Let’s forget about Avengers 2 for a second, I’m pitching for Avengers 3. I just finished “Civil War: Frontline” and I enjoyed it much more than the Civil War event itself. It showed the human side of the war and allowed us to see, through everyday people’s eyes, how crazy Tony Stark is.
I’ve always heard of the darkness of Tony Stark, the drinking especially. But when you see Tony Stark onscreen, you never really see how a man like that can allow darkness to overcome him. Even in Iron Man 3, which is the darkest in the series, you see a charming man who erases the line between self-confidence and cockiness and blends both worlds to work for him. I’m sure Robert Downey Jr. had something to do with that impression. Then there is the Civil War Tony Stark, a dangerous man who has the resources to let his dark side fester. If you’ve never read Civil War, I hope you can take my word for it that though the villain depends on whose side you’re on, Tony Stark takes the number 1 spot for most manipulative of them all.
First, I don’t think we can call the “Civil War” event a civil war though there is a war within the members of the superhero society. A proper term will be Tony’s war; he laid the domino path for the events and tipped the first piece that caused the butterfly effect of chaos. The Civil War event showed how scared the world had become of their protectors. And Tony Stark’s plan was to provide a way for the world to keep an eye on their protectors. His solution was making Superheroes register with the government so they can have someone to report to and be held accountable if they ever get out of hand. Unfortunately, this was one of the ideas that look great on paper but would be impossible to put into practice; there’s a reason why some heroes wear costumes. Matt Murdock won’t be able to practice law and give his form of justice at night, Peter Parker’s already unstable life will have less enemies targeting him and more of them targeting his family. And even the bad guys of the show, some of them protect their identity because they obviously need the cover of anonymity for their acts.
What Stark never considers is that he can afford to live with an open identity-he has enough money never to worry about his identity getting in the way of a paycheck, and his enemies aren't as determined to go after the ones he loves as someone like Daredevil or Spiderman's enemies would be. Besides, even if superheroes are registering, villains by the definition of a superhero having super powers should register but as thinking people wouldn't-how many wanted men or women have ever turned themselves willingly to the police. And so, Tony's stubbornness starts a war where superheroes have to put their personal differences aside to pick sides in this war of ideology. This is one of those stories where the enemies of enemies become friends and you’ll see Captain America fighting on the same side with people he would need 5 issues to defeat. It's a story arc worth reading just to see how a little thing can grow into something so vast and uncontrollable, big enough to cause the death of Captain America, and later cause Spiderman to make a deal with the devil. Among Marvel Events, I put it up there with The Age of Apocalypse.
Now back to my pitch. I think this is the place for Marvel to go to for the third avenger movie. We've had villains whose existence in the movies is to give the hero something to fight for, but what of villains fighting on the same side with the heroes for an idea, a story where villains are not defined by morality but by what side of a popular idea they stand. This is the type of story that usually has people choosing sides because nothing is clear and every action has a good intention behind it. This is where I’d love Avengers 3 to go, besides, by the time that movie is being prepped, most of the supporting cast in Civil War would have also had a chance to appear on screen; the sequels to the stories of main characters in Avengers has promised us many more characters. And when we think of the lower players in Civil War, the S.H.I.E.L.D TV show seems a good place to introduce them: Typeface, Speedball (minor in most publications but the Man of the Match in Civil War), and every other minor villain and hero that currently lacks publicity.
On the legal side, Marvel will need to appease to the gods that sit at the top of Mount 20th Century Fox to get the rights to Fantastic 4 whose Richard Reed is really needed to make this work. I have faith in them.
This is the Avengers 3 I dream of, a civil war where friends become enemies and enemies are friends.