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Captain America: Civil War screenwriters explain why Thanos was absent

May 12, 2016 by Amie Cranswick

With Phase Three of the Marvel Cinematic Universe set to culminate in the big showdown between Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War, you’d be forgiven for expecting to see a few more glimpses of the Mad Titan before the two-part epic gets underway. However, that wasn’t the case with Captain America: Civil War, and speaking to Verge screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely have explained why they decided against another tease in the MCU’s latest offering.

Christopher Markus: Well, I mean, he’s going to have two movies…

Stephen McFeely: Seriously!

Markus: So we didn’t want to play him out and then have people be like, “Eh, more of this guy…”

McFeely: “Yet again, they gave me 45 seconds of Thanos!” That does nobody any good. The Civil War story is about this group breaking up on their own accord, and they do not need to be helped by the guy from space.

Markus: We also wanted [Civil War] to be a very kind of boots-on-the-ground, grounded movie that set the stage for Infinity War, that sets all the Avengers apart from each other and at their weakest point. So that when this giant purple man does show up, they’re not ready for it.

In all honestly, it wouldn’t really have made much sense for Thanos to appear in Civil War, and according to James Gunn, he won’t be appearing in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 either. Do you think we’ll see him again before Infinity War, and where might he feature? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below…

Marvel’s “Captain America: Civil War” finds Steve Rogers leading the newly formed team of Avengers in their continued efforts to safeguard humanity. But after another incident involving the Avengers results in collateral damage, political pressure mounts to install a system of accountability, headed by a governing body to oversee and direct the team. The new status quo fractures the Avengers, resulting in two camps—one led by Steve Rogers and his desire for the Avengers to remain free to defend humanity without government interference, and the other following Tony Stark’s surprising decision to support government oversight and accountability.

SEE ALSO: Follow all of our Marvel Cinematic Universe coverage here

Captain America: Civil War sees Anthony and Joe Russo (Captain America: The Winter Soldier) directing a cast that includes Marvel Cinematic Universe veterans Chris Evans (Steve Rogers/Captain America), Robert Downey Jr. (Tony Stark/Iron Man), Anthony Mackie (Sam Wilson/Falcon), Jeremy Renner (Clint Barton/Hawkeye), Scarlett Johansson (Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow), Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier), Elizabeth Olsen (Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch), Paul Bettany (The Vision), Don Cheadle (James Rhondes/War Machine), Paul Rudd (Scott Lang/Ant-Man), Emily VanCamp (Sharon Carter), Frank Grillo (Brock Rumlow/Crossbones) and William Hurt (General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross) alongside new additions Chadwick Boseman (Get on Up) as T’Challa/Black Panther, Daniel Bruhl (Rush) as Baron Zemo, Tom Holland (The Impossible) as Peter Parker/Spider-Man and Martin Freeman (Sherlock) as Everett Ross.

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Originally published May 12, 2016. Updated April 15, 2018.

Filed Under: Gary Collinson, Movies, News Tagged With: Avengers: Infinity War, Captain America: Civil War, Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe

About Amie Cranswick

Amie Cranswick is Executive Editor of Flickering Myth, responsible for overseeing editorial coverage across film, television and pop culture.

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