Warning, this will contain possible spoilers of old movies in MCU phases 1 and 2. If you are not familiar with them and don’t want them to be spoiled then check back after you have watched them all. I’m also speculating on the possible direction of the
Captain America: Civil War storyline so if you would rather know nothing before the movie, please move on.
I’m going to talk about the lead up to Civil War using the
MCU Exchange released
Supercut. I recently
spoke over the trailer but missed a few key points and have decided to write this post in addition. The video clocks in at just over 7 minutes long and does well to cram in some of the key plot points of the previous phase one and two movies which brings us nicely to the beginning of Phase 3 when the movie is released on April 29th here in the UK. The Americans will have to wait a few more days, with a US release date of May 6th, shame that. I will have seen it three times at least by then.
There is a noticeable absence of 2008’s The Incredible Hulk with Edward Norton as the titular hero however we do get Thaddeus Ross back played by William Hurt in Civil War which is a nice touch however it remains to be seen if Red Hulk will feature. I did not love The Incredible Hulk (
check out my review here) but there were some enjoyable elements such as William Hurt and Tim Roth as Emil BlonskyAbomination. I would like to see Roth back as soon as possible playing Blonsky and get him introduced properly to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As everyone is always saying, the villains in the MCU just are not strong enough characters. There is potential with a few such as Abomination or Justin Hammer and A REAL MANDARIN.
We see glimpses of the origin story‘s of Tony Stark and Steve Rogers early on with flashes of
Iron Man, 2008 and
Captain America: The First Avenger, 2011. It’s clear why MCU Exchange made this supercut 7 minutes long with so many movies to take scenes from this would have been an editors nightmare, or dream if they didn’t mind getting through 12 movies and over 23 hours of footage. Imagine that on a weekend marathon leading into Cap 3?
Some of the Hulkbuster scenes in Wakanda from
Age of Ultron are shown early on which makes me hope that we at least get to find out where Hulk flew off to in AOU but with so much going on in this movie I would be fine with having to wait until Thor: Ragnarok. Maybe a clue MCU? The battles in Age of Ultron were probably the final nail in the coffin for the US government, which prompted them to take action with the Accords (MCU Superhero Registration Act counterpart). By the looks of things Ross is enforcing the Accords with the help of Tony Stark. Captain America oposses these new rules and his disagreement with Stark creates a divide within the Avengers.
Some other scenes in the trailer featured David Tennant’s character, Purple Man from
Netflix’s Jessica Jones and we see a flash of Hunter and Bobbi from
Agents of SHIELD. Although I don’t love that show I have been tricked into watching it just to keep up with the MCU. Despite my grievances with AOS it is nice to see the television shows feature in the supercut and receive acknowledgement from the MCU that they are part of this universe. Hey if it means there is the smallest chance of
Daredevil and/or Punisher in Avengers: Infinity War then I am well on board. Although I didn’t see any DD scenes in this?
The biggest reveal in the
last trailer was Spider-Man’s appearance, which saw him disarm Captain America showing a loyalty to Stark. We don’t get to see any new footage but the same scene is included just to remind us of his inclusion within the MCU. It is clear that Spider-Man is on team Iron Man but it is possible we could see him and other characters switch sides throughout the movie.
We also see many scenes with Bucky which gives me hope that we will see more of him in Civil War. The Winter Solider is a great film and my favourite in the MCU. I enjoyed it so much that I could easily have watched it for three hours instead of the 136 minute run time if we had more scenes with the Winter Soldier.
In a nutshell the trailer indicates that the big events such as the New York alien invasion, the fall of Hydra/SHIELD in The Winter Soldier and the Sokovia city drop in Age of Ultron have led to the Accords which create the divide. The promo art released earlier in the year showed us the line-up of Iron Man vs Captain America and it's interesting to see if Vision will blast any of the Avengers away. I for one am stoked at the prospect of the two camps facing off.
I cannot wait for April 29th and am seeing this in IMAX 3D in all its glory. Something tells me this will be the best vs movie of 2016.