What changes should Marvel make to the Civil War storyline to adapt it to the theater?

Well, there are changes that they have to make (assuming current state of rights across their properties): Find a proxy for Spider-Man/Peter Parker, one of the key participants in the story. Find a replacement for Mr. Fantastic as part of the Illuminati and as the scientific/rational component of the story. Manage the "disappearance" of Thor. Completely drop all the mutant-related cross-overs and comparisons, another important part of the story (mutants are already regulated, so there's a tension when people rebel against superhero registration, pointing out a tension and some hypocrisy in the heroes). Remove Wolverine's involvement - critical to the early stages of hunting down Nitro Then there are the changes they're likely to make: Replace Baron Zemo with someone else already existing in the MCU (Baron von Strucker, perhaps?). Restore SHIELD from it's HYDRA influence (who enforces the registration requirements if it's not SHIELD?). Massive cutting and slicing in the overall story -- the overall arc lasted through a full year and 100+ issues overall. Personally, I think it's more likely that they'll go with the newly-announced "Secret Wars" crossover event that's kicking off next year - there's just too much going on in Civil War to really make it a good overall adaptation, if you ask me.

I think you guys are taking this way too literally.  Marvel has made many many liberties with storylines in the Marvel Cinematic Universe already, what's to say they won't do the same with the title "Civil War"?  Just the name alone, Civil War sounds amazing, but why would they need to keep every major plot element? They already changed Bucky so that he's not a young side-kick, but was in fact Steve Rogers' childhood best friend Ultron was originally created by Hank Pym; now it's been created by Tony Stark And probably tons of other major and minor plot points that I don't know or can't think of right now. You're all reading this as: "Captain America and Iron Man fight each other because, for some reason, there is this Superhero Registration Act that is trying to get passed and they are on opposing sides, even though we can count on maybe two hands the total number of "superheroes" in the Marvel Cinematic Universe." Instead, you should be reading it as: Captain America and Iron Man fight each other for some reason TBD because Robert Downey Jr as Iron Man brings Marvel a shitton of money but he hasn't agreed to do another standalone movie, oh and Chris Evan's contract with Marvel will be up after he does his 3rd Avengers movie (read: his 3rd Avengers movie, not the 3rd Avengers movie, since he may not be in the 3rd Avengers movie[1]; they are clearly trying to milk him for all he's worth).  And everyone loves to see superheroes fight each other, obviously. In other words, Marvel needs to create a conflict that would pit Steve Rogers against Tony Stark.  And what better conflict than this? very heavily implied that some one from Hydra, most likely The Winter Soldier aka Bucky Barnes killed Tony Stark's parents. The directors of The Winter Soldier, who are also directing the as-yet-unnamed Captain America 3 have said that Bucky Barnes will play a key role in the new Captain America Movie[2]: (emphasis mine) “Is the Winter Soldier the world’s most dangerous assassin that’s ever lived or the world’s longest serving P.O.W.?” Anthony Russo asked. “Is he responsible for his actions since he was turned into the Winter Soldier, or is he innocent by reason of insanity? Where does this character live now? Is he ever going to be acceptable again to Cap in the way he once was, before he was the Winter Soldier? Those are the really complicated relationship questions and philosophical questions and emotional questions that intrigued us moving forward." So imagine this: Bucky is on the run/in hiding while regaining his memories (or he already remembers and is wracked with guilt) Steve is trying to help him The world is divided.  The Winter Soldier clearly is responsible for the death of many high-ranking figures and now everyone knows who the Winter Soldier is because Hydra's database was uploaded for the public to see.  Some see him as a POW who needs help.  Others call for justice. Tony Stark, while a "superhero", is not necessarily a nice guy; nor does he strike me as a forgiving one who thinks rationally when emotionally charged.  Remember, he called out the Mandarin on public television saying he was going to get revenge and gave out his personal home address because the Mandarin severely injured Happy. Tony Stark will be in the camp of those wanting to bring Bucky Barnes to justice.  Obviously, Steve Rogers won't allow that. Captain America 3 cannot lead to the death of Steve Rogers, unless Marvel explicitly brings him back to life in an Avengers movie - Chris Evans has two more movies in his contract. I think Marvel is trying to play their cards right, depending on whether or not Chris Evans extends his contract (doubtful). If Chris Evans does extend his contract: Steve Rogers "dies" in Captain America 3 Surprise!  He's revived for Avengers because Thanos is a scary mofo and we need a miracle and he's there to save the day If Chris Evans doesn't extend his contract: Steve Rogers is incarcerated/on the run/hiding by the end of Captain America 3 Thanos comes and everyone realizes POW or no, we need the help of Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes because Thanos is a scary mofo Steve Rogers dies trying to save the planet Bucky Barnes and/or Falcon take up the mantle of Captain America[3] [1] http://comicbook.com/2014/09/27/rumor-avengers-3-will-be-split-into-two-films/ [2] http://www.mtv.com/news/1913366/winter-soldier-captain-america-3-role/ [3] Remember: Sebastian Stan, the actor who played Bucky, has a nine picture contract.  He has only been in two so far; the third Captain America movie will make it three.  Considering the film cycle seems to be paired as "standalone movie, followed by an Avengers movie", it's likely that Bucky will be the new Captain America for the next three Phases (4, 5, and 6) of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, to round out the rest of his six movies.

