'Civil War': 15 Things We Learned on the Set From Team Iron Man
Yesterday, Team Cap weighed in on Marvel's "Civil War." Now, it's Team Iron Man's turn.
When it comes to dancing around story points without really revealing anything, the stars of the MCU are Olympic athletes. And Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) must have the most gold medals in this event, as evidenced by the slick non-answers he gave when he greeted us at Atlanta's Pinewood Studios last May.
What he did reveal was a small tidbit of info -- the Sokovia Accords -- but these have large ramifications for the entire MCU. These accords light the fuse on what will cause Earth's mightiest heroes to implode. Two of Team Cap's adversaries, Iron Man and Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), sat down with us to set the stage for Marvel's biggest movie yet.
Robert Downey Jr.
1. "Civil War" finds Tony Stark right in the middle of the Sokovia Accords, which lead to the Superhero Registration Act the government wants to make law as to better hold superheroes accountable for their "dropping Helicarriers on D.C." activities. "These Sokovia Accords are a big problem," Downey said. "Tony finds himself in the midst of that." As we learned from Team Cap's interview, Tony becomes the public face of these acts -- much to the chagrin of Steve Rogers.
2. "This is 'The Godfather' of superhero movies." That's how the Russo brothers pitched the story to Downey when they first met to discuss the film. "I said, 'you just said that, and now you're gonna be held to it.'"
3. "Age of Ultron" planted the seeds for Cap and Stark's conflict with the "chopping wood" scene at Hawkeye's farm (above). But Downey didn't realize that was happening at the time of filming. "You know, it's funny, I never know when the seeds are being laid, I'm just like, 'Wow, that's a pretty cool scene.'" "I remember when people said, 'Man, that's a powerful scene in the movie!' And I was like, 'We just shot this thing before lunch, I don't know, he tears a log apart, I said some words.'
4. In regards to the Accords, it's not security or control that Stark is looking for, but rather that "he's saying that as a group of individuals we all require a little bit more supervision than we might imagine."
5. Stark and Black Widow have a seemingly big scene together, that Downey would not tell us anything about. But he did say that the scene is setting something up for the future of their relationship, perhaps something that will pay off in future Avengers movies.
Chadwick Boseman
6. The actor behind Black Panther said his character is "thrown into the middle" of "Civil War," and the movie is "definitely not an origin story."
7. In the film, audiences "meet me as the Prince of Wakanda. You meet me as a politician/monarch, not as a superhero."
8. According to Boseman, at the time of filming, we will not see Wakanda in "Civil War."
9. And yes, fans, the character will have a Wakandan accent.
10. To prepare for the role, Boseman went straight to the source material. "I've just tried to read all of [the comics], not like it's really work. It is work -- don't get me wrong -- it is work, but it's just sort of reading them like a kid, you know?" Before being cast, he was not familiar with the character.
11. Boseman believes that what separates Panther from the other superhero heroes is "he has a wit, a wisdom, and a plan -- an overarching plan -- that a lot of times you don't necessarily see. So it's his strategy during a fight or during a battle." Another big difference, Boseman added, is that he is "a ruler of a country," and we have yet to see that perspective.
12. When Black Panther shows up in the suit, "everybody knows" it's the Prince, Boseman said. "He's not a superhero. He's a warrior, and it's part of their tradition. It's not like he's like, 'Who is that masked guy that's doing this stuff?' Everybody knows it's him, and they expect that it's him, and they pray to God, or even him in some cases, that he would do the things that he's doing. Which is much different than most of the superheroes, in which you don't know their identity."
13. When asked if there was a particular story arc from the comics that Boseman latched onto, he said: "The answer is "yes," but I'm not going to tell you which one, because if I tell you which one, you're going to say, 'Oh, that's what the Black Panther movie is going to be about.' So the answer is 'yes' and 'none a' ya business.'
14. At the time of filming "Civil War," the script for "Black Panther" had yet to be finalized.
15. But that doesn't mean that Boseman doesn't know what is in store for the film, or when it takes place in the MCU. When asked if it is set after the events of "Civil War, " he gave a very cryptic response: "you assume that ["Black Panther"] takes place after 'Civil War.' You assume it's not set in the past. I don't think you can assume anything, because there's also such a thing as a prequel, also. I think anything is possible."
"Civil War" punches into theaters May 6.