Captain America: Civil War's Airport Battle Originally Lasted Much Longer

Joe and Anthony Russo have cemented themselves as two of the most accomplished directors in MCU history thanks to their efforts on Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. But before those two game-changing team-up efforts, they proved they could do smaller-scale outings with big hero counts as well with their work on 2016's Captain America: Civil War, which started Phase 3 over six years ago.

Civil War became the biggest MCU "solo movie" to date upon its release, netting the Russos their first billion-dollar box-office hit as Captain America and Iron Man went toe-to-toe with one another. This all culminated in the famous airport battle from Germany, which included a dozen of the MCU's heroes in battle with each other - both veterans and newcomers alike.

For about 20 minutes, Team Cap and Team Iron Man gave fans some of the MCU's best action to date, showcasing everything from Spider-Man's first interactions with the Avengers to the Black Panther's mission for revenge against Bucky Barnes. And as it turns out, according to the men who made that scene happen, there was a real chance that it could have been even longer than it was.

Russos Talk Civil War Airport Battle

Joe admitted that there was "a lot of stuff" that got left out of this scene, looking back to the "process of trial and error" that he and Anthony used to get the scene to play the right way. He praised Marvel for the resources that he had to work with, remembering the long days of editing and shooting that he had while he attempted to tell "the best story possible" with this scene:

Looking deeper into the process, the Russos usually look at the material that they've shot in chunks to see if it can be improved upon or if "a certain story element is popping" over something else. They also utilized screenwriters Stephen Markus and Christopher McFeely in the editing room, letting things develop organically with each new element that comes into play: 

Anthony added his perspective on the matter, noting how important it was to show the battle "from every single character’s point of view" as it raged on in Germany. The duo wanted to ensure that each character was involved for a good reason and that all of their points of view came through in the plot:

How Long Was Civil War's Epic Battle?

Seeing 12 different Avengers fighting with one another was more than any MCU fan could have asked for as Phase 3 brought its first movie in 2016. Even with two Avengers films in the rearview window and Captain America about to complete his own solo trilogy, the airport battle became one of the MCU's most iconic moments ever, which remains the case to this day.

Joe and Anthony Russo wanted to make sure that this battle gave each character that was involved a moment in the spotlight, even besides Captain America and Iron Man as their personal issues came to the forefront. From Ant-Man's epic transformation into Giant Man to the emotional battle between Vision and the Scarlet Witch, each hero had their time to make an impact on the fight.

With a movie that was already nearly two and a half hours long, it's difficult to tell how much more length the Russos would have wanted to add to the airport battle if they wanted to go that route. But regardless, what fans got was one of the biggest moments in MCU history, bringing Earth's Mightiest Heroes to their lowest moment before going up against the Mad Titan Thanos a short time later.

Captain America: Civil War is available to stream on Disney+.