Trailer Thoughts — Captain America: Civil War
Last night, Marvel released the trailer for their May 2016 film, Captain America: Civil War. This next installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe draws from the comic book story arc of the same title (Civil War). THERE ARE POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR THE MOVIE IN THIS POST. Here’s the trailer:
Having watched and analyzed the trailer a few times, here are my notes after comparing ideas with the Rewind Trailer guys at IGN.
0:06 — This looks to be the full scene that we saw a portion of during one of the post-credit scenes of Ant-Man. Bucky (Sebastian Stan) appears to have regained his memories and remembers his friendship with Steve (Chris Evans).
0:23 — Bucky is being blamed for a terrorist attack on what looks like the United Nations. Bucky denies doing this. THEORY: This attack will likely take the part of the supervillain Nitro blowing up Stamford, Connecticut. The tragedy acts as the final straw in a series of massively destructive events (Battle of New York in The Avengers, the Sokovia Crisis in Age of Ultron, the problems around the world associated with individual heroes, etc.).
0:27 — Black-suited military men attack a compound, with several dead soldiers lying around. Crossbones (Frank Grillo) is seen in the group in his new costume, leading me to think that they are HYDRA trooups.
0:29 — German police/soldiers are coming to take down Bucky for his crimes committed as the Winter Soldier (including the one he is being framed for).
0:43 — Introduction of General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (William Hurt), the man who was in charge of the project that created the Hulk, and then tried to hunt him down. Ross takes Iron Man’s side in the ideological conflict. THEORY: This is less of a theory and more of a hope, but in the comics Thunderbolt Ross becomes the Red Hulk, a more controlled, military version of the Hulk. That could be interesting for a solo Hulk movie.
0:45 — Shots of Cap in action, wearing his Avengers uniform.
0:50 — Ross accosts Cap, Falcon (Anthony Mackie), and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) about their “vigilante” actions. He sums up the world sentiment, that the so-called heroes have caused many civilian deaths while facing basically no repercussions.
0:58 — The UN calls for registration and regulation of superheroes in the form of the Sokovia Accords, named for the devastated nation from Age of Ultron. These are “the Accords” mentioned in the post-credit Ant-Man scene, preventing Iron Man from helping Cap and Falcon with Bucky. (The Sokovia Accords will act essentially as the Superhero Registration Act did in the Civil War comics, a government act that forces heroes to register with the government or face the consequences.)
1:01 — Black Widow warns Cap not to get involved in the Bucky conflict. We see shots of Bucky on the run in Germany.
1:12 — Cap is cornered by the police/soldiers while defending Bucky, who stands behind him. Cap is standing down, putting his shield on his back. It should be noted that his shoulders no longer have the Avengers “A” on them anymore.
1:15 — This is the first appearance of Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) in the trailer, who left the Avengers team at the end of Age of Ultron due to his belief that they were causing too much harm in the world. Iron Man will be the hero driving the pro-Accords side against Cap’s “freedom fighters”.
1:21 — Cap and Falcon watch as officers confiscate their superhero equipment, including Cap’s shield and Falcon’s wings. Iron Man says that “limitations” are what separate heroes from villains. This is also our first look for Civil War at Agent 33 (Emily VanCamp) and Martin Freeman’s unnamed character.
1:33 — We see shots of Falcon and Cap in action, with Falcon asking Cap if he’s sure about his actions. This is likely in reference either to defending Bucky from the world, or to standing up against Iron Man and the Accords.
1:42 — Black Widow cautions Cap against fighting the government and Iron Man. Cap fights the black-clad military/mercenary men from earlier in the trailer, now at the Institute for Infectious Diseases. THEORY #1: Again, this may be in Wakanda, since we see both the same group of attackers and dead soldiers dressed similarly to the earlier ones in the trailer. THEORY #2: The Institute might be a front for a secret government prison for anti-Accords superheroes, taking the role of the Negative Zone prison in the comics. In the Civil War comics, Iron Man, Mr. Fantastic, and Hank Pym build a prison to hold superhumans in an alternate dimension called the Negative Zone. Since the MCU films haven’t really delved all that into alternate dimensions yet (they claim they will in Doctor Strange with Benedict Cumberbatch), a secret building would be a semi-suitable replacement.
1:46 — Iron Man and War Machine (Don Cheadle) face off against Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), Cap, and Bucky at the Leipzig airport in Germany.
1:51 — First shot of Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa, the king of Wakanda and the superhero known as the Black Panther. Black Panther is claimed to take the role that Spider-Man had in the comics, that is he supposed to be fairly neutral before eventually taking a side in the conflict. In the comics, Bucky was responsible for the death of T’Challa’s father.
1:52 — Cap leads his side into battle again at the Leipzig airport, this time also accompanied by Falcon. T’Challa takes down Bucky in their fight.
1:54 — Black Widow, in street clothes, takes down several military assailants.
1:55 — Cap chases T’Challa, who is chasing Bucky, through a parking garage. They are being pursued by Audis, which makes me think this is in Germany leading to the scene where Cap is cornered.
1:58 — Bucky fights Iron Man solo, and attempts to rip out his arc reactor. THEORY #1: Cap has been killed, and Bucky is trying to avenge him. THEORY #2: Bucky took down War Machine, leading Iron Man to go after him.
2:04 — Iron Man holds a damaged and unconscious War Machine. War Machine’s face plate and arc reactor have been torn off of his suit. They are in a field near the Leipzig airport. THEORY: Either Scarlet Witch or Bucky must have caused this damage to War Machine, because the other two combatants don’t have the means of destroying a reinforced Iron Man suit like that.
2:07 — Cap tells Iron Man he stands with Bucky because of their friendship, and Iron Man retorts that he was Cap’s friend too (it’s a great/sad moment).
2:10 — Bucky and Cap team up to fight Iron Man somewhere surrounded by snowy mountains. THEORY: This is somewhere around where Bucky fell from the train in Captain America: The First Avenger, probably with Bucky trying to find out what happened to him.
All in all, this trailer is really great and has me excited to see the movie come May. Some notable absences are Spider-Man (Tom Holland) and Vision (Paul Bettany), both of whom are slated to appear in the film. Vision is really the only character who can match power levels with the Scarlet Witch, so he’d be necessary for fight scenes I think. Holland’s Spider-Man, due to Marvel’s late acquisition of rights to the character, will only have a minor role compared to his main part in the source material.
As May approaches and more trailers are released for Civil War, I’ll try to update this.
