All the Characters in Captain America: Civil War

The Civil War story in the comics, which debuted back in 2006, pitted two old friends against each other: Steve Rogers and Tony Stark. Chris Evans, of course, stars in the film version of the tale as Cap. This is technically the third film in the Captain America cycle even though it’s chockfull of other heroes as well.

Robert Downey, Jr. may not be making any new Iron Man movies anymore, but his presence as Tony Stark remains very important to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While the MCU Iron Man has butted heads with Cap before, it looks like things are about to reach a crisis point between the two Avengers.

Tom Holland is the new Peter Parker/Spider-Man. The young actor is in the unique position of having his version of the wallcrawler appear in both the MCU (starting with Civil War) but also a new series of solo Spidey movies for Sony Pictures.

Spider-Man was a key player in the Civil War comic. He revealed his secret identity to the world in a show of solidarity for Iron Man’s support of the Superhuman Registration Act. This proposed law would require all super-folk to register with the government, which is what splits Cap and Iron Man in the first place. But Spidey comes to realize that he may have taken the wrong side in the struggle…

Peter also had a different costume for part of the Civil War story - the so called Iron Spider Armor designed by Tony Stark. Could this suit make its way into the movie as well?

Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow (Natasha Romanoff) will return for the third Cap film, having been a key part of the previous entry in the series, Captain America: The Winter Soldier. In the comics she was on Team Iron Man during the conflict, but her close alliance to Steve Rogers in the movies - and her status as a member of the new Avengers line-up at the close of Age of Ultron - would seem to leave her leaning towards Cap in the movie version of Civil War.

In the comics, T'Challa, a.k.a. the Black Panther, and his wife Storm (yes, of X-Men fame) spent much of Civil War on the sidelines before finally choosing Cap’s side. But obviously the film will depict a younger, Storm-less T’Challa in the person of Chadwick Boseman. This will be the character’s MCU debut, so it’s difficult at this juncture to anticipate which hero he will ally himself with. The center image here shows Marvel’s concept art for the movie version of the character.

General 'Thunderbolt' Ross will finally make his return to the MCU in Civil War, once again played by William Hurt. Hurt was last seen as Bruce Banner’s eternal stalker in The Incredible Hulk all the way back in 2008.

Of course, in the comics Ross eventually became the Red Hulk. And Hurt recently told IGN the following regarding his character in Civil War: ‘What they've done is they've taken a character who was the Ross from the older film and made a new version. This is a much newer Ross. A much different Ross.’ Hmmmm. A much redder Ross, perhaps? Or is that asking for too much?

He’s just a babe in the woods! The woods being up at that New Avengers facility from the end of Age of Ultron, and the babe being Paul Bettany’s Vision. Yep, he’ll be in Civil War for his second MCU appearance, but which side will he take in the battle? In the comic, a different version of the Vision known as Jonas sided with Cap in the battle.

Don Cheadle's War Machine (James 'Rhodey' Rhodes) also wound up as a new Avengers recruit by the end of Age of Ultron. Where he sides in Civil War should be interesting, since he’s currently on Cap’s team but is of course Iron Man’s best friend…

During the Civil War story in the comics, however, Rhodey was working as a pilot of a new version of the old mutant-tracking Sentinels. Allied with Stark, he was sent on a mission to arrest the Black Panther and Storm, opponents of the Superhuman Registration Act.

Paul Rudd's Ant-Man (Scott Lang) - whose solo movie wasn’t even out at the time of his announced casting in this film - is also onboard. As for his comics counterpart, Scott Lang was actually dead during the events of Civil War. But don’t worry: He got better eventually.

Of course the Winter Soldier’s status has been a mystery since the conclusion of the last Cap film. But with Sebastian Stan confirmed to be returning for this movie as James Buchanan ‘Bucky’ Barnes, he’ll have to take one side or the other in the battle.

In the wake of Civil War in the comics, Bucky actually became the new Captain America for a time. Could that happen in the movies as well? How many films does Chris Evans have left in his contract again?

Some might’ve thought Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye was retiring from the superhero biz at the end of Age of Ultron, but he will be back for Civil War. So will his arrows, no doubt. He wasn’t present during the comics version of the tale, for reasons that are way too complicated to get into here.

Another new Avenger, Anthony Mackie’s Falcon (Sam Wilson) seems likely to support Cap in the film just as his character did in the comics.

And yet another of Cap’s new Avengers, Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch, will also make her second MCU appearance here. The Witch (also known as Wanda Maximoff) was not part of the Civil War story in the comics.

Frank Grillo’s Crossbones - the Shield/Hydra agent who betrayed Cap in Winter Soldier - returns for Civil War, perhaps looking more like his comic-book counterpart this time around (considering what happened to him in his previous appearance).

Emily VanCamp returns from Winter Soldier as Sharon Carter, a.k.a. Agent 13. Will her ties to Cap’s old girlfriend Peggy Carter finally be confirmed this time out? Or will that remain a (creepy) aspect only found in the comics? As for her loyalties in the Civil War comic, she was torn between supporting the Superhuman Registration Act and being loyal to Cap, who she was romantically involved with at the time.