Captain America
Steve Rogers is a World War II veteran considered the world’s first superhero. After attempting to enlist in the Army but failing to meet the physical requirements, he volunteered for project “Operation: Rebirth,” which transformed him into the supersoldier we know today.
Seventy years after Captain America went down in a plane over the arctic trying to stop the Red Skull, his body was discovered frozen in ice by spy agency S.H.I.E.L.D. Eventually, he was recruited by director Nick Fury for the Avengers Initiative and its victory in the Battle of New York.
Cap boasts superhuman strength, speed, agility, and endurance. He is obviously on #TeamCap in “Civil War.”
Iron Man
Tony Stark is the brilliant billionaire industrialist who created the Iron Man armor.
When his convoy through Afghanistan was attacked by the terrorist Ten Rings organization, several pieces of shrapnel endangered his heart. After an electromagnet was devised to keep the shrapnel from entering his chest, he used it to eventually power the crudely-constructed Mark I armor in which he escaped captivity.
Approached by S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury, Iron Man eventually became a member of the Avengers, helping to defeat the invading Chitauri in the Battle of New York.
Later, he and Dr. Bruce Banner used the gem inside Loki’s scepter to build the peacekeeping robot Ultron. After Ultron’s revolt and subsequent defeat, Stark decided to retire.
With his suit, Iron Man boasts super strength, durability and the ability to fly. His armor possesses a number of weapons, including repulsor beams that radiate from his palms. He is obviously on #TeamIronMan in “Civil War.”
Spider-Man
Peter Parker, the high school kid from Queens, New York, whom we know well from five “Spider-Man” movies in the past 14 years, finally makes his first Marvel Cinematic Universe appearance. Whatever differences there may be between this and prior Spideys, his parents are still dead, and he still lives with his Aunt May.
One benefit of MCU membership over going it alone as a superhero is that Spider-Man doesn’t have to make his own suit or web shooters the way predecessors Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield did. Now he’s supplied by Tony Stark, who is a patron of sorts to the teenage webslinger.
Otherwise, this is still the Spider-Man you know — he can climb up walls, has a keen spider sense and super strength and, of course, shoots webbing from his wrists.
In “Civil War,” Spider-Man is on #TeamIronMan.
Black Panther
T’Challa, a.k.a. Black Panther, is the ruler of the super-advanced Kingdom of Wakanda. The African nation is the only source of the rare element vibranium, the metal from which Vision and Captain America’s shield are made. Vibranium’s myriad technological applications helped Wakanda become a world power.
Black Panther is the mantle carried by the King of Wakanda, who is charged with protecting the isolationist nation. T’Challa is a masterful fighter and free runner who can go toe to toe with enhanced humans like Captain America and the Winter Soldier. His fighting abilities are heightened by his vibranium suit, which is super tough and features claws in the fingers. It’s also bulletproof. Of course.
In “Civil War,” Black Panther is on #TeamIronMan.
Black Widow
Natasha Romanoff is one of the top spy/assassins in the world. She used to be a Soviet agent for foreign intelligence, the KGB, and later became an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.
When Loki declared war on Earth in “Avengers,” Black Widow joined the team to help defend New York City, after which she continued at S.H.I.E.L.D., working alongside Captain America. Widow remained part of the Avengers even after the Ultron Offensive.
Black Widow is an extensive master of martial arts and is equipped with her Widow’s Bite: lasers cast from her bracelets.
She is on #TeamIronMan in “Civil War.”
Ant-Man
The tiniest superhero, Scott Lang is really just a normal guy who doesn’t inherently have any abilities aside from his skill at breaking and entering. But when he wears Dr. Hank Pym’s Ant-Man suit, Lang can shrink down to an infinitesimally small size while possessing strength greater than he would have at normal size.
The suit also allows him to communicate with and direct legions of ants. He can even ride them.
Before becoming Ant-Man, Lang was little more than a common thief.
After he was recruited by Hank Pym to take up the Ant-Mantle, Lang helped Pym stop rival industrialist Darren Cross from using the “Pym Particle” — which powers the ant suit — to create an army of tiny mercenary supersoldiers.
Ant-Man is on #TeamCap in “Civil War.”
Bucky
At a young age, Cap befriended James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes, whom he later rescued, along with his entire Army unit, from German forces during World War II.
Cap later enlisted Bucky to aid him in raids on bases belonging to Nazi terrorist organization Hydra. During a showdown on a Hydra train, Bucky falls from high altitude to his seeming death…
But Barnes showed up decades later in the form of the Winter Soldier, a master of hand-to-hand combat and martial arts, who is fluent in multiple languages. His left arm is a cybernetic prosthetic possessed of superhuman strength.
