The Flickering Myth team react…
The second trailer for Captain America: Civil War landed online yesterday [watch it here] and introduced us to the MCU version of Spider-Man. Well, briefly, anyway. Despite what Latino-Review claimed, we only saw the Wall Crawler for the briefest of brief moments at the very end of the trailer under the nickname of Underoos. Very clever Tony.
The Internet was abuzz talking about Spidey and Black Panther, but what did the Flickering Myth writing staff make of it all…
Gary Collinson: Yeah, Spider-Man was so heavily featured I don’t think I need to see the movie now.
Tai Freligh: Yeah, quick glimpse was what I called…and called it! Just enough to see the costume, hear his voice and see that they are doing Deadpool style eye animation. So Spidey is Team Iron Man, eh? This trailer has me all kinds of excited for the movie. Seeing Black Panther in action going after the Winter Soldier was great and a brief glimpse of Spidey at the end was cool, but it was really the focus on Cap and Tony, as it should be. This has to be the best trailer yet for the movie and does the best job of explaining why they are against each other- New York, DC, Sokovia. I can’t wait!!
Jackson Ball: My main concern after the first trailer was that the story was going to be too heavily centred around Winter Soldier, but this trailer makes him more of a catalyst than a key player, which is a smart decision. Spidey looks great too.
Martin Carr: Good trailer. It’s Spider-Man. Two seconds and a quick hello everybody ain’t enough to call it. A little more character stuff which broadened the film without giving too much away.
Eric Bay-Andersen: Brilliant. I fear some people are going to (ignorantly) react with “Spider-Man sounds like a little kid!”, forgetting that the character is a teenager, but I thought the glimpse was just right and added a nice bit of lightness to an otherwise (welcomely) dark trailer. And maybe it’s because I’ve seen so many poorly structured trailers recently, regardless of their content, but this was superbly structured.
Tai Freligh: I like his nickname- “Underoos!”
Eric Bay-Andersen: That’s what he was saying – I didn’t quite understand him! I thought he said something like “and the ruse…”, which didn’t quite make sense to me haha!
Ricky Church: It was a good trailer which continued playing off the emotion of seeing all these friends turn against each other. I like how this one shows a little more from Iron Man’s perspective as the first trailer heavily focused on Cap’s side, with good reason of course since it is Cap’s movie. It seems like the conflict between the two is going to be well balanced. That said, I am somewhat surprised we still haven’t gotten a look at Daniel Bruhl as Baron Zemo since he was supposed to be the main antagonist for Civil War. Sure, the heart of the movie lies in the battle between Cap and Iron Man, but I’ve always been under the assumption Zemo was going to be the main villain (please correct me if I’m wrong). The final shot of Spider-Man was pretty cool and I’m pretty proud that I called it exactly like it would happen: hearing the “thwip” of the web, someone of something gets stuck, followed by a quick glimpse. Not anything big enough to overshadow the trailer, as Latino-Review suggested, but enough to get people talking. I like the costume design too, it’s very reminiscent of the way Alex Ross, one of my favourite artists, draws Spidey. I also like how the eyes will actually move and give some more expression to him.
Eric Bay-Andersen: The eyes reminded me of how Spider-Man looked in the late 80s/early 90s TV movie, if anyone saw that.
Oliver Davis: Spider-Man’s eyes are animated. I guess he got them with Tony Stark money. I think that looks a bit goofy.
Helen Murdoch: Really good trailer and glad to see a tease of Spidey but not too much revealed (looking at you DC). Good to see a bit more of Black Panther as well and to see.
