Captain America (Chris Evans), Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), Falcon (Anthony Mackie), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), and Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) are ready to charge. They’re lined up, ready to run to an all-out sprint even though the weather in Georgia on this May day is plenty hot and it must be even hotter under all the rubber they’re wearing. But there’s no time to focus on that because today is the “splash page” begins. Today’s the battle that begins “Civil War”.

My fellow journalists try to do the math about who must be on the other side of the battle that’s unfolding. Right now, they’re only shooting the “Team Cap” stuff, so the rest of us are saying, “So the other side has to be Iron Man…War Machine…Scarlet Witch…Vision…and maybe Black Panther?” It’s a fun way to pass the time as the crew resets and the actors prepare to run again.

I wish I could say this was a more “eventful” set visit, and while we did get to see some stunt doubles do some brawling, this was a set visit that was largely about coming down to Pinewood Studios in Atlanta to interview the talent. Marvel loves its secrecy, and most of the actors were pretty guarded. Thankfully, we also got to interview the directors Joe & Anthony Russo (Captain America: The Winter Soldier) as well as screenwriters Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely (Captain America: The Winter Soldier) and producer Nate Moore (Captain America: The Winter Soldier), who were more liberal in talking about the script without giving anything away (they’re more confident in what they can and can’t say while the actors tended to err on the side of caution).

However, from the boatload of interviews we did, we got a lot of great information about Captain America: Civil War. Here are 115 things to know about the film.

Directors Joe & Anthony Russo

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Image via Marvel

- This is a “sprawling, epic film” says Joe Russo. There’s also the challenge of turning former protagonists into antagonists, adds Anthony Russo.

- The division between the teams will evolve and the opening sides we saw on the set visit will be where the division occurs.

- Today’s filming is a big, epic scene.

- The whole sequence is being shot in IMAX, and it’s about a 15-minute sequence. It’s the only one they’re doing on the camera.

- Where they saw Winter Soldier as a political thriller, they see Civil War as a “psychological thriller.”

- They see Se7en as a reference for this movie because it’s a “sensitive, complicated character thriller.” They also noted Fargo and The Godfather as influences, not in terms of quality, but because Godfather is asprawling film with a lot of characters that tells very intricate stories. Each character has an arc.”

- De Palma is also an influence for how he’s good at creating tension and using empty space.

- They’re also referencing westerns because of the character showdowns.

- They spent a year and a half with the screenwriters and producer Nate Moore combing through the script to make sure each character’s emotional arc tracked correctly. However, they cautioned that at some point “you have to sacrifice logic for expediency” otherwise you end up with a three and a half hour movie.

- They’re aware of the challenge of upending a character with a strong moral center like Cap. “We found a way to really get at the heart of who Cap is to shake his foundation, push him somewhere I think that's going to surprise a lot of people,” says Anthony. Joe adds that you’re also going to see a side of Tony you haven’t seen before in the movies.

- They say that Boseman adds real gravitas to the role of Black Panther. He’s also “got a movement style that he brought because he has a background in martial arts and it's fascinating. He moves like none of the other characters in the universe.”

- They didn’t know the runtime, but they believed it would be on the longer side of action films.

- When it comes to whether or not these characters are out to kill each other, Joe explained, “We dug deep to find motivations that were extremely personal and very emotional to the characters. It's not for all characters because like any fight people take sides and some people have stronger motivations than others, and as the fight gets worse people drop out because they don’t have the stomach for it. We have a couple characters that go to the end and they go to the end pretty hard and pretty ugly.”

- Everyone comes out of this movie with a point of view and for some that point of view is “really extreme.”

- They’re going to try to bring in other characters to fit the tonal universe they created with Winter Soldier. For example, because their sensibilities are more post-modern than Silver Age, Vision walks around the Avengers compound in normal clothes, not a cape.

- They also like for characters to have limitations to their powers. Vision specifically will be learning the limitations of his powers.

- This film will create ramifications that carry into Infinity War. However, at the time of this interview, they were still breaking the story for that duology.

- Black Widow has a tricky arc to track in this film, and Black Panther was tough too because he’s an outsider in the midst of a “family fight”.

- They had a lot of freedom with crafting Black Panther and didn’t have to worry about his upcoming solo film.

