One of the more surprising casting announcements for the upcoming Captain America: Civil War was the reveal that The Incredible Hulk‘s William Hurt will be returning as General Ross. Speaking with IGN, the actor opened up about his part in the film, saying that the character will be ‘different.’
“I loved playing Ross the first time because I was able to try and create an ego as big as the monster he was chasing. And one that was as warped too,” Hurt tells the outlet. “[Ross in Civil War] is different because it’s a different style. It’s a more modernized style. And what they’ve done is they’ve taken a character who was the Ross from the older film and made a new version. This is a much newer Ross. A much different Ross. And I liked that a lot. I haven’t had a lot of time to understand it, but I’m doing the best I can. And they haven’t fired me yet.”
In other “Civil War” news, The Hollywood Reporter brings word that Disney’s CineEurope presentation teased the film with a video featuring co-director Joe Russo, who said the story revolves around “collateral damage” after action by the Avengers results in the loss of life. Robert Downey Jr. also appeared in the video and stated, “The name Civil War implies there are sides.”
The same video showed a brief tease for the upcoming Doctor Strange. Though no actual footage was screened (since filming hasn’t officially started), a piece of concept art featuring star Benedict Cumberbatch was shown along with a video of producer Kevin Feige calling Cumberbatch perfect and saying he offers a “complicated emotional structure.”
Set for release in the United States on May 6, 2016, Captain America: Civil War is directed by Anthony and Joe Russo from a screenplay by Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely. It is set to feature the return of Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/Captain America, this time joined in his “solo” film by fellow Avengers Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man, Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow, Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson/Falcon, Paul Bettany as The Vision, Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton/Hawkeye, Don Cheadle as Jim Rhodes/War Machine and Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch.
Sebastian Stan will also be back as Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier alongside Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa/Black Panther, Emily VanCamp as Sharon Carter/Agent 13, Daniel Brühl as Baron Helmut Zemo, Frank Grillo as Brock Rumlow/Crossbones, William Hurt as General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross, Paul Rudd as Scott Lang/Ant-Man and Martin Freeman in a mystery role. The film is also supposed to debut Marvel’s new Spider-Man, played by Tom Holland.
Captain America: Civil War picks up where Avengers: Age of Ultron left off, as Steve Rogers leads the new team of Avengers in their continued efforts to safeguard humanity. After another international incident involving the Avengers results in collateral damage, political pressure mounts to install a system of accountability and a governing body to determine when to enlist the services of the team. The new status quo fractures the Avengers while they try to protect the world from a new and nefarious villain.
