered to deal with the various Arch Villians.
A whole bunch of intrigue occurs between the US Government and various other Governments (Inhumans and, Atlantis, namely).
The finally of the series saw Captain America lead the Secret Avengers and their allies in an assault against Riker's Maximum Security Prison, where they are ambushed by Iron Man and his allies. The fight is teleported to Downtown New York. The fight escalates and Captain America faces Iron Man in one on one combat. When Captain America finally gets the upper hand and realizes he can defeat Iron Man with one more blow, he surrenders. On the steps of Courthouse Captain America is assassinated by Brock Rumlow (Crossbones) and the Civil War ends.
So now you have the one page synopsis of the massive story arc that took 85 comics to tell. It is one of the largest single story arcs Marvel has ever told and one of the fans favorite.
Marvel Cinematic Universe
With the announcement that Robert Downey Jr. is joining the cast of Captain America 3 (titled either Marvel's Fallen Son or Captain America: Fallen Son) there has been much speculation that Marvel Studios will be bring us a Civil War story Arc in several upcoming films.
Marvel Studios, as well as 20th Century Fox and Sony Pictures, have a history of adapting the classic comic book storylines to fit their needs and or ability to tell. Captain America: The Winter Soldier, X-Men: Days of Future Past, or The Amazing Spiderman 2 all are retelling of classic stories but not exactly.
The first change that we can expect is a variation on the backstory. In the comic book story line the conflict is started by the destruction of a small Connecticut city by a group of C-List Superheroes that spark the Superhero Registration Act. A small city in New England may be destroyed in Avengers: Age of Ultron, but it will be at the hands of A-List Superheroes.
There will not be a Superhero Registration Act as all of the Marvel Studio Superheroes are already in the open. In the comics Tony Stark is very much a Government supporter, in the movies he is very much a anti-authority personality. In addition with the end of Captain America: The Winter Soldier Steve Rogers is also questioning the role of authority and how easy it is to be abused.
In the MCU both Steve Rogers and Tony Stark would be coming at something like the SRA from relatively the same point of view. I believe that is more like to center on the fact the Steve Rogers believes that Tony Stark has been, is being, extremely reckless with his work on Ultron and on other projects. There is a good potential for conflict there and it has been highlighted in Iron Man 2 and Iron Man 3 as well as Marvel's Avengers.
One of the key aspects of the comic book story line is the man in the middle issue involving Spiderman. Peter Parker's being young and naïve was put to good advantage in the comic book story arc, the character is able to explore both sides of the situation and is able to present the "good" of both sides. Good is a relative term. There is no Peter Parker in the current MCU. That may change depending on which set of rumors you believe in of course. The lack of a man in the middle forces the audience to choose one side over the other, as in it is black or white I mean Red or Blue.
Its also interesting to note that several actors have recently announced they have signed (or reupped) multi-film deals with Marvel, Thomas Kretschmann (Baron Wolfgang von Strucker), Don Cheadle (Colonel James Rhodes/War Machine), Lou Ferrigno (Voice of the Hulk). Nor should we forget that B.J. Britt (Antoine Tripplet - Agents of SHIELD) and Ming-Na Wen (Melinda May/The Cavalry - Agents of SHIELD) are strongly rumored to make appearances in Avengers: Age of Ultron. There is a subtle rumor that Charlie Cox (Matt Murdock/Daredevil) makes a cameo appearance as well.
Rumors have abounded that Joe and Tony Russo will direct Avengers 3 as Josh Whedon is stepping down after Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Speculation
There has been a lot of speculation so far, including mine here and here. Speculation at this point is a fun game for us bloggers, but the problem is we don't know what we don't know. Duruing the course of writing this over several days I have come across multiple issues and faults that I wonder how do I correct or rather make this fit with what we know.The Infinity Stones
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| Chitauri Scepter |
The Infinity Stones story arc is continuing. The Tesseract (the Space Stone), the Aether, the Orb (The Power Stone) and potentially a fourth stone Blue Orb in the Chitauri Scepter which is considered the Mind Stone, leaves two (or three) yet to find. Many have speculated that another stone will be involved in the Guardians of the Galaxy II. At this point there is no reason to doubt that timeline. That still leaves at least one stone yet to find, considering the other stones have all had entire movies, why would the remaining stone be any different.
Marvel Studios has long talked about its desire to have a movie devoted to a female lead. The choices of female leads include Black Widow, Sif, Brunhilde, Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk, and Mockingbird as well as long list of B-Listers. Scarlett Johannson has proved to be an excellent secondary character in several films but she and Bobbi Morse (Mockingbord) are very much like the long list of failed Female Leads of the late 90s and early 00's. Out of which only Kate Beckinsale in Underworld had any success in their role, Ultraviolet, Tombraider, Resident Evil, Point of No Return, Aeon Flux....
