While some superfans might try to deny it, Marvel has a formula, and it’s one that has served them very, very well. To date, their superhero movies have more or less followed a broad template, with just enough room to allow filmmakers to add their own creative touches, while adjusting to the needs of each character. However, “Captain America: Civil War” shakes things up, and for the first time, pits the heroes against each other, and forces them to reckon with the far reaching consequences of the actions they’ve taken. But you might be surprised to learn it was thanks to a rival studio that Kevin Feige decided to pull the trigger.
Speaking with THR, ‘Civil War’ co-director Joe Russo says it was WB’s announcement of Zack Snyder‘s Man Of Steel/The Dark Knight showdown that spurred Marvel to push ahead with ‘Civil War,’ and make something different from what they’ve done before, and explains the process in coming to that decision.
“You have to feel that the market is saturated enough that the audience is ready for something different. It’s a calculated risk. But again, that’s what gets me out of bed. I’m much more interested in deconstructing the genre than doing the traditional execution of it,” he said. “….The quality of tentpole movies has gotten very good and very competitive over the last couple years. Because of social media and the discussion that happens there, the audience has gotten a stronger collective sense of taste and you’re dead at 6 p.m. on Friday if you didn’t make a good movie. And they’re starting to champion more radical storytelling.”
” ‘Deadpool‘ a great example of that. I mean, holy shit, $750 million worldwide? For our part, when we finished ‘Winter Soldier‘ two years ago and we were thinking about doing the next one, the only thing that seemed interesting to us was to deconstruct the Marvel Universe — because where else can we go at this point?” Russo continued. “There have been 11 or 12 movies so far, all with a fairly traditional structure. Our pitch to them was: People will tell you they love chocolate ice cream — until you give it to them five days a week. It’s time to give them some rainbow sherbet. Kevin [Feige] is a maverick and he’s very sensitive to how people are responding to his content. He said he thought we might be right. And after they announced ‘Batman v. Superman,’ he said, ‘you guys are absolutely right.’ We needed to do something challenging with the material or we were going to start to lose the audience.”
Given the audience buzz on ‘Civil War,’ Marvel won’t be losing a single fan, but Warner Bros. on the other hand…..well, let’s just say they have their work cut out for them after ‘Dawn Of Justice.’
“Captain America: Civil War” opens on May 6th. Watch below. Check out the latest promos and featurettes below.