The Russo brothers break down the Captain America: Civil War trailer

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Just in case you somehow missed it, the first trailer for CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR debuted last night and received a rather glowing reception. Despite concerns that CIVIL WAR would turn into AVENGERS 2.5, last night's trailer felt very much like a Captain America film, albeit jammed full of additional heroes. After helming the excellent CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER, The Russo brothers have returned to direct Captain America's latest adventure and they took some time out to speak with Empire where they broke down the CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR trailer.

The Russo brothers say that CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR will be "using the essence of what Civil War [the comic] was about" but say that "the comic book isn’t applicable to the storytelling that we’ve structured up to this point, but the concept of registration, the notion that heroes need to be either monitored or controlled because their power can be scary, is applicable." We've already heard mention of "the Accords" in ANT-MAN, which apparently came about after "the effects of Ultron and Sokovia [the small city that Ultron tried to drop on the Earth from a great height at the end of Age Of Ultron], and New York City [roundly trashed at the end of The Avengers], and Washington D.C. [nearly devastated by falling helicarriers at the end of Captain America: The Winter Soldier]. Examining the third acts of all the Marvel movies, we’re saying, if you could point to the collateral damage in all those incidents, could you use that against the Avengers to control them?"

CIVIL WAR's trailer makes it pretty clear that Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) will be playing a very large part in the proceedings, however the Russo brothers say that Bucky won't be the same man he was as "there’s a part of his personality that was under mind control, and he murdered a lot of people. So he’s got a very complicated history. Who is that person? How does that character move forward? He’s not Bucky Barnes anymore. He’s not the Winter Soldier anymore. He’s something inbetween."

After last appearing in THE INCREDIBLE HULK, William Hurt is back as General Thaddeus ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross, and the CIVIL WAR trailer brought him out pretty quickly. The Russo brothers said that including the character was important to them as their job is "to tie all these films together, to be able to pull from The Hulk, which may have been forgotten about a little bit, and make it relevant again within the cinematic universe." The Russo brothers went on to describe how General Ross has changed since his last appearance, saying "we thought it would be interesting to take a character who had a fanatical anti-superhero point of view. Now he’s become much savvier and more political and has put himself in a position of power, not unlike a Colin Powell. He’s cornering the Avengers politically now, he’s out-manoeuvring them.”

One of the gems packed within the trailer was our first look at Chadwick Boseman's The Black Panther in action, and the Russo brothers revealed a surprising detail about his costume, saying that "it’s a combination of a practical costume and VFX. It’s a vibranium weave, a mesh, almost like a chainmail. Luminescence is something we have to do in post.” As to how Panther gets involved in the conflict, obviously the siblings wouldn't spill but they did say that "he’s there for a very different reason which brings him into conflict with Cap and his team, his motivations are not their motivations.”

Speaking on the powerful conclusion found in the trailer, the Russo brothers commented on the rivalry between Captain America (Chris Evans) and Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) saying that "the theme of the movie is betrayal and it’s a very powerful theme. The movie’s extremely emotional. It hinges on that emotion, and on a very personal level we didn’t want the movie to become about politics and people arguing about platitudes. The third act is built around a very personal moment between these characters." As to how everything works out between Cap and Tony by the end, I suppose we'll have to wait and see. You can check out the entire breakdown right here.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR will hit theaters on May 6th, 2016.