'Captain America: Civil War' Star Chris Evans Says Movie Will Set Up The Infinity War In Next 'Avengers'

As Marvel fans put “Avengers: Age of Ultron” in their rear-view mirror, all eyes are looking ahead to the studio’s next big project. No, not “Ant-Man,” but the superhero-packed “Captain America: Civil War.”

Marvel’s third phase of movies will have only two installments from pre-existing Avengers. There will be “Thor: Ragnarok” in July 2017, of which precious little is known, and star-spangled Avenger Captain America (Chris Evans) will return before that in 2016. Joining him will be everyone’s favorite billionaire bad boy, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.).

They’ll each lead a cadre of secondary Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) heroes against each other over government regulation of enhanced humans. When asked by MTV News if “Civil War” will feel more like a “Captain America” sequel or an “Avengers” sequel, Evans revealed the real purpose of the film is to set up the Russo Brother’s two-part “Avengers: Infinity War.”

“They do, they have a lot of people in it … but it’s to jump off into the next Avengers, ‘The Avengers: Infinity War.’ So ‘Cap 3′ is going to be the setup of the real battle. So yeah, there are a lot of people in ‘Cap 3,' ” the 30-year-old actor explained.

As previously reported, “Avengers: Age of Ultron” did a lot to set up the “Infinity War” storyline. [SPOILER ALERT] In the movie, Thor discovers he and his comrades have been pawns in a much larger game for quite some time. He goes back to Asgard in search of answers, but he’s aware a very powerful force is seeking the Infinity Stones. As the audience, we’re aware this powerful force is none other than The Mad Titan Thanos. The purple-faced villain appeared in the post-credits sequence for both “Avengers” movies and had a small part to play in “Guardians of the Galaxy.”

It’s hard to imagine a plotline such as Marvel’s “Civil War” will lend itself to any cosmic or otherworldly storylines. Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Black Widow (Scarlet Johansson), Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), War Machine (Don Cheadle) and The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) are all confirmed to join Iron Man and Captain America in unspecified roles in the fight between former allies. In addition, the movie will introduce Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) and Baron Helmut Zemo (Daniel Brühl). Although it hasn’t been confirmed, many believe Marvel will use the “Civil War” as an opportunity to introduce its new Spider-Man as well, given that the character has a big role in the comic book version of the story. So, there won’t be a lot of room to fit Thanos and his plan.

Still, “Age of Ultron” was a relatively noncosmic storyline that managed to take great strides in setting up the “Infinity War” without detracting from the plot, so anything could happen.