Captain America 3 was almost a “zombie” movie

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By now, Captain America: Civil War has become a classic superhero movie about the role of government and, on a deeper level, the growing feud between Captain America and Iron Man. But before the first scenes were shot in Atlanta, the Russo brothers nearly went in a completely different direction. Civil War was almost a “zombie” movie.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, directors Joe and Anthony Russo revealed they had a contingency plan in case they couldn’t explore the Civil War storyline. They weren’t sure if Robert Downey Jr. would sign another contract with Marvel to appear in more movies, so in the event they couldn’t get him for Civil War, they entertained other potential storylines.

One that was pitched early on revolved around the Madbomb, something that was introduced by Jack Kirby in 1976.

“There was a period where we did discuss a third act that revolved around the Madbomb from Cap mythology,” Anthony Russo told EW. “It didn’t have anything to do with Civil War, and if we couldn’t get Downey—in the very, very early conversations before we nailed him—somebody pitched the idea of a third-act that revolved around the Madbomb, which makes people crazy.”

Using a blast of sonic waves, the Madbomb turned its victims into mindless, ravaging zombies. People were still alive, they just couldn’t control their violent urges. Think of the Madbomb as a weapon similar to what was used in Kingsman: The Secret Service. In it, Richmond Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson) uses a network of SIM cards to turn people into violent maniacs.

Now, that would have been a cool storyline for Cap, especially because it would explore how Captain America would stop hordes of mindless (and innocent) civilians. The Russos said that some of the superheroes may have fallen victim to the Madbomb, too, pitting superheroes against each other (just as they were in Civil War).

Once Downey Jr. reached a deal with Marvel, the Madbomb idea was shelved in favor of the Civil War storyline; it’s always fun to think of what could have been. Who knows, maybe the Madbomb idea will come back into play down the road, although I’m not really sure how well it would fit with Thanos being the big threat on the horizon.