- The movie starts quickly and the complications follow soon after. Black Widow and Scarlet Witch open the movie together.

- This will open with an intimate battle similar to the one in Winter Soldier. “It's a very specific mission at the beginning of the film and specific characters involved on that mission, something happens on that movie that triggers the events of the movie,” says Joe.

- Daniel Bruhl is playing a “playing a really, really interesting character in this movie,” but they wouldn’t say any more on his role or on Martin Freeman’s.

- They acknowledge that it will be easier for the audience to get behind Cap because it’s his movie and he has the most screentime. “However,” says Joe, “Tony has the most emotional motivation in the film. The most human motivation. Cap's is philosophical.”

Screenwriters Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely

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image via Marvel

- What makes Civil War a Captain America movie and not an Avengers movie is “tone and focus”. This “is 100% Steve's story,” says Markus, adding “We wanted to drag everybody into Cap's world and make him feel bad for a while.”

- This is Winter Soldier but with a bigger canvas.

- There are “A, B, and C plots to this movie” and “If Civil War is the A plot, then the Bucky story is the B plot.”

- A year has passed since the events of Ultron and Ant-Man. McFeely adds that unless they’re told otherwise by the powers that be, passage of time in the real world is the same for the MCU.

- Balance has been the challenge for a movie with such a large cast, but this is absolutely a Captain America movie, and then lined up opposite him is Tony Stark. “If you were to look at the call sheet,” says McFeely, “those guys are way at the top and have the bulk of the lines and the screen time.”

- The large cast is also a function of this being a “war”, not a “fist fight”. They’re grateful that Thor and Hulk are off the board because they make a fight so uneven.

- Another challenge is to bring people in and not just make it feel like that character is a cameo.

- Every fight revolves around the “Civil War” question. “It activates their world and you go, As this guy, how do I feel about that?’” says Markus.

- There will be an incident that forces the governments of the world to reconsider the Avengers.

- Unlike the Civil War comics, this is about oversight and regulation rather than unmasking anyone.

- The film will show Bucky wrestling with his guilt over what he did as the Winter Soldier.

- Once they knew early in the scriptwriting process that there would be a government figure, they went for bringing back General Ross.

- Hurt’s a fan and even wants to come back for Infinity War.

- They don’t keep up to date on what’s happening on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

- Like Winter Soldier, this movie has a condensed timespan.

- They play a bit with the Sharon Carter romance.

- The film will also show Vision trying to adjust to daily, modern life. However, because he’s a superior being, his opinion tends to hold more sway. “He can cut through the bullshit in some ways,” says McFeely.

- This new Avengers unit is more tactical and skill-set based.

- This film won’t be concerned with the cosmic side of the MCU.

- Because of her nature as a double-agent, it’s hardest for Black Widow out of everyone to pick a side.

- Even though Cap picks a side and stands firm, that doesn’t mean he lacks doubt about his actions.

- On their desired audience reaction: “We want people walking out of this movie going, Tony's right. And half the other people going, Steve's right. That would be a dream if we got 49-51 split. Because the question is a legitimate one.”

- This movie takes place in more parts of the world than any other Marvel movie so far.

Anthony Mackie

Image via Marvel

- Because he was only given his script pages during filming Avengers: Age of Ultron, he didn’t know that Falcon was a New Avenger until he saw the film.

- When it comes to being an Avenger he says, “there's not really a hierarchy. Everybody gets to make decisions, everybody's put in a position to save the day as opposed to standing there while one person flies in and saves the day and you're like, “Good job!” Avengers is really a team effort.”

- On Sam and Steve’s friendship: “There's definitely a confidence and respect between the two of them. You get to see more of that. I think our relationship is more mano a mano as opposed to mano and friend.”

- When it comes to interacting with other characters, he says, “Now everyone knows who I am, so it's not “Who's the flying guy?” It's more, “Hey, Falcon's here.” You get to see my relationship with everyone else has grown as opposed to being the new guy on the team.”

- When it comes to his new costume, Mackie says, “We've all had upgrades.”