It's all about the broad strokes. It would be impossible to portray the Civil War comic series with three studios holding the separate rights to various characters/groups.  Fox has the X-Men and The Fantastic Four.  Sony has Spider-Man and his villains.  And Disney/Marvel has pretty much everyone else (Avengers, etc.).  Rumors are that Sony is considering options with Disney/Marvel to sell or share (most likely share) the Cinematic Spider-Man Universe. Fox isn't likely to do the same for X-Men and Fantastic Four.  So let's get past the fantasy that we'll see a close adaptation of the Civil War story line of Marvel Comics. So we focus on the broad strokes and work with what we have. The Registration Act Tony Stark vs. Captain America The Death of Captain America The New Avengers (lead by Tony Stark) The Secret Avengers Those are the big broad strokes.  Let's focus on the major one.  Tony Stark vs. Captain America.  We have this Registration Act with Tony Stark favoring and Captain America opposing.  We know now that Robert Downey Jr. has signed on to co-star in Captain America 3.  It is obvious that this is going to instigate the Civil War story angle.  Downey Jr. would not have signed onto Captain America 3 if it were just a continuation of his Tony Stark story line that we've seen in three Iron Man films and soon-to-be two Avengers films.  He signed for a game changer story line and that means he's going to be pitted against Cap.  In fact, he'll likely be set up as a quasi-villain, although he'll have a story angle where the audience will see his point of view. With the Registration Act in play, we'll obviously be introduced to many more Marvel heroes in one way or another, all of whom will be choosing their sides.  It'll be fun to see Stark and Cap "recruit." So they set up that Civil War with a common super villain threat in for the B story.  Conflict.  Conflict.  Conflict.  Leading to a showdown.  And by the end of Captain America 3 (or during Avengers 3) we'll see Captain America in custody and later assassinated.  We'll see Tony Stark riddled with guilt.  We'll see him go to Bucky Barnes to take on the Captain America role.  We'll likely see Bucky hunting Stark down at first, only to have them align. Come The Avengers 3, we'll have Stark getting the new Avengers together, utilizing some of the new faces introduced in Captain America 3, Avengers 2, etc.      This will be that Third Phase. So what will happen with Thor, Hulk, Hawkeye, Black Widow, etc.?  We'll just have to wait and see.  Sadly, we won't be seeing The X-Men, Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, and The Avengers together.  If we're lucky, Spider-Man will be in the mix somehow. Either way, we can expect to see this... 

They simply have to further distill the plot down to the key figures. There will never be a time when the number of superheroes in the films is more than a small fraction of what would exist in the comics, and in general it's not that massive number that made Civil War work so well.

