SOME SPOILERS
Disney’s in-house fan convention, D23, was this past weekend, and after skipping out on Comic-Con, Marvel showed up with both barrels loaded. After a video message from Benedict Cumberbatch and a teaser for Dr. Strange unveiling some psychedelic concept art, Marvel chief Kevin Feige moved right along to his other 2016 release, Captain America: Civil War (worry not, Cumbercookies, Dr. Strange will undoubtedly get a big push at Comic-Con next year). D23 moves a lot faster than Comic-Con, so the Civil War presentation was basically just Feige introducing Anthony Mackie, who introduced Chris Evans, who kissed Mouse-ass for a couple minutes before rolling footage. Check out their intro and the HUGE reception Evans gets:
I remember the 2011 New York Comic-Con, where The Avengers first unveiled footage and most of the cast appeared for a Q&A. Evans was visibly uncomfortable back then, but over the last few years he’s grown into his role as one of the marquee faces of Marvel. He played D23 to the hilt on Saturday, unveiling the first footage from Civil War. The footage has not been released and likely won’t be, but it is EXCELLENT. We open on a glimpse of an action sequence from the beginning of the movie, of Captain America and his new Avengers fighting the villain Crossbones. We saw these set photos earlier this summer.
The internet is going crazy for a specific line from Crossbones, “…He remembered you, your pal. Your buddy. Your Bucky.” I’m sure that line has already inspired a million fan-fics, but what stood out most to me was Paul Rudd as Scott Lang, fanboying over Captain America. “You know so many superpeople, so thinks for thanking of me! Thanks for thinking of me!” Rudd really pops—he just looks so normal next to Cap and the others, and he’s so FUNNY. The other thing that really pops is the action, particularly the Montage of Rad that shows Cap and Bucky, finally back on the same side, kicking a metric ton of ass together.
There’s only a brief glimpse of Black Panther, and nothing of New New Spider-Man, but his role is just a glorified cameo, really. There’s a BONKERS Spider-Man fight scene that Marvel will undoubtedly sit on as long they can, but really he’s only in the movie for a little bit. What the footage does show off, besides the action, is Captain America and Tony Stark falling out over registration. The footage heavily emphasizes the registration angle of the story, with various characters opining on the topic. The winningest line is Tony Stark: “Sometimes I want to punch you in your perfect teeth,” but the most character-true line comes from Cap: “In this job, we try to save as many as we can, but that doesn’t mean everybody.”
It’s not that the superhero registration stuff isn’t important to the movie, obviously it is. But there’s a lot more going on in Civil War than that, and this footage, while highly entertaining and encouraging, is also setting up a smoke screen. There’s a major plotline completely un-touched-upon, which reminds me of how they marketed Captain America: The Winter Soldier and misdirected the entire SHIELD plot. Disney marketing kind of fell down on the job this year regarding Marvel, but I have a feeling they’ll be much more engaged on Civil War, especially if Marvel wants to keep a significant part of the movie under wraps. There’s palpable excitement from everyone at Marvel around this movie, and the first look justifies it.
