Captain America: Civil War Was Almost A Very Different Kind of Marvel Movie

Captain America: Civil War was a turning point for the Marvel Cinematic Universe on many fronts. For one thing, it was the movie where the original Avengers line-up finally crumbled. The ramifications of that dissolution, and especially Tony Stark’s (Robert Downey Jr.) response to Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) leaving him behind, would linger well into Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. This was also the title, meanwhile, that introduced the MCU incarnations of Black Panther and Spider-Man into this multimedia franchise. These fan-favorite characters would go on to headline some of the biggest movies in history at the domestic box office.

Given how lastingly influential Civil War was on the Marvel Cinematic Universe, not to mention how it remains generally beloved, it’s incredible to remember that this particular Captain America installment almost never happened. This feature’s whole concept of making Marvel heroes fight each other was so tricky and once looked too big and costly to pull off. Thus, an alternate version of Civil War was proposed that would’ve changed the MCU forever.

The Version of Captain America 3 You Never Saw

There was so much pre-release hype and confidence buoying Captain America: The Winter Soldier that Marvel Studios scrambled to make sure the film’s creative team wasn’t going anywhere. A month before The Winter Soldier’s premiere, directors Anthony and Joe Russo as well as screenwriters Christopher Mark and Stephen McFeely were all brought back for a third Captain America movie. Years later, these four men would openly discuss that, when they first signed back on for more Captain America movies, adapting the famous Civil War comic book storyline, which was not immediately in the cards.

Instead, another famous Captain America comic book storyline would’ve been utilized focusing on an entity called The Madbomb. This object had the power to release a toxin that transformed ordinary souls into mindless, violent beings. Captain America’s foe Zemo was still the nefarious mastermind in the alternate script; meanwhile, certain superheroes were planned to succumb to the Madbomb, thus ensuring this third solo Captain America movie would’ve always featured superheroes fighting, to some degree.

It was Kevin Feige himself who put a stop to this iteration of the project, with Feige telling Marcus and McFeely out of the blue that the project would now be a Civil War adaptation. Subsequently, the writers began a draft of the script that would lean into all the exciting possibilities of superheroes fighting with each other, while also maintaining core elements of their earlier drafts. Per The Russos, the Madbomb storyline was kept as a contingency plan in case Robert Downey Jr. failed to sign on as Iron Man for Civil War, which was an essential building block to make the film work. This fallback plan of a Madbomb storyline is an anomaly in Civil War’s production history, which otherwise saw the Russo Brothers and co. stick to their guns on creative decisions.

Notably, nobody involved with Captain America: Civil War ever had a backup plan for Spider-Man’s role in the plot, if Sony and Disney couldn’t agree on film rights to the character.

The Madbomb’s Lingering Effect on the MCU

In early 2015, a variation of the Madbomb would make its way into the Marvel Cinematic Universe through Agent Carter’s season one finale. This episode involved Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper) almost dropping a gas called the Midnight Oil (which turns people into bloodthirsty brutes) on New York City. Though not referred to as the Madbomb, it functions in a similar fashion and even exists in a property adjacent to Captain America.

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Interestingly, a later Captain America property would also involve some kind of disease that sounds vaguely familiar (albeit more immediately lethal to its injectors) to the Madbomb. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier apparently cut a key subplot involving the show’s leads stopping evildoers from unleashing a deadly toxin on the general populace. Like the Madbomb storyline, this too never made it to the screen.

Though the Madbomb comic book plotline has struggled to make it into live-action (even Agent Carter gave it a radically different name), it’s impossible to be frustrated about this reality, considering the quality of the third solo Captain America movie. Captain America: Civil War may not have been the project everyone involved set out to initially make as a Winter Soldier follow-up. However, its lasting Marvel Cinematic Universe legacy proves that it ended up being the ideal sequel anyway.

Captain America: Civil War is now streaming on Disney+.