Civil War: Whose Side Are You On?
Civil War is coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and nearly every character from Iron Man to Ant-Man is looking to appear. Except for Thor, but you got to leave something for the sequel. In any case, sides will be taken as either pro- or anti-Superhero Registration Act. Other than the obvious sides for Captain America and Iron Man, it is still up in the air for now. Until its premiere in May, let’s draw some obvious (or not-so-obvious) conclusions as to what side certain characters will take.
Anti-Registration
Since this is still a Captain America film in name, I’m starting with him. Obviously, Steve Rogers will act against the Registration Act, split from the main group of heroes, go off wanted as a fugitive, blah blah blah. Since his name’s in the title, Captain America’s likely the focal point of the movie, and the movies love to put him against the world.
Alongside him will likely be, as before, Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow. The two have already teamed up in Winter Soldier and will likely pair off again as she’s always been a character on the fringe of society. Another fringe character will probably be the Winter Soldier himself Bucky Barnes who’s at least completed the noble act of not killing Captain America. Sure, he’s still on the run, but that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t be on his friend’s side. Plus, after already playing him against Captain America, Civil War wouldn’t try that again (I hope).
One thing Age of Ultron actually did foreshadow for this film was the team of New Avengers under Captain America. With the exception of War Machine, this team comprised of the Vision, Scarlet Witch, and the Falcon who will work against the Registration Act under Cap’s leadership. It makes sense at least superficially since Sam Wilson’s pals with Steve, and Wanda Maximoff just recently got over a hatred of Tony Stark. That being said, a good conflict would be with the Vision formerly known as JARVIS working against its co-creator Stark. If they can manage to fit it in, that is. Don't hold your breath.
Pro-Registration
This is where things get a little dicey, beyond, of course, Tony Stark. One thing that is consistent throughout the films is Tony’s inability to really learn from his mistakes which is the only reason this Civil War can be a thing now. Even after all is said and done in this film, he probably won’t learn anything. Moving on.
The remaining non-Asgardian and confirmed-to-appear Avenger, Hawkeye, will then side with Iron Man, probably for the case of security rather than actually supporting the man. Clint, as it was revealed, has a full family to worry about, so accountability and registering would probably sound good to him. There really should be more official Avengers on this side, but with Thor building up the Infinity War setup (I hope) and the Hulk in the ocean (I guess), this is all that’s left.
Filling up the ranks will be the new characters because, really, who would be on Tony Stark’s side anyway? Among them is the Black Panther aka T’Challa, the King of Wakanda. Black Panther’s usually an isolated guy when it comes to heroics, but being a public figure would force him to take a less controversial side. He’ll probably regret it after realizing what happened to that chunk of Vibranium in South Africa, but the most he’d probably do is just stay out of the whole thing. Besides, there’s another film in the future to focus on what Black Panther thinks beyond American superhero politics.
Next up we have Ant-Man, or Scott Lang’s Ant-Man. Scott’s established to be a former thief and con-man, so nothing would scream moving backwards than becoming a fugitive. If he has a role that’s more than four lines, it will probably be an endorsement for the act to stay within the law. Anyway, his appearance will probably be limited to that, and bottom line, the anti-Registration side would be far too crowded for someone who has his own film. The only other ones for Iron Man would likely be Sharon Carter and General Ross. I didn’t think you’d care either.
Other
There’s still the wild card of Spider-Man being in the movie. His role has to be something otherwise the hype over casting him means nothing. I would say that he probably sides with Iron Man for the Registration Act then defects to Captain America after a while like the comic story, but that requires a lot of screen-time and attention to a character that would be just introduced in that film. The movie’s stuffed as it is, though I don’t put it past Marvel to try and sneak that Spider-Man plot in regardless. I guess it doesn’t matter what side he’s on. Either he’ll only show up for thirty seconds or it’ll be at the expense of sidelining everyone. He can’t win.
The sides that these characters take are important to the story whether or not we see everyone’s reactions. The most important thing about this film is to emphasize the conflict over superheroes and their accountability to the public eye as well as their personal right to privacy which was never brought up in the films at this point. Agent's of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s been doing a decent job by describing its use of the Index for registering Gifteds and the team’s divided response to these people with superpowers. But as we all know, that doesn’t count. Whose are you on?
