‘Rush’ star Daniel Bruhl added to ‘Captain America: Civil War’ villain roster

Who is Daniel Bruhl playing in “Captain America: Civil War”?

One of the coolest things about the news today that he's been cast in an unspecified role in the sequel is that it's a reminder that they're already getting close to starting work on this thing. There's a script for it. They're casting. It's actually happening and in the very near future.

When we went to that big Marvel Phase Three event a few weeks ago, they were talking about movies as far out as 2020, which made it all seem far away. “Civil War” is a pretty big storyline for the studio, and we've known for a while that Frank Grillo's Crossbones is going to be the main villain in the film. If you know the story in the comics, that is enough to cause some severe anxiety about what might happen to Captain America in the film.

Now comes word that Bruhl is attached as well, and I'm intrigued by the way the studio circles certain actors for years before finding the right place to work with them. Bruhl's been on other lists for them for other films, and now I'm dying to see what role they've settled on, and what part he's going to play in the conflict between Tony Stark and Steve Rogers that will divide the Marvel Universe.

If you're not familiar with Bruhl's work, go check out Ron Howard's “Rush” first. I thought he was fantastic in the movie playing an unrepentant asshole, and Bruhl's one of those guys who seems like he's capable of so much more than he's been given to do so far on film. If playing a bad guy in a Marvel film raises his visibility and makes it more likely for other filmmakers to cast him in the future, then this is a good thing in more ways than one.

I'm really curious to see how Marvel adapts the basic idea of “Civil War,” and this casting only makes the project more interesting. We already know that they're going to introduced Chadwick Boseman as Black Panther, so let's see who else gets added to the cast in the next few weeks.

“Captain America: Civil War” is in theaters May 6, 2016.

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