‘Captain America: Civil War‘ was filled with a plethora of characters. In addition to Captain America and Iron Man, several of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes appeared in the film such as Hawkeye, War Machine, Ant-Man, Scarlet Witch, The Vision, and more. The cast was so large that the Russos weren’t able to fit some Marvel Cinematic Universe staples into the proceedings. I mean, Nick Fury was nowhere to be found, right? But apparently, the script once called for the involvement of two other heroes from the pages of Marvel Comics that may have changed the game considerably.
While speaking to ComicBook.com, Joe Russo revealed that Red Hulk and Iron Spider almost factored into their latest Phase Three film. When fans first heard that Spider-Man was finally coming home to the MCU and would be introduced in ‘Civil War’, True Believers assumed that he’d be making an appearance in his Iron Spider costume from the popular 2006-2006 comic event from Mark Millar and Steve McNiven. Similarly, they also thought that we might be getting the first live-action portrayal of General Thunderbolt Ross’ red rampaging alter ego. But Russo shared that though those versions of those characters were once on the table, they ultimately decided against it:
“We had so many characters in that movie as it was. We consider everything, obviously, but with so many characters in that movie as it was to try and entertain adding another character and to get to the Red Hulk, you have to add a back story. You have to substantiate the narrative to get to that. [Thaddeus Ross], on our list of priorities, he was there sort of as the government’s agenda and not to add another complicated super powered character to the mix.’
We had a board when we started this process of the movies with these Avengers characters that have ever graced the screen in a Marvel film and a list of characters that we have at our disposal that haven’t graced the screen. We spent the last six to eight months crafting stories around the cornucopia of characters at our disposal so anything is possible. [Iron Spider] falls in that category of anything’s possible. We consider everything.”
While the imagery of Spider-Man appearing in the Iron Spider suit would’ve been great, I’m pretty happy with the fact that we got Spider-Man at all. Plus, with Robert Downey Jr. appearing in ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ next year to presumably continue mentoring young Peter Parker, there will be plenty of opportunities to see the web-slinger in alternate costumes. As for Rulk, Earth’s Mightiest Heroes will certainly need all the help that they could get when ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ rolls around, so I’m sure that he’ll remain in contention for a big screen appearance as the Russos plan that epic adventure and beyond.
Are you disappointed that Red Hulk and Iron Spider were not among the things included in ‘Captain America: Civil War’? When do you think would be the perfect opportunity to introduce those versions of the classic characters into the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Share your thoughts and theories in the comments.
‘Captain America: Civil War’ starring Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Chadwick Boseman, Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Elizabeth Olsen, Daniel Bruhl, Paul Bettany, Don Cheadle, Emily VanCamp, Paul Rudd, and William Hurt will be released digitally on September 2, 2016, followed by the Blu-ray release on September 13, 2016.
Despite being a “professional writer”, Ben likes run-on sentences far too much. For more of his attempts at being funny and the occasional insightful thought, follow him on Twitter and Instagram.
