The film was directed by Anthony and Joe Russo from a screenplay by the writing team of Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, and stars Chris Evans as Steve Rogers / Captain America alongside an ensemble cast including Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Don Cheadle, Jeremy Renner, Chadwick Boseman, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Rudd, Emily VanCamp, Marisa Tomei, Tom Holland, Frank Grillo, Martin Freeman, William Hurt, and Daniel Brühl.

Captain America: Civil War held its world premiere at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, on April 12, 2016, and was released in the United States on May 6, as the first film in Phase Three of the MCU.

In the present day, approximately one year after Ultron is defeated by the Avengers in the nation of Sokovia,[a] Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, Sam Wilson, and Wanda Maximoff stop Brock Rumlow from stealing a biological weapon from a lab in Lagos.

When Barnes regains his senses, he explains that Zemo is the real Vienna bomber and wanted the location of the Siberian Hydra base, where other brainwashed "Winter Soldiers" are kept in cryogenic stasis.

[94] Alfre Woodard, who portrays Mariah Dillard in the MCU TV series Luke Cage, briefly appears in the film as Miriam Sharpe, the mother of an American citizen killed in the battle of Sokovia.

[111] In August 2014, the Russos stated that the film would be set "a couple years" after The Winter Soldier, and would continue to focus on Steve Rogers' relationship with Bucky Barnes as well as the political themes related to Captain America.

Downey was added in order for the film to adapt the 2006–07 "Civil War" comic book storyline written by Mark Millar, which pitted Iron Man against Captain America.

"[115] The Russos revealed that, had negotiations with Downey to appear in the film failed, they would have used the Madbomb storyline from the Captain America comics, which was eventually used as a plot point in the first season of the Agent Carter TV series.

"[8] Executives at Marvel Entertainment balked at the idea of Captain America and Iron Man coming to blows at the end of the film and wanted the Avengers to unite to fight Zemo and the supersoldiers at the Hydra base in Siberia instead.

[119] In November 2014, Daniel Brühl joined the cast in an unspecified role,[28] while Anthony Mackie and Frank Grillo were confirmed to return as Sam Wilson / Falcon and Brock Rumlow / Crossbones, respectively.

[120] However, in February 2015, Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios reached a licensing deal for the use of Spider-Man in an MCU film,[121] and reports indicated that the character would indeed appear in Civil War.

According to Joe Russo, approximately fifteen minutes of the film, the sequence where the two factions fight at Leipzig/Halle Airport, which was described as having "incredible scale to it" and referred to by the directors as the "splash panel", were shot with the cameras.

However, because of how close it was to the start of shooting as well as the idea being "such a large-scale undertaking", it was decided to only use them for the airport sequence, with the rest of film being shot on Arri Alexa XT digital cameras.

"[160] Additionally, Ross' alter ego, Red Hulk, was also considered for inclusion, but the Russos felt that part of the character would need a proper backstory which they could not afford to give in the already crowded film.

"[11] The Russos spent a great deal of time with Markus, McFeely, and Moore to ensure each character's emotional arc tracked through the entire film correctly, though realized that at some point "you have to sacrifice logic for expediency".

The original intent for the helicopter sequence was to place the scene next to the Paul-Löbe-Haus, where the Bundestag meets; however, the location was not allowed to be shown in the film, resulting in Method needing to create a full CGI background.

VFX supervisor Russell Earl, stated that the 20-minute scene grew to be an almost fully digital sequence explaining, "We ultimately ended up replacing 99% of everything that was shot with the actors being lifted from the background.

[176] In early July 2015, Marvel began a viral marketing campaign for Ant-Man featuring Leslie Bibb, reprising her role from the Iron Man films as journalist Christine Everhart, reporting for the faux news program, WHIH Newsfront.

[189] Mendelson added that Marvel did not need to follow the model used for The Winter Soldier during Super Bowl XLVIII of showing a longer trailer after the teaser since Civil War was "frankly [a] higher-profile sequel."

Overall, Mendelson felt the spot was "only a little less low-key and small(er)-scale as the trailer that debuted in" November 2015, and sold the "real world" aspect "with character drama and mostly real-world action between would-be superheroes.

[191] At The Walt Disney Company's annual shareholder meeting in the Auditorium Theatre in March, CEO Bob Iger presented a clip from the film to "generous applause".

[193] Mendelson's colleague at Forbes Mark Hughes felt differently, noting that the trailer was targeting the general audience rather than just fans by giving "us more explanation [and context] of why a clearly major battle is raging between Captain America and Iron Man",[200] and by including Spider-Man since "there are plenty of surprises in these movies, and since we all already know Spider-Man is in Civil War, refusing to let us see him would frankly be a bit weird and pointless ... it's common for average filmgoers to hear some final bit of information or see some final image and feel compelled, inspired, or otherwise driven to go out to the movies that day.

[205] Additional Newsfront segments saw William Sadler reprise his role as President Matthew Ellis, including an "exclusive" interview and his reaction to the incident involving the Avengers in Lagos.

[208] At the 2015 Licensing International Expo, Disney Consumer Products announced that they would partner with licensees including Hasbro, Lego, Funko, Hot Wheels, Rubies, Mad Engine, C-Life, Jay Franco, Global Brand Group, Kellogg's, Hallmark and American Greetings to sell merchandise related to the film;[209] Coca-Cola,[210] Google, Samsung, Wrigley, Harley Davidson, Audi, Synchrony Financial, Pringles, Keebler, Pizza Hut, Pop Secret, Mouser Electronics, and Vivo, among other brands, were also licensees for the film.

"The Avengers team is both aspirational and hugely merchandisable, made up of multiple, unique heroes coming together with amazing skills, cool vehicles and a high tech headquarters," said Gitter.

[233] Deadline Hollywood calculated the film's net profit as $193.4 million, accounting for production budgets, marketing, talent participations, and other costs; box office grosses and home media revenues placed it eighth on their list of 2016's "Most Valuable Blockbusters".

The website's critical consensus reads, "Captain America: Civil War begins the next wave of Marvel movies with an action-packed superhero blockbuster boasting a decidedly non-cartoonish plot and the courage to explore thought-provoking themes.

"[255] Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote, "Kudos to co-directors Anthony and Joe Russo and the team of writers for juggling more than a dozen comic-book characters and nearly that many plot lines, and only occasionally getting us (and by us I mean me) lost in the geek weeds.

"[261] While Nicholas Barber of the BBC gave the film a generally favorable review, praising both its visuals and action sequences, he criticized the fact that there was "no cogent reason for any of [the Avengers] to be on one side or the other, which is why their inevitable dust-up feels like a game of dodgeball in a school playground.

A fourth film, Captain America: Brave New World, was released on February 14, 2025,[285] directed by Julius Onah,[286] and written by Spellman, Dalan Musson (a series writer on The Falcon and the Winter Soldier),[287] and Matthew Orton.