Seemingly out of nowhere, and right in the middle of peak Star Wars marketing, Disney placed the spotlight on their other key franchise - the Marvel Cinematic Universe - in late November by releasing the first trailer and posters for Captain America: Civil War. This was followed up by cover issues of film magazines, interviews, photos and more.

Civil War picks up where Avengers: Age of Ultron and Ant-Man left off this year, and serves as just the beginning of Phase 3 of the MCU. It may be a Captain America film by name, but almost every major character introduced in the dozen MCU Films so far has a role to play in Civil War - a movie that promises to be another game-changer for the universe.

NOTE: The following post may contain MAJOR SPOILERS for Captain America 3.

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With that in mind, That Hashtag Show has another scoop regarding certain plot details about Captain America: Civil War - and while we’ll have to wait until the film comes out to verify these details, this latest news coincides with what comic readers should expect from the opening chapter of Phase 3.

We already know Chris Evans and most of other Avengers featured in Civil War will be back working with the Russos again for Avengers: Infinity War. Lengthy studio contracts gave that away years ago and Evans has publicly talked about his obligations with Marvel over the years.

But we also know that Captain America 2 & 3 and Avengers 3 & 4 co-directors Anthony and Joe Russo want to emphasize that there are real stakes involved in their features, meaning some characters may not walk away from the events of Captain America: Civil War - j ust like the Civil War crossover event from Marvel Comics a decade ago (which has a timely followup debuting this summer, by the way). Joe Russo speaking in China earlier in December:

With all of that in mind, That Hashtag Show reports that Captain America: Civil War will open and close with funerals scenes - funerals for different characters. We knew of one already from back in May when set photos revealed our heroes alongside familiar faces attending a ceremony that we speculated could be for Peggy Carter. The latest report claims this is true, but goes on to explain that there will be another funeral for none other than Steve Rogers at the end of the film to close it out.

“The stakes of both Civil War and the Avengers: Infinity War movies are gonna be very high, and there will be a price to pay for the characters. And that’s the whole point of cumulative storytelling. We’re going to go on emotional journeys with these characters and we’ve got a lot invested in the emotion. We have the responsibility to be mindful of how these people feel about the characters and, at the same time, we also have a responsibility to carry through on the storytelling. As filmmakers, we believe in stakes. You can’t have good storytelling without strong stakes. So, there will be a price to pay. There will be a price to pay in Civil War. There will be characters who suffer in that movie and will come out and never be the same again. And in Avengers: Infinity War the stakes will be raised to a whole new level and people should expect to be shocked when they see the movies.”

Talk about stakes.

Next Page: Who Becomes The Next Captain America?

The report explains that Rogers will make a deal with the government to protect his allies and to surrender himself. But when he does, he’s “killed.” It’s unclear if it’s all a setup as part of the deal or unexpected.

Again, this is straight from the comics where Steve Rogers surrenders himself at the end of Civil War only to be assassinated in Ed Brubaker’s “The Death of Captain America” story arc. There, Crossbones (who returns for Captain America: Civil War played by Frank Grillo) snipes Captain America while Sharon Carter (who returns as a potential love interest for Rogers in Captain America: Civil War played by Emily VanCamp) is brainwashed into finishing the job. Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) then blames Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) for these events.

Of course, in comics, no one can truly “die” forever and Rogers eventually returned. This will hold true in the films as well since Rogers will absolutely have a role to play in Infinity War. More interestingly however is what happens after Rogers is presumed dead. The mantle must live on just as it does in the source material and the question everyone has been asking for a while is about who becomes the next Captain America?

Marvel Studios, the Russos, and Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige may not know quite yet but are giving themselves options. According to this rumor, three actors shot the same scene picking up Cap’s shield to carry the legacy going forward:

  • Sharon Carter Sam Wilson Bucky Barnes

In the books, it’s Bucky who takes over for Cap and that seems the most fitting since Captain America: Civil War is largely about Bucky turning “good” and escaping his brainwashing over the decades. We also know that Sebastian Stan has the longest contract of the three, with six more films in his deal still to come after Civil War. That’s how it went down in the comics and seems the most right. Falcon of course is the current Captain America in the comics and we can see Anthony Mackie taking on that role down the line.

With the regime change of sorts occurring earlier this year, cleaning out the old Marvel creative committee and putting even more power in the hands of Kevin Feige who now only reports to Disney’s CEO, everything could change. Evans, who previously was rather stern on the idea of retiring from acting after his six-picture deal has changed his tune for instance, and wants to do more movies, even teasing Iron Man 4 if there opportunity arose. We suspect that after Blackhat and In the Heart of the Sea bombed at the box office, Chris Hemsworth may want to stick around for a few more Thor appearances as well.

Share your thoughts on these latest reports and rumors in the comments!

Next: Civil War Details on Baron Zemo, Spider-Man, and Martin Freeman

The movie stars Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Emily VanCamp, Don Cheadle, Jeremy Renner, Chadwick Boseman, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Rudd, Frank Grillo, Tom Holland, with William Hurt and Daniel Brühl. Marvel’s “Captain America: Civil War” is directed by Anthony & Joe Russo and produced by Kevin Feige. Louis D’Esposito, Alan Fine, Victoria Alonso, Patricia Whitcher, Nate Moore and Stan Lee serve as executive producers and the screenplay is by Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely.

Captain America: Civil War will release on May 6, 2016, followed by Doctor Strange - November 4, 2016; Guardians of the Galaxy 2 - May 5, 2017; Spider-Man - July 7, 2017; Thor: Ragnarok - November 3, 2017; Black Panther - February 16, 2018; The Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 - May 4, 2018; Ant-Man and the Wasp - July 6, 2018; Captain Marvel - March 8, 2019; The Avengers: Infinity War Part 2 – May 3, 2019; Inhumans – July 12, 2019; and as-yet untitled Marvel movies on May 1, July 10 and November 6, 2020.

Sources: NetEase, That Hashtag Show