Joe Russo Compares Captain America: Civil War Movie To Comics

On Saturday, the Russo brothers all but took over Wizard World New Orleans. The sibling directors of the upcoming Captain America: Civil War movie offered free photos and autographs at their booth throughout the weekend but also were featured in three panels in just one day!

During those panels, the directors took tons of questions from fans. While many fans asked silly questions like, “Who wins in a fight, Howard the Duck or Hawkeye?” some brought up some interesting questions which warranted some juicy answers.

In particular, one young lady asked the brothers how closely Captain America: Civil War will follow the Civil War comic books. Joe Russo took charge on answering.

“The Marvel Cinematic Universe is based upon all the movies that have preceded it. It’s the Cinematic Universe, it’s not the comic book universe. We don’t have the issues that the comics do. We don’t have all the daring storylines that they do and tie-ins to create what was required to make the original Civil War comics storyline. We’re taking the concept of Civil War, the core concept of it, and we’re applying it to our storytelling in the Cinematic Universe in its own way. We have to find stories that work within the Cinematic Universe to tell their story. I think you’ll see when you see the movie, you’ll understand how it takes what’s come before and builds upon it to create this conflict.

“I think our job is to surprise you. As a comic book fan, I don’t want to go in and see what I already know. I prefer to go in and be surprised. I like when a story teller throws a left curve at me and I’m surprised. That’s why I want to go see the movie. A literal adaptation, I should just go read the book again. I think that’s what’s interesting about different movies. We have two hours and they have years worth of issues.”

-Joe Russo

One of the notable differences so far is the inclusion of Bucky in the Civil War movie. The Winter Soldier storyline was not a factor in Marvel’s Civil War comics, however, the first trailer for the film portrayed Bucky as a major player and focal point. Later in the panel, Joe Russo explained that the first trailer was very stylized as a follow up to The Winter Soldier but going forward fans can expect to see more of a culmination of the film and the Marvel Cinematic Universe from Civil War‘s previews.

What do you think? Should comic book movies follow their comic book source material more closely or is it okay for filmmakers to differentiate their take on the characters and stories?

Captain America: Civil War hits theaters May 6, 2016.