He is on #TeamCap in “Civil War.”
Scarlet Witch
Wanda Maximoff grew up in Sokovia with her twin brother Pietro, with the two having undergone experiments conducted by Wolfgang von Strucker’s Hydra cell. Wanda obtained telekinetic, telepathic and energy manipulating abilities. The pair joined forces with Ultron to get revenge on Tony Stark after the artificial intelligence convinced them Stark was responsible for their parents’ deaths. When Wanda read Ultron’s mind, she discovered his plans for mass destruction and sided with the Avengers.
After the battle of Sokovia, Wanda was recruited to be a full-time member of the team alongside War Machine, Vision and Falcon. The group began training under Captain America and Black Widow.
In “Civil War,” Wanda is on #TeamCap.
Crossbones
Crossbones, a.k.a. Brock Rumlow, was an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra. During the Hydra Uprising, Rumlow was ordered to kill Captain America, but he was almost killed instead and suffered horrific facial scars.
His skills include hand-to-hand combat, street fighting, martial arts and military combat techniques.
Hawkeye
Clint Barton was a former special agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. assigned by Nick Fury to guard the Tesseract before he was brainwashed by Thor’s brother, Loki. Black Widow freed him, at which point he joined the Avengers to fight Loki in the Battle of New York.
Hawkeye continued to work for S.H.I.E.L.D. until its collapse, teaming up with the Avengers to bring down Ultron before he chose to leave the team to be with his wife and kids.
Hawkeye’s skills include archery although he has no superhero powers. He is on #TeamCap in “Civil War.”
Vision
Probably the wackiest of all Marvel heroes so far, the Vision was “born” during “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” when the titular baddie was trying to construct a body for himself out of a mixture of organic tissue and vibranium — the ultrastrong material from which Captain America’s shield is made. The Avengers stopped him, with the incoherent remains of Tony Stark’s AI buddy JARVIS instead melding with the body and the Infinity Stone from Loki’s scepter.
The result was a fully sentient living being/android that felt a responsibility to protect all lifeforms. Vision can generate new cells on its body — the most obvious example of this is the clothes he wears and his cape.
Vision’s powers are extensive — he has superhuman strength, can fly, walk through walls and fire blasts of energy. He can generate armor for himself and, as an android, can hack computers real good.
The Vision is on #TeamIronMan in “Civil War.”
Falcon
Falcon, a.k.a. Sam Wilson, is an ex-military officer and a friend of Steve Rogers. He also became a member of the Avengers during the Ultron Offensive.
He uses mechanical wings to fly and is trained in military combat.
Falcon is #TeamCap in “Civil War.”
War Machine
Basically “the other Iron Man,” Col. James Rhodes dons a suit Tony Stark designed for him, and, given his rank, serves as the liaison between Stark Industries and the U.S. government.
While still serving in the military, he was rebranded by the government as The Iron Patriot for PR purposes, but the designation was short lived. Rhodes became a member of the Avengers after the climactic battle at Sokovia in “Age of Ultron.”
More importantly than all that: Rhodes and Tony Stark are lifelong buds, with Rhodey pulling Tony’s ass out of the fire many times over the years. That includes when Tony was captured in Afghanistan and had to build an improvised Iron Man suit to escape.
War Machine can do all of the same basic stuff as Iron Man: fly, shoot repulsors from his palms, etc., but he also has a machine gun that can pop up over his shoulder, which is a nice touch.
War Machine is, obviously, on #TeamIronMan in “Civil War.”
Sharon Carter
Sharon Carter was an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and worked undercover as Captain America’s neighbor under the orders of Nick Fury. After the Hydra Uprising, she left S.H.I.E.L.D. and became a member of the CIA.
Thunderbolt Ross
The former army general is now U.S. Secretary of State. In “Civil War” Ross introduces the Sokovia Accords, which put the Avengers under the regulation and control of a United Nations council.
But Ross isn’t just a politician, and he has concrete reasons to be wary of the power of superheroes. He previously appeared in “The Incredible Hulk” way back in 2008, having introduced the idea for the gamma ray experiment that turned Bruce Banner into the Hulk. The experiment was part of Ross’ attempt to recreate the supersoldier program that spawned Captain America decades earlier.
When the Hulk went on the loose, Ross personally led the hunt to capture him. Ross is also the father of Banner’s ex-girlfriend Betty.