Avengers in battle in first “Civil War” footage

“Captain America: Civil War” stars Chris Evans and Anthony Mackie were on hand at Disney's D23 Expo in Anaheim, California (USA) to debut the first footage from the hotly anticipated Marvel movie.

The action-packed reel positioned Evans' Steve Rogers/Captain America and his team of Avengers (including Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff, Mackie's Falcon/Sam Wilson and Elizabeth Olsen's Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff) against Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man and Don Cheadle's War Machine, with Avenger pitted against Avenger in a battle near the end of the trailer. “Are we still friends?” Natasha asks Renner's Clint Barton/Hawkeye at one point during the brawl. “Depends how hard you hit me,” Clint quips.

The disagreement between the former allies seems to stem from a speech delivered by William Hurt's General “Thunderbolt” Ross, who tells Steve, “The world owes you an unpayable debt — a great many people see you as a hero, but there are some who prefer the word vigilante. People are afraid.” Steve responds, “This job, you try to save as many as you can. Sometimes that doesn't mean everyone.”

In one scene, Tony Stark tells Steve Rogers, “Sometimes I wanna punch you in your perfect teeth.” In a turnaround from “Age of Ultron,” Tony seems to be arguing for more accountability from the superheroes, while Steve is willing to work outside the government system — which makes sense, given S.H.I.E.L.D.'s betrayal in “Captain America: Winter Soldier”. Tony points out, “We have no boundaries, we're no better than the bad guys.”

The footage also included Cap, Falcon and Black Widow on the hunt for Marvel Crossbones (played by Frank Grillo) in an urban environment, showing the villain going toe to toe with Cap — tossing him into cars and trading blows before gloating about Steve's former friend Bucky (Sebastian Stan). 

The trailer delivered on the promise of “Captain America: Winter Soldier” and the stinger at the end of “Ant-Man”, showing Steve and Sam confronting Bucky in a bunker and trying to establish if Bucky remembered who he was, with another scene showing Bucky going to battle alongside his best friend in the fight against Iron Man.

The footage didn't show Spider-Man (played by Tom Holland), but did give a hint of Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) in civilian clothes and extending his costume's claws, and ended with an amusing scene that saw Scott Lang/Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) meeting Captain America for the first time, and thoroughly geeking out over the encounter. 

“Civil War” also stars Martin Freeman, Paul Bettany (whose Vision was seen wearing a suit in the footage instead of his caped ensemble from “Age of Ultron”), Emily VanCamp, and many more stars from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

“Captain America: Civil War” hits theatres on May 6, 2016.

Source: Variety