Brian Truitt

USA TODAY

ATLANTA — Captain America might get taken off Iron Man’s Christmas list this year.

The two Avengers find themselves on opposite sides of an ideological debate about government oversight, and their respective superhero squads throw down against each other in Marvel Studios’ soon-to-be blockbuster Captain America: Civil War (in theaters May 6).

“I love when he gets to have conflict,” says Chris Evans of Cap, his World War II super-soldier also known as Steve Rogers. In the new movie, helmed by returning Captain America: Winter Soldier directors Anthony and Joe Russo, “there’s a lot of struggle for him to try and keep whatever sense of family he has.”

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Over the course of several Marvel movies, Cap and the Avengers have saved the world multiple times, from thwarting an alien invasion of New York City (in The Avengers) to staving off an evil organization’s destructive plans in the skies of Washington (Winter Soldier) to keeping a killer robot from destroying the planet after taking over the fictitious Eastern European nation of Sokovia (Avengers: Age of Ultron).

All that heroism, however, has resulted in a lot of collateral damage, and another incident in Civil War spawns the Sokovia Accords, a bill that would put a federal committee in charge of the Avengers’ actions. Iron Man, aka genius inventor Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), is for it, feeling partly responsible for the international incidents — but Cap strongly disagrees.

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“It’s boring when a good guy knows how to be a good guy,” Evans says, during a filming break at the Porsche building outside downtown Atlanta that serves as Avengers headquarters. “It’s much more dynamic when a good guy isn’t sure what the good guy move is and has to debate another point of view from someone who may be very close to him.”

Avengers are forced to choose which way to go, and Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), who befriended Cap as the flying Falcon in Winter Soldier, stands by his man, Mackie says. “He respects and admires Cap because Cap earned his rank as opposed to sitting in an office and just delegating orders.”

Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) also join Rogers’ faction, though it isn't idealism that fuels the ace archer's decision, Renner says. “Cap was the first guy who called. Let’s just get the job done so I can get home to the family.”

Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) is also on board, still grieving her brother's death in the battle against Ultron and learning the magical abilities that make her one of the most powerful Avengers. She’s “figuring out her place and finding a family,” says Olsen, but “she does have a few changes of points of view in this film.”

The last member of Team Cap is the most intriguing: Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), Cap’s oldest friend Bucky Barnes, formerly a brainwashed international assassin and now a wanted man.

“Cap is his only shot at survival,” Stan says, adding that Bucky’s new teammates aren’t completely sold on him. “It’s not like everyone’s high-fiving before going to war. There are still tensions.”

Adds Evans: “Nobody’s wrong here. No one’s promoting evil. No one’s the bad guy. We just have different ways of being the good guy and that can get fiery.”