- On having “100%” CGI wings: “I realized yesterday how stupid we look. They're “We need you to run, but before you break into a full run pop your arms out so your wings can extend and you'll fly.” I was like, “Okay, alright. I'm 36. Let's do it.” We were running and it's so hot. It's balls hot. So, I'm running and my goggles are filling up with water, right? I don't know how women do this, but it's torture. The makeup starts getting into the corners of my eyes, so I start crying. It's so hot... I can't really see anything and they're like “So, hold your arms out and just... fly away.” I was like, “Let's just do it, dude. Fuck it, let's do it.” He added, “They have these little wings, like these little three foot wings.”

- Falcon thinks Tony Stark is a “nerd.”

- Don’t expect to get a glimpse of Falcon’s personal life. “No, people don't come to Marvel movies for personal life subplots, no.”

Chadwick Boseman

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Image via Marvel

- This isn’t an origin story for Black Panther. He’s thrown into the middle of it.

- We meet T’Challa as a monarch/politician, not as a superhero.

- There is a Wakandan accent.

- On putting on the costume for the first time: “It's hot. It's blazing hot. Listen, it's so hot. I've never been that hot before in my life, seriously.”

- Black Panther sees a fair share of action in the movie.

- Black Panther isn’t even a superhero in the mythology of Wakanda. “He's a warrior, and it's part of their tradition. It's not like he's like, "Who is that masked guy that's doing this stuff?" Everybody knows it's him, and they expect that it's him, and they pray to God, or even praying to him in some cases, that he would do the things that he's doing. Which is much different than most of the superheroes in which you don't know their identity and you don't know when they might show up. There's an expectation that's much different. So that's the main difference.”

- Says Black Panther is “a tactician. He's a strategist, so he appreciates that thought process. So it's both sides.”

- Wakanda is known to the world.

- The character rules Wakanda, but since they’re not in Wakanda in this movie…

Chris Evans & Sebastian Stan

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- Evans sees Captain America as the anchor of the story.

- Tonally, the movie is completely in line The Winter Soldier. The Russos “make grounded movies with superhero elements,” says Evans.

- There’s an element of survival’s guilt in Cap’s relationship with Bucky.

- Bucky’s journey picks up where it left off at the end of Winter Soldier.

- Stan says that a similarity between Cap and Bucky is “They’re men out of time, struggling to embrace this new life, and how do they do it.”

- Cap is still on the search for Bucky when the film picks up.

- Cap is still trying to break in the New Avengers.

- The movie will be relevant to what’s happening today in the real world.

- Evans explains that because Cap is going rogue in this movie, and not “leaning on the structure of society” means that he’s in uncharted territory, “So it’s the first time he really doesn’t know what the right answer is.”

- Evans on Cap’s conflict with Stark: “This isn’t a character struggle, this is just a kind of execution struggle. How things should be done.”

- The Avengers sympathize with Cap’s desire for Bucky’s redemption even if they don’t all agee with him.

- When it comes to Bucky’s emotional state, Stan says “He’s in a place where he’s not very stable or healthy environment in his head.” The character is also trying to learn how to live now knowing what he’s done as the Winter Soldier and trying to move forward.

- If you like combo moves in the action scenes, Evans reassures, “There will be a lot of team combats.”

- Stan hopes that Bucky will get to interact with Vision. Evans really likes his scenes with Johansson.

Jeremy Renner & Elizabeth Olsen

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Image via Marvel

- Scarlet Witch has created a surrogate family with the Avengers, but she’s still wrestling with whether or not her powers do more harm than good.

- Barton is still wrestling with his home life and a his desire to be in the fight.

- The friendship between Hawkeye and Scarlet Witch has grown stonger.

- Renner says it’s not hard for Hawkeye to choose a side because he’s a “brass tacks kind of guy.”

- Scarlet Witch and Vision have a unique relationship because both their powers come from an Infinity Stone.

- She’s going to get to do some things with her powers we didn’t see in Age of Ultron.

- Scarlet Witch no longer feels bitter towards Stark over her family’s death.

- Neither actor has pushed for a spinoff film.

- Barton is now a master with a bow as well as a staff. There will also be different tips and arrow tricks because he’s not trying to kill anyone.

- They see adding Ant-Man and Black Panther as a way of expanding the world of the MCU.

- Olsen jokes that because her character has superpowers, her training is nil. She does work with a choreographer so that her moves look better than the pre-viz, but ultimately she acknowledges that if Scarlet Witch wanted it would be “a, b and c and you’d all be dead.”

