New Captain America: Civil War Trailer Analysis

The new Captain America: Civil War trailer is here, and with it, a whole new batch of cool Marvel Universe stuff we haven’t seen before. Which means it’s time for a Captain America: Civil War trailer analysis to completely derail my workday. Join me as I get way too excited about what it contains.

Watch it again (or for the first time if you haven’t seen it), and then we’ll get down to business…

So, what I’m going to do with this isn’t chronological. I’m just looking to fit things together as they make sense to me.

Let’s get going.

I’m not sure what to make of what’s going on with Bucky here. Has he been reappropriated by hostile forces or is this part of a flashback sequence being used to illustrate some of the bad things he’s done in his career?

My biggest concern with Civil War from the start would be how much of a Captain America movie that it would actually be considering all the other superhero baggage that comes with it. The Winter Soldier was so effective precisely because it kept the focus on Cap’s corner of the Marvel Universe, and I want to see a continuation of that story, not another Avengers film (I mean, I DO want another Avengers film, obviously, just not here).

But it does look like they’re making Bucky’s redemption a central piece of Civil War‘s conflict, so that’s encouraging.

The first trailer showed Black Panther chasing Bucky down, and there’s more of that here, too. But now we get some hand-to-hand action with them. Here’s another thing that I feel is a good sign for fans of the previous film. One of the things that set The Winter Soldier apart was the spectacular hand to hand combat scenes, which were a real step up from previous superhero movies. 

Black Panther needs to come off like a supreme badass in this flick, so some of that Russo Bros. action scene magic will only help to make that happen. Also, I’d just like to mention once again that the Black Panther costume might be the coolest thing in the Marvel Cinematic Universe right now.

Also if you look at Bucky’s red shirt in the fight with Black Panther, it would seem to be the same one he is wearing when he attempts to assassinate Tony Stark. Now, we do not know the context of the fire fight, but trying to shoot other people in the face (especially when those other people are superheroes) is a big no-no in this kind of film. Thus it certainly gives some credence to Iron Man/Black Panther’s side of things if Bucky tried to Winter Soldier ol’ shell head.

But here’s the other crucial thing about the Civil War conflict: it’s not about secret identities (which were the focus of the comic book source material). Instead, we see how the events of The Avengers, The Winter Soldier, and Age of Ultron have led to Civil War, through some nifty new perspectives on those films’ climactic battles.

I appreciate the running tally of dollars vs. human life lost in the corner of the security footage. Note which one is listed first, as it tells you where government priorities tend to be.

Well, this is unfortunate. Scarlet Witch is forced to take down Vision. What’s amusing about this is that in the comics, these two actually end up getting married. 

That’s right, a mutant (I know she’s not a mutant in the movies, be quiet) married a synthetic android… in 1975. So much for definitions of “traditional marriage.” The Marvel Universe was decades more progressive than the real world.

Any idea what the hell this thing is? My first thought was that it was the Legion of Doom heaquarters from the classic Challenge of the Super Friends animated series, but, y’know…it’s not. Wrong universe, plus this thing isn’t as cool.

The juxtaposition of that with this myterious thing makes me wonder if this is the interior of some kind of underwater superhuman jail. Is this what’s supposed to happen to superhumans who don’t fall in line with Tony Stark and the government this time around?

Cap’s “I can do this all day” while fighting Iron Man is a direct call back to young Steve Rogers getting his ass handed to him by a Brooklyn bully in The First Avenger. The fact that he’s saying it to Tony brings up two points…

As we know from the first film, Steve doesn’t like bullies. That’s clearly how he thinks of Tony Stark right now. But as The Winter Soldier showed us, Steve also doesn’t stand for any authoritarian crap, no matter what kind of official channels it’s coming from.

So really, Tony Stark at the moment is a perfect combination of things that annoy Steve Rogers. He’s someone using his money, influence, and brute force to subjugate others to his will, and he’s doing it on behalf of a government overstepping their bounds… again.

Yes, Steve. Please “do this all day.” For all of us. We need you right now, as a matter of fact.

Other than Iron Man, we haven’t spent any time at all with the villains of this film. Here’s our first look at Frank Grillo’s new and improved Brock Rumlow, now known as Crossbones. Crossbones, as his skeletal costume theme might have tipped you off, was a kind of disciple of the Red Skull in the comics. But since ol’ Johann Schmidt hasn’t been seen since The First Avenger, he may be following someone else this time around.

We know that Daniel Bruhl is playing some version of the Baron Zemo character, who will almost certainly have ties to Nazi Germany and/or Hydra. Maybe he’s the guy whispering in Crossbones’ ear.

Incidentally, this scene probably isn’t taking place in Wakanda. It seems that we aren’t going to actually make it to Black Panther’s home country this time around.

I just had to point out that we’re finally getting some variation on the classic “archery superhero shoots shrinking superhero on an arrowhead into battle for maximum badassery” trope. This is straight out of the comics. Lots of comics.

Speaking of comic book things, this snippet from the middle of the trailer features Tony Stark and Black Widow at Avengers HQ with Natasha being especially chilly toward her supposed team leader. Now notice that the man who would be Iron Man has his arm in a sling. This would likely indicate that it’s near the end of the movie since Tony is physically out-of-comission. Now, why would Natasha be mad at Tony?

… Well if you’ve read Marvel Comics’ printed Civil War story and know how things go down for Captain America there, then you can probably take a pretty accurate guess.

And finally, we have the StarkWatch 1.0, the best piece of smart superhero technology that you can use to monitor your fitness and caloric intake, and maybe wrestle a weapon away from a semi-hostile brainwashed assassin who…

Oh, what…something much cooler happened in this trailer? Oh, that’s right! You probably want to talk about…

Yes, that’s Tom Holland as Spider-Man. Now, this is another faithful interpretation of the Spider-Man costume, because really, it’s one of the greatest superhero costumes of all time (see also: The Flash) and has only ever needed minor alterations and updates over the last 50 years. There are a couple of little flourishes on here, but nothing too extravagant.

But what’s really cool about this is that it’s the one that looks the most like it’s made out of fabric (“Underoos!”) and not the usual padded/rubbery amalgamations we get on the big screen. One thing The Amazing Spider-Man 2 got right was the overall flexibility of the suit, but even that sometimes looked a little “Hollywood.” It’s tough to really tell how this will look from scene to scene, but so far, they’re on the money.

But look a little closer.

On Spidey’s left wrist…is that an external webshooter? And are those spare web cartridges visible on his belt? Because if so, I’m going to be ridiculously happy. Why? Because to me, an external webshooter means one thing and one thing only, and that’s a callback to the live action Spider-Man TV series from the 1970s. Since we already know that Tony Stark is into wrist-mounted technology, it’s possible that Spidey’s toys are invented or perfected by Tony. 

Oh, and the eyes. Now, I know The Amazing Spider-Man movies get a ton of crap from people, and deservedly so. They aren’t very good. And the first film kinda dug its own grave by modifying a costume that really didn’t need much in the way of modification. But one thing it nailed was the idea of the eyes as mirrored lenses, something that no other version got right before…or since. So while this one is back to the straight-up white eyes, there’s a twist here. They can adjust to Spidey’s expressions.

And if you listen closely, you can hear a little mechanical whirring sound when they adjust. This (along with the external webshooters thing), ladies and gentlemen, is the tiniest, nerdiest thing to get me disproportionately excited about live action superhero stuff since I first started working for Den of Geek. You just watched history being made. I’m… not proud of this.

Anyway, did I miss any cool Marvel things in the trailer? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter, and I’ll update this as I go!