What did the Russos say about CACW?

From the foreword to The Art of Captain America: Civil War

We've got to be honest: Captain America was never our favorite super hero growing up. While there was certainly something to admire in a fictional character invented to fight Hitler before his country joined the real war, the story of Steve Rogers didn't completely win us over. His strength and toughness were inspiring, but there was something about his unshakable moral certainty, his overwhelming mix of patriotism and propaganda, that left us wanting a little more complexity and a little more edge. For kids like us growing up in the '70s and '80s, the character had fallen out of sync with the times. He was a black-and-white character in a gray world. To counter that feeling, we would try to imagine him as Steve McQueen in an effort to lend him a coolness that excited us. We were kids looking for a way to love the character.

Of all the good fortune we've had in our careers, nothing tops being invited by Marvel Studios to direct Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The movie drew its inspiration from a comic run written by Ed Brubaker, and while that run missed our childhoods, it reinterpreted the character in exactly the way we had been wanting. Now we were being given the opportunity to do in a movie what we had dreamt of as fanboys: texturing and even subverting the patriot through a story that led him to question his country and break orders.

For us, Captain America: Civil War is the completion of that subversion. The film moves Steve Rogers past the flaws in his country to finally confront the flaws in himself. This is what makes him a true hero in the classical sense. Despite all the greatness he is capable of, he is flawed, and he is human. And this is a Captain America that we can love.

We couldn't have made this film without the talents and vision of our many collaborators, and we are deeply grateful to them. This book represents some of their work. We hope you enjoy it as we have.

Anthony Russo Joe Russo (signatures)