Captain America: Civil War directors Joe and Anthony Russo recently attended a special IMAX screening of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and they later took part in a Q&A with fans. That can be viewed in the player above, but a highlight came when the filmmakers addressed their own efforts to bring Spider-Man into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

“It was a very long process. Kind of thing we had to lobby for for months. What happens during a long process like that, you’re continuing to develop the movie and the character. During the time that it takes you to convince the powers that be to make the jump and let you do that, you’ve engrained the character so deeply into the story at that point that you’d have to destroy the story to take him out. So, by the time we found out that he’d be in the movie, it wasn’t so much elation than like ‘Thank God! We don’t have to blow the whole movie up.’”

“I’m a comic book fan and collector, since I was a kid, and he’s my favorite character. And to get a chance to reinvent that character…For me, I really wanted to see somebody cast who was very close to a high schooler’s age…What was so valuable to me about the character, when I was a kid, is that he’s a high schooler with this power and responsibility, and it makes him very distinct as a hero. It makes him distinct from the other characters in the Marvel Universe, who are confident, experienced superheroes. It’s super important to have that color of the movie, and we felt that it was invaluable and we do think it goes a long way. That character helps us balance out the tone of the movie.”

Other highlights include talk on when we might get our first look at Tom Holland as Spider-Man (37:26) and the deal which was made between Disney and Sony (37:59). The entire thing is worth a watch though, especially if you’re at all curious about Captain America: Civil War and Marvel’s Phase 3 plans.

While a hoodie recently gave us a possible look at the MCU Spider-Man, it remains to be seen whether or not he’ll be unveiled in the coming weeks and months. It would certainly be smart of Marvel to highlight his role in the movie, but there’s also something to be said about surprising fans with his role.

SOURCE: Collider