If you want to know what’s really going on with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you talk to Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige (which we just did) and you talk to the screenwriters. Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely are two of the driving forces behind Marvel’s many franchises. They wrote Captain America: The First Avenger, they co-wrote Thor: The Dark World, they wrote this weekend’s release of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and they’re already hard at work on Captain America 3.
So naturally, we had to get them into the CraveOnline studio for an exclusive B-Movies Presents video interview. We divided our half-hour discussion into six five-minute segments, two without major spoilers (although The Winter Soldier’s identity doesn’t count), two where we talk about the major plot points in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and two lightning rounds where they present their thoughts on Captain America’s supporting cast and rogues gallery from the comics, and say who will never show up in the movies and who may actually have a place in Captain America 3.
In PART 1 of our interview with Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely (SPOILER-FREE, except the already-revealed identity of The Winter Soldier), the screenwriters explain why they jettisoned their original draft of the Captain America sequel in favor of a Winter Soldier storyline, and why they eschewed the fish out of water jokes after The Avengers.
In PART 2 (SPOILER-FREE), Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely describe the differences between Captain America: The First Avenger and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, why the second film had to be about a government conspiracy, the influence of political thrillers, and the notion that Tom Clancy will influence Captain America 3, and how Batroc the Leaper went from a joke to an important character in the franchise.
In PART 3 (SPOILER ALERT), Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely talk about the politics of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the seeds they planted for The Winter Soldier in Captain America: The First Avenger, and the past, present and future of Arnim Zola.
In PART 4 (SPOILER ALERT), talk about the origin of Robert Redford’s character Alexander Pierce, Captain America: The Winter Soldier‘s non-relationship with “Agents of SHIELD,” the temptation to make Captain America and The Black Widow love interests, why they play coy with Black Widow’s backstory, and the ending of both Captain America movies.
In PART 5 (LIGHTNING ROUND), we challenge Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely to give us their thoughts about Captain America’s many villains and supporting characters to see who may, and who absolutely won’t, show up in Captain America 3. In the first half of the lightning round we grill them about U.S. Agent, Baron Blood, Union Jack, Isaiah Bradley, Jack Flag, Madame Hydra, M.O.D.O.K., M.O.D.A.M., Nomad, The Red Skull and his daughter, Sin.
In PART 6 (LIGHTNING ROUND), we continue to grill the screenwriters of Captain America 3 about characters from Captain America’s past to see if they have a place in his cinematic future. In this half, they offer their takes on Taskmaster, U.L.T.I.M.A.T.U.M., Flag-Smasher, Baron Zemo, Cap Wolf, Marvel Zombies and psychotic 1950s Cap.
William Bibbiani is the editor of CraveOnline’s Film Channel and co-host of The B-Movies Podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
