Fans anxiously awaited today’s reveal of the new trailer for this summer’s Marvel superhero battle royale, and when it finally arrived, boy did it deliver. Laying out a laundry list of mistakes and general destruction left in the wake of Captain America and other costumed do-gooders, the government decides to regulate them and control them. Iron Man, long plagued by fear and guilt about what the Avengers can and cannot accomplish, agrees to regulation. Captain America, now distrustful of government agencies due to Hydra’s infiltration of S.H.I.E.L.D. and unable to curtail his instinctive need to react and protect people against danger without getting government approval first, refuses regulation. The rest of the superheroes choose sides, and the fight is on. And if that weren’t all enough, Spider-Man shows up.
That, my friends, is one heckuva great trailer. While the first Captain America: Civil War trailer was primarily subtext and hints, it didn’t really establish what sets off an actual “war” between two groups of Avengers. Yes, yes, fans of the comics knew what it was about, but average mainstream viewers only have the general background that these characters have had some minor personality conflicts in the past yet managed to overcome them for the greater good of humanity, eventually all becoming good friends.
Something tips those scales, however, and just as it was important for Batman v Superman to firmly establish the basic foundations of the conflict between the Caped Crusader and the Man of Steel, so too did Marvel need to give us more explanation of why a clearly major battle is raging between Captain America and Iron Man. Sure, lots of people will be happy to just show up and watch a good ol’ cage match between superheroes; but context goes a long way toward making us remember and invest more in the conflict, because we grasp the story around it.
The first Captain America: Civil War trailer’s quick mention of Sokovia was unlikely to have served as clear and memorable enough a reference for most average viewers to infer that a conflict is arising over the collective outcomes of super-battles, and the references in that first trailer to Cap being viewed as a vigilante were likewise unclear given the circumstances and Cap’s status as a government agent most of the time anyway.
This new trailer does a fantastic job of quickly putting the events of the previous MCU outings into a larger overarching perspective and narrative, stepping back to demonstrate that in each case, the heroes’ actions — however well-intentioned and regardless of the final outcome — consistently demonstrate either threats arising as a direct consequence of some hero’s (or group of heroes) previous actions (Loki’s invasion of Earth as retaliation for Thor defeating him in Asgard, Ultron’s rampage as a result of Tony and Bruce creating him in the first place, Cap causing S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarriers to crash into Washington, D.C., the Mandarin being created as part of a larger plan set in motion after Tony rejected Killian years earlier, and so on).
We also needed to know a bit more about why Iron Man would seem so hellbent on ignoring Cap’s choice to trust Bucky (aka Winter Soldier). If Captain America says Bucky was brainwashed and controlled by Hydra — who had also infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. — it seems someone like Iron Man wouldn’t have much trouble understanding and even agreeing with Cap’s choice to defend Bucky and to be skeptical of the government trying to gain administrative control over every costumed hero. Now, however, we see multiple examples of Bucky’s violent nature and Iron Man’s personal encounters with it — Tony’s shock when Bucky actually tries to shoot him in the face, Tony’s rage when Bucky shoots War Machine out of the sky. So we more clearly understand Iron Man’s impatience with Captain America defending Bucky despite evidence Bucky is still far too dangerous and violent to operate without oversight.
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