Ever since the film was announced, we've all been looking forward to the official teaser trailer for
Captain America: Civil War, sequel to the critically acclaimed
Captain America: The Winter Soldier and loose adaptation of the various
Civil War comic events. Yes, it's true that we've already seen two
Avengers films, numerous onscreen cameos and, by the time of this film's release, a fight between DC's Batman and Superman, but regardless,
Civil War is such an exciting premise and the simple fact that it's from the same creative team that was behind 2014's
Captain America: The Winter Soldier makes this a film worth looking forward to. And it is, after all, from the same studio that was successfully able to take a handful of relatively obscure characters and turn them into household names (although Hulk and Captain America were already A-list characters).
The internet exploded when the teaser trailer was recently released, as our anticipation was finally rewarded. Was it worth it? Let me put it this way: I've rewatched it too many times to count. The teaser was very emotionally driven and action packed, showcasing a number of characters, both returning and brand new to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Inevitably, some will frown at the absence of characters like Ant-Man and the Vision, but do keep in mind that this is merely a teaser. It was nice to finally see the return of the dormant character, General Ross, as well as a flight-enabled Scarlet Witch and countless others. The trailer seemed to know where its focus is, so the numerous characters felt well balanced and nothing feels overcrowded, a problem that has plagued such comic book films as
Spider-Man 3 and the theatrical cut of
Watchmen.
The interactions between Captain America, Bucky Barnes and Iron Man all felt real and the film's story seems a lot more personal than the comic's. Friendships are at stake, especially considering that they all feel that they are doing the morally right thing. The greatest line of dialogue that has stuck with me is the exchange between Iron Man and Captain America: "He's my friend." "So was I." There certainly is a real human being underneath Tony Stark's facade. On a less emotional note, the fight choreography remains impeccable, as it was with the previous
Captain America film.
We don't see any of Baron Zemo, the true villain of the picture, in the trailer. This version of the
character will be entirely reimagined and won't even have his mask, an essential element to the character. Normally this would be a huge red flag, but I'll give the Russo Brothers the benefit of the doubt. Crossbones is only seen in the background for a brief second. I wonder if Crossbones will be an exception to Marvel Studios' infamous lack of memorable villains. I predict he will be, but we simply haven't seen enough of him to properly make that judgment. I don't think we will be seeing much of Spider-Man until the film is released. Although I continue to cringe at the thought of another
Spider-Man reboot, Tom Holland seems like he can pull it off. At least he nailed the Peter Parker look from the early
Ultimate Spider-Man comics.
The final thing I will address mainly pertains to comic book films as a whole, rather than just
Civil War. This might seem like a small issue but bare with me: white mask lenses. For the longest time, I've been wanting to see white mask lenses on a live action Batman costume. Deadpool will be the first to really do the white mask lenses in live action, but his will be CGI and intentionally cartoony in order to express the character's emotion with the comedic tone of the film. However, now we have seen Black Panther wear realistic white mask lenses in the
Civil War trailer and they look awesome. At his point, I kind of feel like Batman has to wear the white lenses eventually in the DC Extended Universe. Some will argue that the lenses take away from the character's ability to express emotion, but Batman isn't supposed to be sympathetic when he's in costume. He's supposed to be frightening. And anyone who has seen 2012's
Dredd knows that talented actors (like Ben Affleck) can express emotion regardless.
All in all, the trailer does a perfect job of establishing the film to the general audience and getting returning fans even more hyped for the film.