Anghus Houvouras: Definitely better than the Ghostbusters trailer. It would be stupid not to get excited about seeing this major dust up between Earth’s Mightiest Mortals, but it seems to have all the benchmarks of the Marvel films that have made me lethargic: superheroes fighting one another, quippy cringe inducing jokes, and people constantly talking about how damn high the stakes are. It never feels like the stakes are that high. I felt this trailer sort of shows how insular the Marvel movies are. This seems like a major conflict for two groups of people 1. The Avengers and 2. Anyone who drives a car on a busy road, because that seems to be where 98% of superhero conflicts take place. It’s a good trailer, but it doesn’t do anything to significantly get me any more psyched than the last one. Yes, it’s cool seeing Spider-Man in the mix. Huge Spider-Man fan and excited as hell to see him as part of the MCU melange, but this is still Stark vs. Rogers: Smackdown and the politics/choices behind it feel kind of forced. I don’t know what movies anyone else has been watching, but the leap of faith one needs to take to have Tony Stark side with the establishment seems ridiculous beyond comprehension. The guy who made Ultron, then doubles down in creating the Vision even after all his decisions have been utterly terrible. This is the guy who stares down authority with a smirk, and somehow now he’s the working arm of the Thunderbolt Ross led Government Checks and Balances society? Meh. I’m on board, obviously, but more for what they haven’t shown me than what they have. How does Spider-Man factor in? What the hell does Daniel Bruhl actually do in the movie as Baron Zemo? The Giant-Man reveal. Three trailers in and they’re still giving me 90% WATCH SUPERHEROES BEAT EACH OTHER UP. My brain is starting to crave more.
Ricky Church: I feel the same way about Tony’s arc. While I’m sure it will be explored more in the actual movie, throughout the Iron Man films tony has been kind of against government controlling his interests, especially in Iron Man 2 and after his disastrous decisions in both Iron Man 3 and Avengers: Age of Ultron. Seeing so much of Team Cap and Team Iron Man in the previous trailers was exactly the reason why I was hoping to see Bruhl’s Zemo in the trailer, so we could get some extra hint of how the Avengers are forced against each other. I heard he’s being set up for future Marvel movies too, but I hope his scenes don’t just serve as set up as Scarlett Johansson did in Iron Man 2.
Luke Owen: I gotta disagree on Tony. Of all the characters, he’s the one who has had the most interesting progression. He’s gone from a smary playboy to hero who think he’s invincible, only to have his senses shaken by aliens attacking his planet and having to fly a nuke into a black hole. So what does he do? He tries various different things to protect the world. He had his various Iron Man suits – they didn’t work. He had his Iron Legion – people rejected it. He created Ultron and it tried to destroy humanity. What does he have left? He realises that his actions need to have consequences. He allowed the Avengers to roam free and Sokovia happened. He’s gone from smarmy playboy to military stooge. That’s great and interesting progression.
Ricky Church: All of that is true and would make a great character progression. I just hope it translates that well in the movie.
Villordsutch: I’ll be honest I more interested in hearing them speak them seeing them hit. Captain America: The Winter Solider was truly fantastic and I feel this film will follow suit, however with this trailer we were just treated to roughly the last trailer but with added (what could have been CGI’ed) Spidey with badly animated eyes. Just bring on the film and keep the beats for the kids.
Kat Kourbeti: Spidey’s animated eyes are goofy-looking and I don’t like them – I didn’t like Deadpool’s either, but hey-ho. I’m still excited to see the aftermath of Winter Soldier, I crave homoerotic tension and I’m confident this will satisfy. I will say though that the stakes are definitely not high enough; it just doesn’t feel like any of the events of the film will matter in the grand scheme of things. No one important is going to die (since they’re not actually using the Civil War comic story but rather concocting a mix between the Trial of Steve Rogers and Civil War á la Disney), and we also know that Chris Evans is signed on for more films after this. Also miffed that events in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will not be connected to Civil War, as I was quite looking forward to seeing them incorporate Inhumans into the Sokovia Accord thing in place of the forbidden M-word from the unmentionable X-Team… We could have had it all, but alas!
Eric Bay-Andersen: Has it been announced that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. won’t connect? If so, I’m really annoyed beacuse this is the first year I’m (reasonably) up to date with watching it – I regretted not doing it last year because it made sense of the Helicarrier turning up at the end of Avengers: Age of Ultron. It’s true what you say about people dying too – most of them are under contract for more films, so who could possibly be killed off? War Machine, Scarlet Witch, Bucky, Hakweye?
Tom Roach: Really great trailer. Loved seeing more of Black Panther in action. Spider-Man looks cool though he appears to be CGI heavy not sure how I feel about that.
Matthew Skeen: A good trailer, built some excitement and gave some good service to all the other characters. One view of Spider-Man in the trailer was just right, also not going to over analyse his look as it could be way better in the full film.
