Howdy amigos!

Hope all is well with you.

Well, hopefully you have all had a chance to catch your collective breath since the latest epic trailer for Captain America: Civil War. Perhaps, like me you’ve watched it a few hundred times, just incase you missed some, small detail. The overwhelming feeling I got whilst watching it the first time around was that there is soooooo much information and easter eggs here, that I really didn’t know where to begin with it all. The second feeling I feel was a rush of emotion unlike almost anything else. Partly because the trailer is so damn good, partly because we finally have Spider-Man in the MCU and partly because there are so many comic book thrills in this thing, the geek in me just couldn’t cope.

So, i’ve decided to jot down a few things that I noticed/geeked out for in this new trailer, hopefully they are all things you noticed too and I’m not spoiling anything for anyone, but I like to think that The Russo brothers (directors of the film) have held plenty back. Let’s get into!

So the trailer sets its stall out in terms of the tone for the movie pretty early on. The music is simple yet haunting and we get a good look at one of the first flashbacks which apparently feature in this movie.  Bucky Barnes (The Winter Soldier) is beginning held at some kind of facility with a HYDRA symbol on the doors. It seems as if this was the place that Bucky would return to after completing his missions for them. Will we learn about who exactly Bucky took out on those missions and will the repercussions of his actions play some part in the movie? If I was a betting man, I’d say yes. There are lots of theories and spoilers floating around on the internet, so I won’t go into any of them here, but I feel certain there’s a lot at play where The Winter Soldier’s murky past is concerned. The mini monologue on the voice over during the opening scenes is note perfect for a character like Captain America, but who is he talking too?

The next set of scenes lay out the reasons why there is a schism between Captain America and Iron Man. We get a great call back montage showing the collective collateral damage that The Avengers have directly or indirectly caused with their actions throughout various films. There’s a great scene where Scarlett Witch struggles to contain herself and Captain America notices and quietly, sternly states “that’s enough.” showcasing just the type of guy he is (we love you Cap!). We then see the explosion at a U.N building that we saw in the previous trailer, only this time we now see a shot of T’Challa (Black Panther) looking disheveled, having seemingly survived the explosion. Who was responsible for this attack? Why was T’Challa there? And is he crying in the scene? Lots of questions there.

We then get a shot of some kind of structure rising out of the sea with a helicopter landing on top of it. The next scene is Tony Stark surveying what looks to be some kind of a prison. In the Civil War comics, captured Supervillains are held a facility called Prison 42. The prison is also used throughout the comic to store captured heroes who had refused to sign the SuperHuman Registration Act. Prison 42 locks it’s unfortunate inmates in The Negative Zone, a nasty place im sure you’ll agree. Unfortunately, Marvel Studios do not own the cinematic rights to The Negative Zone, so it seems they may have substituted this with another famous Marvel Universe prison, The Raft. Naturally, with Captain America being the kind of man he is, I would suspect that he may have some very strong views on locking people up in an underwater prison complex.

We then get a good look at that awesome chase sequence we saw in the earlier trailer featuring Bucky, Captain America and Black Panther. If you’re not a Black Panther fan already, I think this scene is going to be the one that gets to you hooked. He’s been beautifully realised by the visual effects team, and the fact that he chases down Bucky whilst he is speeding away on a motorbike gives a glimpse into his powers and abilities. And frankly, it’s just a fricking awesome scene even without any storytelling context!

The trailer then cranks up the action to a frenetic pace and we get so many great scenes that I felt like a kid with a severe case of sugar rush. I’ve broke these down into bullet points so I don’t go on and on about them;

  • Great shot of Tony’s armoured glove which lives in his watch (how cool is that?) The battle with Bucky is great action, but was Bucky trying to shoot at him or someone behind him?
  • RHODES IS SHOT DOWN!! But by who? the trailer makes it look like Bucky, but I’m thinking it’s a certain synthetic human with a Mind gem in his forehead..
  • BLACK WIDOW IS BACK KICKING ASS! No more unbelievable damsel in distress stuff for her, and she looks like she may have divided loyalties..
  • Captain America seems to be doing everything he can to avoid a conflict with Iron Man, he states; “this doesn’t have to end in a fight Tony.”The scene takes place in a very suburban looking setting, but where is Cap at this point?
  • We then get Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man looking incredibly pained (he’s acting his ass off in these trailers by the way). He then hits Cap square in the face with a vicious looking back hand! There looks like some kind of cryo-chamber behind him, with someone sitting in it. Who is that? It’s not Bucky, so what have they found? Is it the reason why things become very physical here?
  • Black Panther is battling Bucky again (why is he constantly kicking Bucky’s ass in this trailer? What has Bucky done (or perhaps T’Challa thinks he’s done) that drives him to react like this? We also get a shot of a helicopter firing on Black Panther and the bullets bouncing off his armour. If we could see T’Challa’s face at this point, id imagine it’s a mask of utter disdain, and I love it!
  • SCARLETT WITCH CONTROLLING VISION! This shot is just so brilliant on so many levels. I love that we are finally getting a glimpse of of her using her powers and the fact that she has brought The Vision to his knees, shows us that she is clearly getting far stronger than she did in Age Of Ultron.  I love that scene of her taking flight in the battle sequence too. But, is she in full control of her powers?..
  • ANT-MAN RIDING HAWKEYE’S ARROW! I love that they have grabbed this straight from the comics. I have nothing to add thematically to this scene, but just look at this..
  • Hawkeye&AntMan1129
  • The call back to Captain America: The First Avenger, where Cap utters the immortal line “I can do this all day!” before unleashing on Iron Man is brilliant. It’s a great reminder of what Captain America stands for which is important in this film and as a character.
  • And finally.. “UNDEROOS!!” The ‘Holy Shit’ moment of a trailer stuffed full of Holy Shit moments, ladies and gentlemen meet Spider-Man!
  • Spider-Man

I’m not gonna go into a debate about the costume as frankly, I think it’s kind of boring and I don’t really care about the minutiae of the design choices. I get that they have gone with a ‘retro’ look, I like it. I’m just delighted that we FINALLY have Spider-Man, Marvel comics most iconic character making his appearance in the MCU. It’s a glorious time to be a comic book and movie fan!

All in all, I think this is a fantastic trailer that gives you a good sense of the kind of movie we can expect Captain America: Civil War to be. It’s going to be dramatic, action packed, with very high stakes and a whole bucket load of emotion. This is going to be a movie that is going to shake the MCU to it’s core, and I cannot wait to see it! Roll on May 6th!

Jason P.

Jason
A cosmic, comic book culture consuming, hayfever suffering, cartoon watching ninja, who’s stuck in a time-warp. Can often be found watching retro cartoons on YouTube or aggravating my cat.

What are you looking forward to about this movie? Share your thoughts in the comments below or come and yell at me on Facebook and Twitter.