How ‘Captain America: Civil War’ Writers Used ‘Agent Carter’ To Foreshadow

Marvel’s TV and movie departments don’t seem to work together often, but apparently the “Captain America: Civil War” writers had a request for the “Marvel’s Agent Carter” writers. On the audio commentary for “Civil War,” the men responsible for the film’s screenplay revealed that they had Howard Stark say something very specific on TV to foreshadow some of the problems in his relationship with his son.

Though “Civil War” focuses on Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), Iron Man’s dead father plays a part in the film. Tony makes it clear that he still thinks about his last moment with his parents and discovering how his parents really died sends him over the edge.

However, writers Stephen McFeely and Christopher Markus knew Howard (played by John Slattery in the movie) couldn’t just appear in flashbacks. They had Iron Man and Captain America (Chris Evans) discuss the man as well. It causes even more tension between them as Tony reveals that his father always bragged about Steve. “The fact that you can use Cap’s relationship with Howard Stark to further complicate the relationship between Cap and Tony is awesome,” co-director Joe Russo says to the writers.

McFeely revealed that they went even further to demonstrate how Howard put Cap on a pedestal. They inserted a line into the “Agent Carter” Season 1 finale. The show focused on Peggy’s (Hayley Atwell) life after Steve was frozen, and she maintained a friendship with Howard (played by Dominic Cooper on TV). The Stark Industries founder admitted his pride for Captain America in one episode.

“We wanted to make sure in the final episode of Season 1 of ‘Agent Carter’ that Howard said something to the effect of, ‘Steve Rogers was the greatest thing I ever did, right?’ Just so that, for anybody who is listening, it would pay off this idea that he would pursue super soldier serum all the way into the ’90s,” McFeely explained.

Markus, who created the short-lived ABC drama with McFeely, revealed that it wasn’t just about how he’d try to recreate Cap. It was also to show how Howard would look at Tony. “But also when that guy went on to raise a child: ‘I’ve already decided that someone else was the greatest thing I ever did,’” Markus added.

“See, so there is connection between the television ’verse and the [movie universe],” Russo quipped.

Well, not exactly. There are often complaints that the movie and TV sections of Marvel don’t connect enough, but that’s because it’s a one-way street. Movies often affect the TV shows, but the movies don’t acknowledge the small screen heroes. As previously reported, actor Giancarlo Esposito recently revealed that he even turned down a Marvel TV role specifically because he realized he would never be in a Marvel film.

“I know the Marvel world exists on the Disney lot. I love those guys at Marvel,” he explained to ComicBook.com. “We’ve been trying to figure out how to collaborate on something. I’m hoping that it is something. They came to me with something for their television department, then I realized if I did that, I’d never be able to have that same character be in that film department.”

It doesn’t sound like the Marvel TV and movie universes are going to become more connected any time soon.

“Captain America: Civil War” is available via digital retailers now. Blu-ray and DVD versions will hit stores Sept. 13.