The previous entry in Captain America‘s story, The Winter Soldier, was a major turning point between Cap/Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) and his longtime friend Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan). While the first film established their deep friendship, the second brought them against each other as enemies. Now with Civil War ramping up, and the cast and crew slowly revealing more intimate details about the superhero face-off between Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.) and the patriotic hero, an interesting fact has surfaced about the fraternal relationship between the Rogers and Barnes.

While the third entry resembles a political spy-thriller filled with superheros, it still uses important character moments to keep it grounded. In a recent interview with Empire, co-director Joe Russo stated the the film is truly a love story between Rogers and Barnes:

What’s fascinating about the Cap-Bucky story as well is it’s a love story. These are two guys who grew up together, and so they have that same emotional connection to each other as brothers would, and even more so because Bucky was all Steve [Rogers] had growing up.

So even though the film has the central conflict dealing with Captain America going up against Iron Man, the emotional weight of the story looks like it could mostly from the test of friendship between Rogers and Barnes. And another element that may add even more drama are the characters who disagree with their point-of-view. Stan somewhat agreed with Russo’s opinion but he saw it more like a story of brotherhood than love:

I think it’s easy and generalising it to say that they’re lovers, when you’re forgetting that one has a lot of guilt because he swore to be the protector of the other, the father figure or older brother so to speak, and then left him behind. I have no qualms with it but I think people like to see it much more as a love story than it actually is. It’s brotherhood to me.

No matter how the friendship plays out in the end, it should make for a compelling watch. Fans will soon need to decide if they are with Team Iron Man or Team Captain America, but either way it should still be torture once the alliances are fully fleshed-out. By the early reception this film has already received, it’s fair to say this will be a major showcase for Marvel‘s increasing talent.

Captain America: Civil War hits theaters on May 6, 2016.