A new spidery suit and a new Hulk almost made the cut.
Undoubtedly, the most jammed-packed entry yet of the MCU has been Captain America: Civil War. Full of characters both old and new, it’s pretty amazing Civil War was able to pull off the balancing act that it did.
That said, a couple iterations of MCU characters were apparently considered for the film, but never made the final cut.
In an interview with comicbookmovie.com Civil War co-director Joe Russo revealed that both Red Hulk and the Iron Spider suit were at one point considered for the film.
“We had so many characters in that movie as it was,” Russo explains. “We consider everything, obviously, but with so many characters in that movie as it was to try and entertain adding another character and to get to the Red Hulk, you have to add a back story. You have to substantiate the narrative to get to that. [Thaddeus Ross], on our list of priorities, he was there sort of as the government’s agenda and not to add another complicated super powered character to the mix.”
In the comics, Red Hulk appears as a mysterious physically and intellectually superior crimson doppelgänger of Bruce Banner’s alter ego. It is later revealed that Red Hulk is General Thaddeus E. “Thunderbolt” Ross, the Hulk-hating father of Banner’s love interest, Betty.
Ross, who initially debuted in the MCU’s The Incredible Hulk, appears as the Secretary of State in Civil War. He plays a relatively minor role in the story, so we understand why the Russo bros. felt it was appropriate to cut the transformation. It would have meant adding in another subplot into an already very busy film.
“If they had given him the narrative space, Red Hulk may have fit,” Russo adds. “But if you put a Hulk into a movie like Captain America: Civil War, you have to treat him like a weapon of mass destruction.”
What maybe could have had a better chance of appearing in the film is the Iron Spider suit. In the comics, Tony Stark provides Peter Parker with a technologically enhanced spidey-suit, complete with powerful mechanical spider-arms called “waldoes.”
In the context of Civil War, Stark did indeed provide Parker with a new spider-suit, only it was the iconic version of the webslinger’s costume, with added enhanced lens-like eyes, perhaps a reference to the Iron Spider.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ufvv__kVdE
Again though, there was just too much going on the film, so Iron Spider was cut. Russo did however finish the interview on hopeful note, reminding MCU fans anything can happen.
“Again, that (Iron Spider) falls in that category of anything’s possible. We consider everything.”
Captain America: Civil War comes to Blu-ray and DVD on September 13.
