Captain America: Civil War
“Captain America: Civil War” directors Anthony Russo and Joe Russo discussed potential deaths in the superhero-conflict film that fans may want to mentally prepare themselves for in advance of its release May 6. Marvel

Anybody who has been paying attention to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) since it was created in 2008 is likely well aware of how big the Russo brothers’ production, “Captain America: Civil War” is going to be. With that in mind, the directing duo took the stage during the Wizard World Comic Con New Orleans convention for a panel discussion about the film in which they teased some possible deaths coming to the connected universe of superheroes.

Anthony Russo and Joe Russo each gave audience members reason to bite their nails and worry about the fate of some of their favorite MCU characters while speaking on a panel including stars of the movie franchise such as Hayley Atwell, Chris Evans, Frank Grillo, Anthony Mackie and Jeremy Renner.

According to ComicBook.com, the group was asked a question about a scene they’d like to film but hadn’t gotten the chance to do yet. Grillo, who plays the villain Crossbones, jokingly replied that he’d like to kill Captain America, who is played by Evans.

“We may or may not have filmed that scene, though,” Joe Russo interrupted. “She asked about a scene you haven’t done.”

The outlet noted that in the same question-and-answer session, Anthony Russo mentioned that some of the superheroes coming to battle it out in “Civil War” will end up in body bags.

With the first trailer for the film teasing something awful happening to War Machine (Don Cheadle), the intrepid best buddy of Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), fans should be concerned that a few of the secondary “Avengers” team members might not make it out of the battle unscathed.

With returning heroes such as Falcon (Mackie), Hawkeye (Renner), Ant-Man (Paul Rudd), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), Vision (Paul Bettany) and others about to mix it up, any casualty that results from the mayhem will likely have a major effect on the future of the movie franchise.

This is especially troubling as the MCU is scheduled for films through 2020. In fact, leaked photographs from the set of the movie already indicate one key character will meet her end in it, but the odds are good it won’t be the result of a conflict with a superhero.

However, the comments about Crossbones possibly killing Captain America hint at a grim ending for the film’s title character, Cap himself. In the comic books [POTENTIAL SPOILER ALERT], Steve Rogers is assassinated on the steps of a courthouse after surrendering. The death of Captain America meant his friend, Bucky Barnes, aka the Winter Soldier, had to take up the mantle of the star-spangled hero. Fortunately for fans of the original Captain America, alias Steve Rogers, the bullet employed to shoot him ended up being unique and simply suspended the character, making it look like he was dead — because that’s how death works in comic books, sometimes. As Moviepilot noted, the building blocks are in place for a version of the death of Captain America to make its way to the big screen, which would increase the stakes of the conflict.

Does this mean Joe Russo apparently spoiled the ending of the film by seemingly revealing that Crossbones assassinates Steve Rogers? Will another superhero meet his or her end at the hands of the pro- or anti-registration warriors? Alas, fans will just have to wait until May 6, 2016, to see how it all plays out when Captain America goes toe-to-toe with Iron Man.

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