Marvel Almost Nixed Captain America And Iron Man’s Fight In Civil War

We’ve been getting a flood of new insights into the making of the Marvel Cinematic Universe thanks to a new, officially authorized book about its creation by author Tara Bennett, called The Story of Marvel Studios: The Making of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

As one anecdote from the book notes, the small group of executives and creators assembled to help guide Marvel Studios through notes and other suggestions as to overall story arcs and events, known as The Marvel Creative Committee, almost diverted one of the most pivotal moments in the MCU from occurring.

The committee and Marvel Studios reportedly clashed often, eventually leading to the disbandment of the MCC. One of the major causalities the MCC almost turned out to be the climactic fight between Captain America and Iron Man at the end of Captain America: Civil War.

The MCC didn’t want the two characters to come to blows, however Kevin Feige and directors Joe and Anthony Russo insisted on staying faithful to the comics and having them come to odds. The committee’s suggestion was to have the Avengers reconcile then confront a number of Baron Zemo’s Hydra super-soldiers instead of the film leaving off on infighting among brethren.

In fact, one early draft even saw the Avengers fighting five super soldiers in a submarine base, a climax that sounds decidedly more generic than what we got.

Co-director Joe Russo even remarked that Civil War essentially started a civil war within Marvel itself, ironically.

“[W]hen we drew the line in the sand, it became a moment where that company was either going to slowly bend back toward where it had come from, or it was gonna slowly start to bend toward new territory,” Russo said.

Do you think Marvel took the series in the right direction after Civil War? Leave it in the comments below.