So, let’s put it this way: In the first Avengers film, Joss Whedon and Zak Penn were tasked with bringing together seven superhero characters – all of whom who were introduced in prior films – into something that seemed cohesive. (And, yes, as we all know they pulled it off.) With Captain America: Civil War, writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely had to incorporate twelve main superhero characters and give them all some semblance of an arc. Not to mention, two of these superheroes – Black Panther and Spider-Man – haven’t appeared in prior Marvel Cinematic Universe films.

Ahead, the duo explains the greatest challenges and what they wanted to accomplish with both Spider-Man and Black Panther before handing them off to other directors for their first proper full MCU films.

(As always, there will be minor spoilers ahead. We saved some more major spoilers for after the film is released in theaters in the Unites States.)

Any movie that references The Empire Strikes Back earns a lot of points with me.

McFeely: You’re welcome. And you can blame the Russos. The made sure that one happened.

Oh, I assumed it was you two.

Markus: No, but we had Spider-Man doing the maneuver, though. We are always a little leery of that, referencing popular culture.

McFeely: You picked the one thing where we were like, “We don’t know if this will work.” So, we’re not going to pretend to take credit for it.

When I write this up, I’ll give you two full credit.

McFeely: There you go.

Markus: Thank you for the credit, sir.

There’s a scene where Hawkeye keeps mockingly calling Tony Stark “The Futurist.” Robert Downey, Jr. had an album called The Futurist.

Markus: Yes! Yes he did.

There’s something here because you know what I’m talking about.

Markus: But I don’t think we’re the first people to say “futurist” in the MCU. I think it’s proof that Robert is a futurist that, before he became Iron Man, he made an album called The Futurist. It’s all very deserving.

So this is intentional?

McFeely: It’s not even a joke! In the comics, he really does consider himself a guy who can see four steps ahead. We really weren’t trying to tweak Robert, it just really was part of the character.



With all the characters, was this a tougher film to write than Winter Soldier?