Changes are coming in Captain America: Civil War especially for everyone’s favourite Iron Man.
Avengers: Age of Ultron has already set the stage for something enormous… and it’s likely that the Marvel Cinematic Universe will never be the same again. But will it change how Iron Man looks at the world?
It sounds as though Ultron might be about to upset the applecart… and by the time we get to Civil War, it seems that Tony Stark might be a very different Iron Man.
During an interview with Empire Magazine, Robert Downey Jr. revealed that big changes are coming his way… and Iron Man might just develop a conscience by Captain America: Civil War.
“It’s natural to change your views,” he said. “The main thing to me is, and this is where I think the Russos are quite brilliant and where Kevin [Feige] backed the play, is what sort of incident could occur and what sort of framework could we find Tony in? The clues are in Avengers: Age of Ultron about where we might find him next.”
Of course, the biggest clue is in Ultron himself. Created by Tony Stark in order to help bring peace to the world, it looks as though his creation has gone awry. Faced with the consequence of his own actions, it seems he’s put the fate of humanity on the line… and he might not be able to deal with that.
But will this give him a new perspective?
“What would it take for Tony to completely turn around everything he’s stood for, quote-unquote, because he was the right-wing guy who could still do his own thing… the idea of Tony being able to march into Washington and say, ‘I’ll sign up’, wouldn’t have made sense if the political climate in the real world hadn’t shifted the way it has.”
It looks as though taking responsibility is the name of the game here… and the events of Age of Ultron are likely to be the splinter between Iron Man and Captain America.
“It’s kind of weird that these guys would have all these throw downs all over planet Earth and it looked like a little collateral damage happened over there, and yet when the movie’s over, it’s like nobody minds,” he added. “You have to figure, ‘Were you to ask the question, what would the American government do if this were real? Wouldn’t it be interesting to see Tony doing something you wouldn’t imagine?’”
Obviously, the comic books see Tony Stark step up to this responsibility – supporting the Superhuman Registration Act in which heroes are forced to register by the US government.
But after his experiences in The Winter Soldier, I can see why Cap might be reluctant to do so.
But does this make Iron Man the villain?
“I wouldn’t put it that way,” said Downey Jr. “Ultimately it’s Steve’s story; it doesn’t say ‘Iron Man 4: Civil War’. I think that’s great too. I think Chris [Evans] has been hungry to bring even more of an underside and some shadow to that. I remember the comics – on the surface you got the sense that Cap was baseball and apple pie, but underneath there was all this churning stuff of being a man out of time. Now we know he’s made his peace with that. What’s the bigger issue? It can have a little something to do with the past, but it can be about someone becoming more modernised in their own conflict.”
How all this plays out on the big screen remains to be seen. And with marvel taking plenty of liberties with existing lore throughout the MCU, it’s likely that it won’t be exactly the same as the comic books.
Of course, for now we’ll have to wait and see. But either way, it’s going to be an explosive face-off between two old friends.
Captain America: Civil War heads to cinemas on 29 April 2016.
Will Civil War reflect the comic book storyline? How will Tony Stark differ after Age of Ultron? Let us know what you think in the comments below…
