- The new Spider-Man looks smooth but supercool, Team Iron Man looks to have a
serious advantage, and this scrap just got personal
The Guardian
Ben Child
There’s nothing like a bit of old-fashioned conflict and betrayal to have ’em queuing round the block. Captain America: Civil War will follow this month’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice into multiplexes on 6 May, and if rumors are to be believed, might mark the last time we ever get to see some of our favorite Avengers on the big screen. But that’s OK, because the final trailer for the Russo brothers’ new film has just introduced Spider-Man. Here are five takeaways from this year’s biggest Marvel movie.
Iron Man has turned into an irritating goody two shoes
Is this really the same Tony Stark that kicked back and partied in full fusion power suit in Iron Man 2? Iron Man was always the most rock’n’roll of the Marvel superhero crew, but after almost destroying the world with his techy meddling in Avengers: Age of Ultron, it’s clear he’s lost his taste for unilateral action. Here’s the first source of the conflict in Civil War: Stark is willing to be told what to do by the authorities, while Steve Rogers is unlikely to ever listen to orders from on high again after superhero agency SHIELD turned out to be a bunch of bad guys in his last solo outing, Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
The Winter Soldier takes out War Machine
And here’s the second chunk of protein to build our superhero beef. For the first time, we see it’s Cap’s old pal Bucky Barnes who shoots down Don Cheadle’s power-suited hero, and it doesn’t look like he’s getting up any time soon. This is an ideological conflict, and a personal one, since we’ve seen hints in previous trailers that Rogers breaks Barnes out of his icy prison against the orders of the powers that be.
Black Widow is conflicted
While the boys ready their battle toys, it falls to Scarlett Johansson’s ex-Soviet spy (as usual) to try and talk some sense into our scrapping superheroes. At one point, she seems to be sending out a warning to Iron Man, yet there she is for the big main fight sequence lined up on the Stark side of the fence. Which way will the widow end up walking? The answer could be key to deciding the outcome of Marvel’s latest epic: Johansson allegedly gets $20m for these films, so expect the costumed hero otherwise known as Natasha Romanoff to be a major player this time round.
Spider-Man is more than just a bystander
We’ve known for a while that Tom Holland’s wallcrawler was due to make his debut in the Marvel cinematic universe via a cameo appearance in Civil War, yet few expected the new Spidey to play an active part in the big superhero smackdown. Yet there he is, with a less-textured suit than we’ve previously seen on the big screen. It’s a rather video-gamey look, yet the slick way the webslinger’s eyes narrow into white, feline pupils for that final shot is indisputably cool.
Team Cap looks to be the serious underdog
Tony Stark has the godlike Vision on his side, as well as the powersuited War Machine (effectively a second Iron Man), Spidey, Black Widow, and Black Panther. Rogers’ biggest hitter is the psychologically powered Scarlet Witch; apart from that he just has the not-very-scary Ant-Man, Winter Soldier, and non-powered heroes such as Hawkeye and Falcon on his side. And yet Captain America has always punched above his weight in the Marvel Universe, while Scarlet Witch seems to be subduing Vision in the trailer, and Ant-Man could be a whole lot more threatening if he’s able to access Giant Man mode. There have already been plenty of rumors that the latter shift is a shoo-in.
