Well, this is… surprising. There was a lot of speculation last week about the future of the Iron Man movie franchise after Robert Downey Jr. confirmed that a fourth installment would be happening and then quickly backpedaled on that statement. He did still hint that he was going to be appearing in some other Marvel movies in the near future, but the obvious assumption was that he was either talking about The Avengers 3 or just giving himself some leverage for future negotiations with Marvel. It turns out there was actually more to the story than we originally thought. It is now being reported that RDJ is in talks to join Captain America 3, which will initiate a key storyline for the entire third phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Hit the jump for more details.

According to Variety, Robert Downey Jr. is close to signing on to play a key role opposite Chris Evans in Captain America 3. The movie will apparently focus on the popular Civil War storyline from the comics, which brought many big name Marvel characters together from 2006-2007 to deal with the controversial Superhuman Registration Act. Steve Rogers and Tony Stark take opposing sides in the debate, making Stark a villain of sorts.

Robert Downey Jr. is currently only contracted to appear in The Avengers: Age of Ultron and its eventual sequel, but the deal to appear in Captain America 3 almost didn’t happen because Marvel wanted him to have a small role and he asked to have it expanded, which angered some of the higher-ups at Marvel. They eventually relented because the movie is such an important part of their plan moving forward, causing a ripple effect throughout the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Cap 3 is expected to start production this spring and has a release date of May 6, 2016. Are you excited to see Civil War on the big screen?