Did Marvel Make Captain America: Civil War Because of Batman v Superman?

According to directors Joe and Anthony Russo, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice likely motivated Marvel to get Captain America: Civil War off the ground.

Talking to The Hollywood Reporter, Joe Russo suggested that Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige started to lean in favor their pitch after Warner Bros. officially announced Batman v Superman.

“There have been 11 or 12 movies so far, all with a fairly traditional structure,” said Russo.  “Our pitch to them was: People will tell you they love chocolate ice cream — until you give it to them five days a week. It’s time to give them some rainbow sherbet.

“Kevin is a maverick, and he’s very sensitive to how people are responding to his content. He said he thought we might be right. And after they announced Batman v Superman, he said, ‘You guys are absolutely right.’ We needed to do something challenging with the material, or we were going to start to lose the audience.”

Captain American and Iron Man will face off on May 6. Can they take down Batman and Superman at the box office, though? Seeing how Civil War is estimated to make up to $200 million domestically during its opening weekend, our money is on Marvel.

You can read our review of Captain America: Civil War here and our Batman v Superman review here.