Just yesterday I was having a discussion with a friend of mine on how out of hand the movie marketing game had become. She laughed about how teaser trailers were ridiculous and they get people so hyped for months on minimal footage. A sentiment that I concurred with. But that was yesterday.
Last night, Jimmy Kimmel continued to benefit from being the only talk show on Disney owned ABC as his show featured the world premiere of the Captain America: Civil War trailer and it was absolutely glorious.
Before I get down and dirty into my nerd freak out, let’s take a look at the set up. Picking up where the Ant-Man stinger left off, Cap and Falcon are holding the Winter Solider, who now remembers who Cap is. There’s a shot of an explosion during this that leads me to believe that Bucky gets framed for blowing up what appears to be the UN building which would be a pretty damn good reason for the whole world to come after him. Which doesn’t sit well with ol’ Stars and Stripes.
ThunderBolt Ross makes his return, linking the near forgotten ‘The Incredible Hulk’ to the rest of the Marvelverse with the Superhero Registration in tow. Something else ol’ Stars and Stripes doesn’t like. So there’s our set up and let the pandemonium ensue.
There’s an absolute ton of action in these two and a half minutes and features damn near everyone in the MCU. There’s also some pretty terrific reveals peppered throughout it. We see the divide of the Avengers as Cap is backed by Winter Solider and Falcon (obviously) as well as Widow, Hawkeye and Scarlett Witch. Each of them have pretty good reasons to oppose registration, so this makes sense. There was also our first glimpse of Black Panther as he looked majestic like the king that he is. Although they do a great job of not telling you who he is siding with. If I was a betting man, he’s with Iron Man.
The Russo’s seem to be bringing back some of that terrific action that helped make Winter Soldier the best movie the MCU has put out to date. We get to see it first hand as Bucky and Cap team up to throw hands with Iron Man and those held action shots look impressive.
There’s also the defining moment for the entire trailer and what is certainly going to be a defining moment for the MCU going forward. ‘So was I’. With those three words, the Avengers are broken and the MCU becomes a whole new world.
Another nagging issue we need to address is who doesn’t make it out of Civil War. We saw War Machine down for the count in the trailer, so that almost exclusively removes him from the conversation as NO ONE would give something like that away in the trailer. If you haven’t read the comics, skip over this part. Okay, you’ve been warned. The obvious choice is that Cap doesn’t make it. There are no more Captain America movies slated for Phase 3, so that’s a very real possibility. However, the smart money is on them flipping it and having Tony Stark killed in the action. That would certainly do wonders for the storytelling for future Avengers endeavours but it also allows Marvel an out from the MASSIVE Downey Jr. contracts. Also, there’s no new Iron Man movies on the horizon and the fact that we see War Machine’s armour smashed to pieces in the trailer could be a bigger hint than you think.
There’s a few things also missing from this trailer. We all know that Thor and Hulk won’t be in Civil War as Thor faces down the end of the universe and Hulk is along for the ride in Asgaard. But where was Vision in all this? Considering they showed Captain America’s team running in a line, chances are he’s siding with Iron Man in this fight. Which also makes sense given his unique outlook on humanity that we glimpsed in Age of Ultron. But the biggest thing missing from the trailer, which I assume they’re saving, was Spider-Man. Quite frankly, I don’t want him in the damn trailers and I want to be surprised when he shows up in the movie, but that’s not how these things work, so his reveal is still coming. Don’t worry.
I honestly thought that Star Wars had taken all of my 2015 excitement and stored it a box that I will find under my seat when I get to the theatre. Now, I’m just thankful that I still have Star Wars to tide me over until May! When it comes to trailers, Marvel always seems to get them right. With this one, one of the biggest, most important stories in the MCU, my god did they ever step their game up!
