Robert Downey Jr.

Captain America: Civil War is in production, and it has the official synopsis and cast list to prove it. The film, which will see Captain America come to blows with Iron Man, already feels like one of the boldest entries on the Marvel horizon. Can it make Mark Millar and Steve McNiven’s infamous series work within confines of the MCU? Can it effectively juggle a cast list that seemingly grows bigger with each passing week? Whether you’re a hardcore fan nitpicking every decision or a casual observer trying to figure out what the hell is going on, don’t worry. We’ve got this. If you only know your Marvel heroes through the movies or never got around to reading 2007’s Civil War series, we’ve put together a primer on everything you need to know. SPOILERS for the comic (but not necessarily the movie!) lie ahead.

You see the release date in the image there: May 6, 2016. Marvel Phase Three kicks off exactly one year from yesterday with the release of Captain America: Civil War. With the clock ticking, and the Avengers: Age of Ultron publicity tour finally winding down, it’s time to get to shooting Cap 3. Marvel announced today that production has officially begun on next summer’s massive sequel, and they also revealed four more big additions to the cast.

It’s not too early to start looking ahead to Captain America: Civil War, right? I mean Avengers: Age of Ultron has already been out for five days; that’s soooooo last week. With Marvel it’s always about what comes next. And what comes next (okay after Ant-Man, which is a little disconnected from the main Marvel Cinematic Universe storyline) is Captain America: Civil War, where Chris Evans’ Captain America and Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man will apparently get into a tussle over ... something. Maybe they argue over whether the Hulk and Black Widow should have hooked up in Avengers 2. I don’t know.

The superheroes at the center of Avengers: Age of Ultron resonate so strongly with so many people because they’re so deeply entrenched in popular culture. Captain America, Iron Man and the Hulk were around for years before Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr. and Mark Ruffalo were even born. These aren’t just characters – they’re icons. And while serious comic book nerds know how much Earth’s mightiest heroes have changed with the times, taking a look back at what the likes of Black Widow and Hawkeye and the Vision used to look like is both entertaining and (dare we say it?) educational.

There’s a lot to like about Avengers: Age of Ultron, but the coolest thing about it is the way it reclaims the comic book part of the phrase “comic-book movie.” Rather than using these characters to do something “edgy” or “adult” or “important,” or sanding down their quirkier edges to appeal to as broad and mainstream an audience as possible, Age of Ultron doubles down on its source material’s geeky origins.

Everyone is going to see Avengers: Age of Ultron because it’s filled with big action carried out by men and women in cool superhero costumes. But if it’s anything like the first Avengers, it will resonate because the people in those costumes are a blast to be around. The latest clip from Joss Whedon’s eagerly anticipated sequel is light on action but heavy on group camaraderie. Scenes like this are going to make Age of Ultron a billion dollar movie.

When an actor signs on to play a superhero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, they typically aren’t signing up for a single movie. They’re signing up for a whole bunch — sometimes as many as nine films — so Marvel can plan ahead for years, scoping out where a character can go over the course of several appearances. But contracts run out and some actors managed to finagle their way in without signing up for a bunch of movies in advance. So superhero movie fans always wonder just how many more times they’ll get to see Chris Evans play Captain America or Robert Downey Jr. play Iron Man. How many movies are left on their contract? What’s next?

Avengers: Age of Ultron has already begun screening for critics and it has been receiving very positive responses, which is definitely not doing anything to deter our personal hype from reaching unfair and dangerous levels. Thankfully, Marvel has thrown the rest of us a bone with this new clip from the film, which features enough of that typical Joss Whedon wit and enough big action to satiate us for, oh, another day or so.

If The Avengers feel like one big, slightly dysfunctional family, it's because they are. And that applies to off-screen as well as on. Playing off that chemistry, the cast of Avengers: Age of Ultron — Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo and Jeremy Renner — appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live last night and played a rousing game of Family Feud.

We’re just weeks away from the release of Avengers: Age of Ultron, which means Marvel is really ramping up their promotion for the upcoming super-sequel. In addition to new featurettes, TV spots, and the debut of Vision’s very own character poster (finally), the studio continues to release images from Joss Whedon’s epic new film. Today’s batch includes a couple of set photos along with new looks at super-siblings Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver.