Marvel Fan Theory Suggests Captain America Knew Who Spider-Man Was Before 'Civil War'

Marvel Cinematic Universe fans have gone full tinfoil hat in their search for any and all clues to what Avengers 4 is about. That quest has included going back over the all of the previous MCU movies to spot details which, at the time of the film's original release, seemed minor or insignificant, but now have potential to be some of the biggest twist reveals we get in the Avengers: Infinity War sequel.

Some MCU fans who went back for another viewing of Captain America: Civil War are now claiming to have spotted one major reveal in the MCU timeline that most fans may have missed:

"In the segment of the airport scene where Pete and Steve have their 1:1 fight, Steve drops a skybridge on Pete, who is able to catch it.

How was Cap confident that this wouldn't kill Spidey? Surely their fight didn't reveal how strong Spidey was, since they were all pulling their punches.

A better explanation is that Cap already knew about Spiderman. After all, it's clear that Tony had been watching him for an unknown amount of time, and even had a suit to give him, and this was while Tony and Steve were still allies. Tony and Steve were both evaluating Spidey for recruitment, and took catalog of his powers as he stopped crimes in Queens."

As you can read above, this theory circulating Reddit claims that Captain America was aware of Spider-Man's existence and crime-fighting actions in the MCU prior to the two characters meeting during Civil War's airport fight sequence. The rationale is that during the fight, Cap drops a skybridge onto Spider-Man, who is able to hold it up without being crushed. Given Captain America's upstanding moral code, the fan behind this theory suggests that he would never make such a dangerous battlefield decision without first knowing the capabilities of Spider-Man's powers.

On the one hand, there is some logic to the idea. Tony Stark (and Falcon) clearly knew that the wall-crawler was active in the span of time between Avengers: Age of Ultron and Captain America: Civil War, so it wouldn't be hard to surmise that Captain America was also privy to any dossiers about potential new Avengers recruits -- including Spider-Man.

However, other Reddit thread users are crushing this theory right out of the gate, claiming it is flimsy logic, at best. Those would-be debunkers point to small details of the airport fight sequence such as Cap getting into a tug-of-war with Spider-Man's webs just before he drops the skybridge on Spidey. By seeing firsthand that Spider-Man's strength was able to challenge his own power, Cap would be able to gauge what Spidey could or could not handle, and knew the skybridge would not kill the young hero. Other people point to the fact that Bucky and Falcon have a major scuffle with Spider-Man inside the airport before the fight enters its second phase back out on the tarmac. In that time, Bucky, Falcon, and Cap could've easily communicated warnings about this new unknown player and his array of powers, giving Cap all the advantage needed to outmaneuver Spider-Man.

UPDATE: As readers point out, This is theory falls apart pretty quickly when you consider the fact that Cap asks Spider-Man where he is from. Since Spidey was only operating in Queens up to that point, Cap would already know where he is from if he had been researching him.

Unlike a lot of these fan theories, it's hard to even say how this "reveal" would impact anything in the MCU going forward. No matter when Captain America learned about Spider-Man's existence, he now definitely knows his name. More to the point: the two never got a chance to meet again before Infinity War that we know of, and with Spider-Man now erased by The Snap, and Cap potentially not making it out of Avengers 4 alive, it's unclear if these two heroes will ever meet again.

Avengers: Infinity War and Ant-Man and the Wasp are now available as a digital download as well as on Blu-ray and DVD. Upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe movies include Captain Marvel on March 8, 2019, Avengers 4 on May 3, 2019, and Spider-Man: Far From Home on July 5, 2019.