Chris Evans on the Real-World Parallels and Character Changes of Captain America: Civil War

Captain America: Civil War is set to be a big turning point for the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2016, with Earth’s mightiest heroes turning on each other. Comic fans may already know the gist of what’ll go down from past storylines, but Captain America himself, Chris Evans, has a bit of insight into what makes that story so compelling.

Speaking to Cineplex, Evans pointed out that we can relate to the movie’s two opposing sides pretty well, because it’s what we’re used to in real life:

There’s a great parallel that they draw between my character and Tony Stark. It’s something we can all relate to in terms of how we perceive our own society and culture, in terms of what is best for people. You can go right down to Democrat and Republican; everyone has a different opinion of what’s best.

To be honest, I think there’s a little more clear-cut right and wrong in that specific real life example than there is in a world of actual superheroes, but that’s a conversation for another time—I think Evans has a solid point. In Civil War, Captain America and Iron Man will face off over whether their heroics need government oversight. It’s easy to see Cap’s side (the side of heroes doing their thing because it’s what’s necessary for the greater good) as the “hero” side with Tony Stark and his allies as the “villains” in the movie, but if the story played out in the real world (where we don’t know all of these characters and what they’re up against inside and out) we might feel differently.

Maybe. He continued,

You have this team of people who are destroying every city they go to, but they’re saving the world. So it’s a matter of, “Do we monitor these people, or do we let them monitor themselves?” The beautiful thing with Civil War is that no one’s right and no one’s wrong; it’s just your personal opinion.

Evans also mentioned how that is reflected not only in the real world but in the characters in the film. Cap has been through the military and seen hierarchy and oversight, and it’s gone kind of badly for him over time. Meanwhile, Tony Stark has always been kind of a renegade, and especially after Ultron, he’s coming around to a different point of view.

That’s a lot of rather heavy material to get through for a movie that’s also packed to the brim with superheroes, but if anyone can handle it, it’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier’s Russo Bros.

(via CBR, image via Marvel Entertainment)

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