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| Ms. Marvel |
Accepting the fact that a Hulk Movie is tough to do lets put She-Hulk to the side as well. That leaves Sif, Brunhilde (aka Valkyrie) and Ms Marvel. Sif and Brunhilde have he same backstory, they love Thor, can't have him, but Brunhilde is exiled from Asgard while Sif is Not.
The reality is that only Ms. Marvel has the backstory to create an interesting standalone film, IMHO. And that jives with the rumors that Marvel Studios wants to bring Ms. Marvel to the Screen as well as the Inhumans. Add in a Infinity stone and walla you have a female lead, completing the Infinity Stones story arc and ready for Infinity ...
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| Josh Whedon |
Rumors have persisted that the conclusion of the Infinity Stones story Arc, with Thanos as the bad guy, will be a two part movie. If we check out the 2018 release dates announced by Marvel we see that there are three movies listed. With a mere 8 weeks between the first Movie (May 4) and the second Movie (July 6), speculation of two part movie sure makes sense.
What about the rumors that Josh Whedon is stepping down, how about stepping up.
If we assume that Marvel is splitting the cast, we put Iron Man, Guardians of the Galaxy, Ms. Marvel in the first movie, then James Gunn make total sense to direct. The second half of the movie takes place on Earth, Joe and Tony Russo directing with Captain America (Bucky), Falcon, War Machine, Ant Man, Doctor Strange and others to be determined also make sense. Overseeing the entire project is Josh Whedon.
So what about the Civil War Story Line?
The story line shapes the Phase 3, but isn't "the" storyline. Rather it is the shaping event.
Unlike the comics the MCU must focus on the conflict between Captain America and Iron Man. This conflict starts in Avengers, is given a little play in Iron Man 3 and Captain America: The Winter Soldier but clearly the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron bring it to a head.
This conflict becomes a full out "war" in Captain America: Fallen Son. I must assume the end scene has Crossbones apparently killing Steve Rogers on the steps of New York City Hall. with Sebastian Stan's Character Bucky assuming the mantle/role of Captain America some how.
From the end of Captain America: Fallen Son to May 4 2018 release date of a potential first movie in Avengers part 3, you have Doctor Strange, two unannounced movies and Guardians of the Galaxy II. If I have speculated one of those two movies is Ms. Marvel/Inhumans that leaves one movie slot for an earth story line. Black Panther has been strongly rumored, Iron Man 4 always is a possibility. A Hulk movie per Lou Ferrigno?
There is another option, what if Avengers 3 part one is released on July 6th, 2018 rather than May 4th. IMHO this creates a much smoother story arc story line. I am speculating Black Panther for the 2017 movie, but it was a hard choice. That choice is based around rumors circulating that Black Panther is in the works and that Avengers; Age of Ultron has an impact on that movie.
Typically Marvel wants it big name movie to fill the late spring slot, however with Guardians of the Galaxy II slated for July does that open up a date for a little more risk. I wouldn't be shocked to see IM 4 in that slot or in May 2018, but it made little sense to have two space based comic book movies bumping up against one another.
- 2015 - Avengers: Age of Ultron
- 2015 - Ant-Man - Introduction
- 2016 - Captain America 3
- 2016 - Doctor Strange - Introduction - Infinity Gauntlet Story Arc.
- 2017 - Speculative - Black Panther - Introduction - Civil War Story Arc
- 2017 - Guardians of the Galaxy II - Infinity Gauntlet Story Arc - Nova
- 2017 - Speculative - Iron Man 4
- 2018 - Speculative - Inhumans/Ms. Marvel
- 2018 - Avengers 3 - Part 1 (Iron Man, Doctor Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy)
- 2018 - Avengers 3 - Part 2 (Ant-Man, Wasp, Quicksilver, Spiderman, Scarlett Witch, Falcon)
- 2019 - Speculative - Captain America 4 - Secret Avengers
- 2019 - Speculative - Planet Hulk
- 2020 - Speculative- Guardians of the Galaxy III
- 2020 - Speculative - Hawkeye - West Coast Avengers
- 2021 - Avengers 4 - Secret Wars Part 1
- 2021 - Avengers 4 - Secret Wars Part 2
I would not be shocked to see Thor 3 in a November 2020 date.
I totally expect this speculation to be proven false in hours if not days. But it's fun to do.
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