MCU: 10 Fascinating Facts Behind Captain America: Civil War (2016)

7. The Jaws Inspiration

While Alfre Woodard has played another character in the MCU already - in Netflix's Luke Cage, where she played Mariah Dillard - she turns up very briefly in Civil War to act as Tony Stark's conscience. It's her accosting him about her son's death in Sokovia that leads to Tony signing the Sokovia Accords.

You could be forgiven for thinking her Miriam Sharpe is simply an adaptation of the same character in the comics, whose son Damien was killed in the explosion in Stamford that kicks off the comics Civil War, but this is different. In the comics, Tony Stark has nothing to do with his death, but he's inspired to accept Superhero Registration when she gives him her son's favourite toy, whereas here, Miriam challenges him on his direct involvement in her son's death.

The directors revealed not only that Robert Downey Jr suggested Woodard's casting, but also that the scene was actually inspired by the scene in Jaws where the mother of one of the shark's victims confronts (and slaps) Sheriff Brody for not doing more to save her son. Both movies ended up being the highest-grossing movies of their respective years.