- There won’t be any mind control in this movie.

Producer Nate Moore

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Image via Marvel

- Thinks that the main two things this movie adds to the MCU is Black Panther and paying off the promise at the end of Winter Soldier. The movie will also take the next steps in Cap’s relationship with Black Widow, and ultimately crafting a “proper trilogy” with the first two Captain America movies.

- He was excited by seeing Boseman’s movement and accent.

- Looking at the difficulties of how superheroes operate with S.H.I.E.L.D. no longer in place.

- Sees Bucky as a “free radical” and that he’s a bad guy to most of the world except for Cap.

- This movie is Cap pushing back against America saying how The Avengers should be run.

- They also understand that Captain America movies are about stripping away Cap of his comfort. In this case, the comfort of his new family, the Avengers, is being stripped away.

- This New Avengers team has been working together for about a year. “They’re closer,” says Moore. This isn’t like the first Avengers, which was a disparate response group. “Again, that’s why Civil War is powerful, because it’s not a bunch of people who just met each other arguing. It’s a bunch of people who spent a year together kind of growing as a unit and becoming real friends all of a sudden being pulled apart.”

- They tried to figure out how to bring in characters organically. Moore admits that trying to jam in characters “has never really worked out in our favor.”

- He doesn’t want to pack a movie with superheroes just because he can. He wants to make sure they have a purpose and an arc.

- They decided to sit Nick Fury out because he didn’t add anything to the Civil War story they were telling.

- Cap is going to be trying to figure out how much Bucky remembers.

- At the time of this interview, Moore said he wasn’t sure if Spider-Man would even be in the movie.

- Crossbones is doing his own thing now and he’s “more unhinged.” Furthermore, “he becomes almost the spark point for what happens with the rest of the film.”

- Both Bruhl and Freeman’s characters serve a purpose in this film, but, like Black Panther, they’re setting up a future film.

- On balancing Black Panther’s role in this film with his upcoming solo film: “There’s still plenty of story that we still have great ideas for the standalone movie. But you get enough of it in this movie that I think you are going to be happy.”

- An even in Civil War pulls Tony out of retirement.

- They kind of know what they want to do with Infinity War.

- Getting to their various “signposts” keeps the process fluid in terms of bringing plot points and characters.

- They haven’t figured out how to balance their storytelling with the TV storytelling yet. They don’t want to interfere with TV shows and vice-versa.

- On par with Age of Ultron in terms of global scope.

- These are characters who like each other, so they’re trying to stop each other, not kill each other. “I think it prevents Tony Stark from blasting Hawkeye in the face with repulsors,” explains Moore. “You’re just not gonna do that. That doesn’t mean you still can’t have a battle that has real stakes and tension but it does mean for characters like Vision, especially, who feels like he is the protector of humanity in some respects, from going full Vision power because are you gonna do that to somebody like Black Widow? Are you gonna do that to Wanda?”

Robert Downey Jr.

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Image via Marvel

- He likes it “when seemingly irreparable thing occur and men and women find a way to move past it.”

- He didn’t think that the conflict we saw in Age of Ultron between Cap and Iron Man was sowing the seeds of discord. “I’m just trying to keep up with everything too.”

- Believes the biggest challenges of the film are being put to Evans.

- Says that although there’s a lot of “CCs” on every e-mail, actors still have room to define their characters. He gave an example of Johansson pointing out a certain line wasn’t something Black Widow would say and having the freedom on set to change it because she’s been playing the character since 2009.

Closing Thoughts

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Image via Marvel

While it would have been nice to see a bit more from filming or to go into the war room or for anyone to even acknowledge that Spider-Man was going to be in the movie (when we visited the set, the role hadn’t been cast yet, and I’m sure there’s a reason why everyone was skittish at the time about definitively saying “Spider-Man is going to be in this film.”), but I’m a big Captain America fan, and I wasn’t disappointed in the slightest by what we learned, and I’m grateful that nothing major was spoiled. There’s a lot of promise in this movie, and I have full faith in the people assembled that this war will end in victory.

Captain America: Civil War opens May 6th.

For more of our Captain America: Civil War set visit coverage, click on the links below: