Civil War is such a huge story that making it work on the big screen is going to be no easy feat for Marvel Studios, but it's been clear for while now that it won't be a completely faithful adaptation anyway. Even so, there are a long list of moments from Mark Millar and Steve McNiven's series fans are hoping will make it into Captain America: Civil War, and there's been a lot of talk from some fans about the lack of secret identities in the Marvel Cinematic Universe being a problem for the movie. As it turns out, Millar isn't worried about that, and also talks here about why both Cap and Iron Man need to be portrayed as good guys and why a lack of Spider-Man revealing his secret identity isn't going to matter all that much. Here are the writer's comments courtesy of IGN.
On Why Secret Identities Really Aren't That Important To The Story:
The important thing really is the Superhero Registration Act essentially. It has nothing to do with secret identities. Weirdly, people get really hung up on the whole secret identity thing. When I was writing that book, I was thinking about having the superheroes having to expose their identities and get brought under government legislation, and then I said to Marvel, "Who's got a secret identity?" and they said, “No one.” There's basically Spider-Man. Everyone, even Daredevil, had given up their secret identity at this point. I was like, alright, so I made it about something else.
On Portraying Both Captain America And Iron Man As Heroes:
What it's about is Iron Man feels anybody who is walking around with a nuclear reactor on their back or whatever should be under government control of some kind. They should be maybe working for the government the same way cops work for local government. And it's sensible when you think about it. It totally makes sense. You have a license, you make sure this guy is okay, you make sure he doesn't have a criminal record and all this kind of stuff. And it's sensible but Captain America's against it because he comes from a simpler time and he feels superheroes should be autonomous and not be involved in politics. It's an ideological argument between the two, and that's all that matters. That's what Civil War is -- it's Iron Man vs. Captain America, and they're both right, they're both good guys. Because the moment you demonize one of them, then the story loses its power. You've got to like both of these guys, they're both correct, and that's why guys we like go to either side with them.
Why The Movie Doesn't Need Spider-Man To Unmask:
People remember that because it was such a good stunt. It's a seven-issue series, which is 150 pages or something, and Spider-Man appears it it for three pages, one of which is a splash. It was such a tiny part of it. To be honest, it was just a way of boosting up our sales. We were just sitting there thinking, what can we do with Spider-Man for three pages? And that worked.