I agree that there's a lot of groundwork that would still need to be laid out before a Civil War storyline could ever be properly translated to the Marvel cinematic universe but. . . At it's core, the Civil War started because of the proposal of The Registration Act, a law which would make all super powered beings register their true identity with the government.  With the current slate of heroes in the Marvel movies, who does this even affect?? Everyone's identity is either known, they're beyond government reach (i.e. Thor), or they're already SHIELD agents.  They haven't really done any establishment of vigilante heroism (except for Spiderman which may or may not be able to participate since Sony owns the character rights). The drama of publicly unmasking established heroes in the eyes of the public doesn't hold any weight in the Marvel movie universe.  It's the more street-level heroes that this truly affected: Spiderman, Daredevil, Luke Cage, the heroes that take care of their block. There's some massive fallout from the Civil War series, and there's potentially a lot of magic that could be very successfully translated to the big screen, but inevitably, they'd have to rewrite the whole premise of the Civil War storyline.  It just doesn't fit with the current retinue of established movie characters.

's answer covers most of the bullets, but since I've been asked to answer this question I'd like to mention my additional concerns/suggestions/changes. Frankly it seems a satisfactory adaptation of the comic event to a single movie is hard to envision. Introduce/mention more heroes in the Marvel cinematic universe: Civil WAR! With the amount of Avengers in the cinematic universe the war isn't going to be longer than that 3-way set piece in Avengers. Marvel needs to make the movie audience aware of the multiple heroes and super-powered beings inhabiting the earth. These people can either be introduced, teased or expanded upon in the movies preceding Captain America 3 (even Agents of Shield can be used). Modify the trigger event: In the comics a reality show featuring superheroes goes horribly wrong. This is the breaking point of the public sentiment, but there was always a built up public sentiment. Ideally if the public starts getting polarised post Age of Ultron the beginning of the war would make more sense. Don't antagonize Tony Stark from the start and let the audience pick sides: The movie is going to be titled by Captain America, hence the audience knows he's the primary hero. However, Tony Stark's views and perspective must be presented such that the film lives up to the "Whose side are you on?" tagline from the comics (Mark Millar clearly portrayed Stark as an asshole). Get rid of Spider-Man's track: Anyone who has read the comic would probably be crying blasphemy from behind their screens, but it is needed. Even if they use a proxy as Cliff suggests, it would really shift the focus of the film from Cap and Iron-Man. Black-Widow is the only one who I think can actually be in a dilemma among the current heroes as to picking sides. But even if she is used as a proxy, her inner turmoil must be presented subtly. Give Falcon/Hawkeye Wolverine's track: Since Marvel and Fox have issues the only logical step here is to use someone else to catch the initial perpetrator of the trigger event. My bets on Hawkeye but since Falcon seems more likely to appear in Captain America 3 nothing can be too certain. Remove Hulk from the scene: Hopefully, the Marvel movie that will have a post credit scene teasing the Civil War would have another scene where the Hulk is removed from the equation. Although expelling him from earth seems a little over the top, but submerging him (similar to Ultimates Vol 2) could make sense. Explain Thor's absence and reappearance(?): The God of Thunder would have been the game changer of the war but he's not around (for most of it). A very explicit explanation is unnecessary but dropping of hints that tell the audience that events of Thor 3 is happening in Asgard simultaneously would make sense. Kill a major hero in battle: In the actual event *spoiler* appears and blasts *spoiler* right through the chest. This death is pivotal in the war and Marvel needs to come up with a way to make someone die in a public battle. The actual hero killed does not exist in the cinematic universe as of now.

There are many things to changes because marvel cannot bring all the superhero in one movie maybe you wnat to see some leaked scene here some leaked scne from civil war http://www.mediafire.com/download/um567rr0bow9j5y/civil_war_leaked_scene.rar (mediafire) hope you like it

Re-do the entire ending. It was blah. Don't de-mask Spiderman. I thought that was incredibly stupid. Out of all the characters to de-mask. The one with all the enemies, and so on. I get it, but not realistic my Spiderman wouldn't do that. Re-do the entire story to make it compelling. full disclosure: After the last comic of the Civil War I regretted reading and buying every effing comic that summer that dealt with the Civil War.