The screenwriters of Captain America: Civil War have revealed that Tony Stark originally recruited Ant-Man in an early draft of the script – until the rights to Spider-Man suddenly became available. Civil War essentially functioned as The Avengers 2.5, and depicted the team fracturing over internal disagreements. This leads to an epic battle between them in an abandoned airport, which became one of the most talked about setpieces of 2016.

Captain America: Civil War also introduced Spider-Man/Peter Parker (Tom Holland) into the MCU, after a deal was struck between Sony and Marvel. Fans had long waited to see Spider-Man appear alongside The Avengers, and the story featured Tony Stark recruiting the chatty teenager to his side of the fight during the second act. Stark would go on to act as a mentor for Peter in both Spider-Man: Homecoming and Avengers: Infinity War too.

The screenwriters for Captain America: Civil War – Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely – recently spoke with the Fatman on Batman podcast about the film, and reveal who Stark would have recruited in Spider-Man’s place if the Sony deal didn’t change the inital plan:

Civil War introduced a couple of new characters into the MCU with Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) and Spider-Man, which proved to be perfect prequels for both. It did strain credibility a little that Stark would take a side trip to recruit a teenager to fight alongside him, but it’s a forgivable flaw just to see the character alongside The Avengers. While Ant-Man’s appearance in the movie is fun, both Markus and McFeely are in total agreement that the Scott Lang version of the script just wasn’t as cool. It could have been great to see Paul Rudd and Robert Downey, Jr share more screentime, but that could still happen down the line.

McFeely: [Tony Stark] would recruit somebody else. He probably recruits Ant-Man, I think would be that idea. Well, we had a section where you could recruit somebody, right?

Markus, “[Tony] actually went to San Francisco. It would not have been as cool.

McFeely “I believe [Scott] was watching his daughter play soccer. It wasn’t very good.

It will be interesting to see what happens with the MCU next, following the events of Avengers: Infinity War – particularly in regards to the fates of several major heroes. Ant-Man will also be returning to the Avengers line-up, having been absent from the events of Infinity War. The next film is also said to be about the team coming together again, after being torn apart following the events of Captain America: Civil War.

More: Avengers 4 Is About Heroes Becoming ‘A True Team’

Source: Fatman On Batman (via Comic Book)

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