Luke Owen: Let’s be honest here, this trailer f’n ruled. It’s a great culmination to everything that has come before it. The action looks great, the dialogue scenes look great, everything looks great. Scarlet Witch melting Vision, Hawkeye firing Ant-Man at Iron Man, Shell Head and Cap dukeing it out, *that* look on Tony’s face when he realises that Winter Solider would have shot him in the face – it’s all great. Having said that, from what I can see I’m not down for the Spidey design. This is more 60s Ditko Spider-Man and my ideal Spidey is 90s McFarlane Spider-Man. Hate to say it but The Amazing Spider-Man 2 nailed the design better than anyone. The animated eyes are super weird too. Like, how do they work? On Deadpool it makes sense because the character is silly and that’s just one of his silly traits. On Spider-Man? Not sure. But, whatever, the trailer f’n ruled.
Samuel Brace: Never has a trailer made me want to watch a film less. Never has the word ‘meh’ been so aptly applied.
Jessie Robertson: Thought Spider-Man looked awesome. The trailer itself was amazing. But I have to say as I’ve gotten older, I prefer adult Peter Parker.
Scott J Davis: Super pumped for the film of course, but wasn’t so keen on the trailer, something was missing for me. Spidey reveal was cool, though. Only a trailer after all…
Anthony Donovan Stokes: Had the self control not to watch it. Still had the image ruined.
Chris Cooper: Loved it. They could not explain Spider-Boy’s (finally he’s the right age!) eyes and I’d be completely cool with it. Deadpool’s worked perfectly, and I’m more than happy to see it here. I’m not letting the fact I didn’t think we’d ever see Spidey with the others get the better of me, it’s a great look. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 did nail the suit with the big eyes. No argument there. But this is different, and so far I dig it. Not as cool, but far more emotional for me, was the ‘I can do this all day’ callback to Captain America: The First Avenger. Nicely done. I liked seeing how many casualties each event and the cost of each one. Bringing an element of The Incredible Hulk into the fold with Thunderbolt Ross is warming too. The sides make sense, Spidey looks great, I’m scared for Rhodey, and Hawkeye fires an arrow that has Ant-Man on the tip! Who ever thought we were going to see that and Spider-Man holding Captain America’s shield 10 years ago?
Kris Wall: I’m really sorry to constantly sound like a broken record here but this just looks like another Avengers overload for me. I’m excited to see Black Panther and Spider Man featuring in this universe, but I’m still on a major high from the most recent Suicide Squad trailer, and this just isn’t grabbing me in the same way. Staying with Marvel though, I’m still stuck on a feeling with Guardians of the Galaxy, only Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Daredevil have managed to excite me from the studio since then. There were some really cool looking moments in the trailer, the highlight being when Bucky almost shoots Tony in the face, but it definitely could’ve done without ths spoilerific War Machine moment. I think I’ve just reached a point where I’m tired of being overwhelmed by having about 500 characters flood a film as each Marvel film starts to become a mini Avengers between the Avengers. I’ll still see it though.
Scott Watson: The more I see of this the more I think it’s going to pretty much destroy Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice. Black Panther is looking awesome and that little tidbit of Spiderman at the end was just brilliant.
James Garcia: I’m in the underwhelmed camp here too, and in the same boat as Kris. I’m just kinda tired of Marvel movies. Most of them I find highly overrated, weightless popcorn fare. With that said, this is a well-made trailer and looks like it could be another win for the Russos, but even a fun Spidey reveal doesn’t raise my anticipation level much. I kept wishing it was just another Cap movie and that grumpy Iron Man would just retire already. Black Panther looks badass, and while I’m not yet sold on the costume, it’s cool to see Spider-Man show up. We’ll see if the film serves them well, or if we have another Avengers: Age of Ultron on our hands.
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Well that was certainly more positive than some of the Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice outings, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Star Trek Beyond and Ghostbusters, but there were still some on the ‘meh’ spectrum. The results below show more positive than negative, but even those people questioned the animated eyes of Spider-Man. Is superhero fatigue really setting in? And if it is, how does this bode for DC as they launch their Extended Universe in a couple of weeks?
Based on 20 votes…
Thumbs Up: 60%
Thumbs in the Middle: 25%
Thumbs Down: 15%
