Captain America: Civil War Trailer Review

Marvel takes a new turn and faces off it’s heroes against eachother.

Team Captain America vs Team Iron Man

Superhero films are known (whether correctly or not) for being simple and unintelligent with their narratives. And now Marvel are packing this narrative with two triggers and an entire nation against the protagonist, Captain America.

The following paragraphs are a breakdown of the entire trailer, including descriptions of most of the shots:

The trailer opens with Steve Rogers (Captain America) and Sam Wilson (The Falcon) approaching a weak and spiritless Bucky Barnes (Winter Soldier) in what appears to be an abandoned garage or sorry looking apartment. As Rogers and Wilson stop and stare at him, Steve says, “Buck do you remember me?”  With only his head moving to look up at Rogers, Barnes feebly replies “Your mum’s name was Sarah. You used to wear newspapers in your shoes.” Whilst Rogers sympathetically watches him, confirming each detail he recalls.  Steve then follows up by saying, “You’re a wanted man” as it cuts to a shot of a building being blown up. As it follows up showing Wilson surrounded by public panic, Barnes defensively replies with “I don’t do that anymore”. As the shot returns to the room, Rogers explains, “Well the people who think you did are coming right now” and the shots change to a SWAT team gearing up and storming a building. Rogers continues, “And they don’t plan on taking you alive.”  From this the music speeds up as the two scenes combine with Bucky, Steve and Sam fighting their way through the building, followed by Barnes jumping off of the building as it cuts to the Marvel Studios title banner.

On the trailers return it fades into an upward panning shot of a helicopter flying over the ocean before cutting to General “Thunderbolt” Ross (back from The Incredible Hulk) addressing Rogers, “Captain, while a great many people see you as a hero, there are some who’d prefer the word vigilante” whilst it shows Rogers, Wilson and Natasha Romanoff (Black Widow) sitting at a table in front of him, “You’ve operated with unlimited power and no supervision, that’s something the world can no longer tolerate” as it shows Barnes’ attempts to blend in, before returning to the table as Ross hands them a file entitled ‘Sokovia Accords’ (in reference to the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron), and a shot of Rogers staring at the file.  The next shot is Bucky speeding a bike down the ride, followed by a high angle shot of a secluded Rogers, as Romanoff’s voice then enters, directed towards Rogers, “I know how much Bucky means to you, stay out of this one. Please! You’ll only make things worse!”  The last line then layers over Romanoff on the phone to an undercover Rogers in a cap, aviators and leather jacket, asking “Are you saying you’ll arrest me?”  It then cuts to black, before fading into Captain America surrounded by multiple blacked out police trucks and a dozen men holding him at gun point as Ross’ voice re-enters, “There will be consequences”  The next shot then opens with Iron Man (in a new suit known as the Bleeding Edge suit) forcing open a door, approaching Cap (with Bucky standing sentry behind him), “Captain, You seem a little defensive.” “It’s been a long day.”

The conversation then transfers to a facility, “If we can’t accept limitations, then we’re no better than the bad guys”, says Stark. It cuts to Cap and Bucky gearing up as he replies, “That’s not the way I see it.”  The shot returns to the facility with Stark standing next to Rogers, “Sometimes I wanna punch you in your perfect teeth”, with barely even a reaction from Rogers.  the action the begins to build as Falcon jumps off of a building, engaging his wings before hitting the floor. A shot of Falcon combating two enemies is preceded by Wilson and Rogers in a bar, as Wilson says “I just want to make sure we consider all of our potions, as people who shoot at you usually wind up shooting at me too”.  The trailer then begins to start filling up with action shots as Black Widow asks Cap, “You know what’s about to happen. Do you really want to punch your way out of this one?” as he infiltrates a building via smashing through a window. The shot is then followed up with Iron Man and War Machine standing side-by-side, as well as a shot of ‘Team Cap’ (Captain America, Falcon, Scarlet Witch and Hawkeye).  Multiple fast shots are then presented, of Iron Man and War Machine flying upwards, Bucky in civilian clothes running through the streets, and missiles crossing what looks like an airfield. Falcon then asks, “What do we do?” as the trailer reveals one of the new characters, Black Panther, as Cap answers “We fight”, as Team Cap run forwards in synchronisation. It then reveals which side Black Panther is on as it shows him fighting/beating Bucky.  The enigma codes then begin to pile up as Cap and Bucky chase Black Panther through a car park, as well as Rogers holding a helicopter to a helipad, Black Widow overlooking the explosions on the airfield and Bucky attempting to remove the arc reactor from the Iron Man suit.

The trailer is then drawn to a close with a slow-motion shot of Cap running through explosions, and Tony in his suit, sitting over a defeated War Machine, as Rogers says to Tony, “I’m sorry Tony, you know I wouldn’t do this if I had any other choice.” It then looks to Bucky as Rogers continues “But he’s my friend”. It then fades into a shot inside of the Iron Man helmet, revealing a scarred and emotional Stark, quietly responding with “So was I.” The music then returns once more as Cap finds strength as he gets up, before it shows Cap and Bucky double-teaming against Iron Man, who is unable to land a hit. The final shot is Cap jabbing his shield at Iron Man. The trailer then cuts to black, fading into the Captain America: Civil War logo.

As shown by the trailer, there is a lot to this film, however only a portion of what’s to come has actually been delivered. The main trigger for the narrative can be seen to be Cap’s loyalty to and determination to defend his friend Bucky, no matter who or what stands in his way, even if it means fighting those who stand alongside him.  However, in the comic Marvel’s Civil War, the reason for the civil war was the Superhero Registration Act, a government law whereby all superheroes must register their alter-egos so that they can be traced by the government. In the comic this act was opposed by Captain America and the rest who followed him, whilst it was supported by Iron Man and the rest of the heroes.  In the comics however, the civil war involves every single hero, including the X-men, Fantastic Four, etc. however due to studio rights, this was not possible, although an agreement was conveniently made between Fox and Marvel, allowing Spider-Man to make his MCU debut in this feature.  Whilst the Superhero Registration Act was not mentioned explicitly in the trailer. The first was the Sokovia Accords, where there is a chance that it will be within this file.  It was also hinted towards by Stark when he says to Cap, “If we can’t accept limitations, then we’re no better than the bad guys”. These ‘limitations’ could be in reference to the Act that was likely to be within the ‘Accords’.

Overall, this trailer works really well in establishing the style of superhero film it’s going to be, and how much it’s going to change the future of the MCU. Due to the fandom of superhero blockbusters, it will have a far bigger effect on the hard-core fans of the series, as opposed to the audience who watch every-other super flick. This is also emphasised with the last sequence of the trailer, tapping in to the emotional bond between Steve and Tony, which would’ve had a bigger impact on the heavier fans.

As stated in my previous post, Captain America: Civil War is the first film in Marvel’s MCU Phase 3, and there is a lot left to be revealed from the film, including multiple superheroes and a few villains.

Starring:    Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark/Iron Man, Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/Captain America, Sebastian Stan as James “Bucky” Barnes/The Winter Soldier, Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton/Hawkeye, Scarlett Johannson as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow, Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson/Falcon, Don Cheadle as Col. James Rhodes/War Machine, Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch, Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa/Black Panther, William Hurt as General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross/?, and many more characters to be revealed with the next trailer…

Captain America: Civil War releases on May 6th 2016 in the US, and reportedly April 27th 2016 in the UK.

Watch the trailer here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uVdV-lxRPFo