‘Captain America: Civil War’ Netflix Release Date Revealed

Netflix subscribers will be able to watch “Captain America: Civil War” over the holidays. Marvel’s superhero team-up will hit the streaming service in late December.

While most of Netflix’s new movies will hit the streaming service on Dec. 1, others are delayed and released throughout the month. “Captain America: Civil War” falls into the latter category. Steve Rogers will be on Netflix on Christmas Day. It will hit Netflix Sunday, Dec. 25.

The third “Captain America” flick doesn’t pit Steve (Chris Evans) against a big villain, but it instead shows him fighting Iron Man/Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.). The government wants to regulate superheroes. They introduce the Sokovia Accords, a law that would force superheroes to work for the government. The Avengers wouldn’t be able to decide when to leap into action. They would need officials to sign off. Similarly, they would have to help where ever the government decided they were needed.

Steve can’t trust the government so soon after Hydra infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D., but Tony can’t handle the weight of all the casualties the Avengers have left behind. Another layer is added to the argument when the Winter Soldier/Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) is framed. Cap wants to save his best friend against government wishes. Iron Man wants to keep the Winter Soldier away from innocent people. Their argument divides the Avengers and forces them to fight each other.

While the dispute is the main focus of the “Civil War,” the introduction of new heroes was more exciting for some viewers. Spider-Man/Peter Parker (Tom Holland) was introduced, marking his first appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Black Panther/T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) also put on his vibranium suit for the first time. Both will have standalone movies in July 2017 and February 2018, respectively.

The Marvel movie, which was in theaters in May, is the one of several Disney-owned movies that will be shown exclusively on Netflix. In September, a new contract between the two companies went into effect, according to Forbes. The deal gives Netflix exclusive U.S. rights to Disney films, which includes movies made by Marvel, Lucasfilm and Pixar. That means that you won’t see “Captain America: Civil War” on cable any time soon.