Captain America: Civil War almost had an entirely different ending.
In the new MCU book The Story of Marvel Studios: The Making of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it's revealed that the Marvel Creative Committee, a group of Marvel executives, comic book writer Brian Michael Bendis, and publisher Dan Buckley, really weren't keen on the idea of Captain America and Iron Man fighting each other at the end of the movie, and instead wanted the reunited Avengers to fight the Super Soldiers found at the Siberian base together. (H/T SlashFilm.com)
"We kept saying, 'There's nothing interesting about that film. We're not here to make that movie. We're not interested in telling another superhero story,'" co-director Joe Russo is quoted as saying.
"Civil War started a civil war in Marvel," he added. "But when we drew the line in the sand, it became a moment where that company was either going to slowly bend back toward where it had come from, or it was gonna slowly start to bend toward new territory."
Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige agreed with the filmmakers over the Committee, and the debate went all the way up to Disney's Chief Creative Officer Alan Horn – who ultimately also sided with the filmmakers.
"The big thing I used to say all the time was, 'People tell you how much they love chocolate ice cream. You give it to them six days a week, they're gonna throw it in your face on day six,'" Joe Russo explained. "And the problem is, if you have three chocolate ice creams in the can at 200 million dollars a pop, you're screwed. So you better start figuring out ahead of time how to be disruptive."
Civil War ended up being a huge success for Marvel, clearing the billion-dollar mark at the worldwide box office. The plot ended up having a major knock-on effect on the Marvel movies that followed, including Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. The Marvel Creative Committee was eventually taken out of the equation, too, with Feige and Marvel Studios instead answering only to Horn.
The next Marvel movie to hit the big screen will be Eternals, which debuts this November 5. Until then, check out our complete guide to Marvel Phase 4 for everything else the MCU has in store for us.
