By Brad Faye
In a world where set photos are being tweeted out on the regular and intentionally leaked studio footage is the norm, it’s become more and more difficult to render anybody speechless with a trailer these days. It wasn’t long ago that the Batman V Superman trailer caused us to do a double take by incorporating Doomsday into its latest sneak peek, but what Captain America: Civil War did this week was extraordinary for a wide range of reasons.
First of all, it was no secret that Spider-Man was going to make an appearance in the film, but seeing it and hearing it stirred up emotions that only a geek like me could truly understand. For years I have grown tired of Marvel’s obvious attempt to exclude people from its universe that they did not possess the cinematic rights to. Most blatant with the Fantastic Four, even the X-Men and Spider-Man appear to have taken a backseat in recent years to characters like Iron Man and Thor. Impossible to ignore completely because of how iconic and profitable these men and women are, it was apparent to any longtime fan of the webslinger that he was seemingly becoming the bastard son of a family from Game of Thrones. So in spite of it not being a surprise to see him, Marvel did a great job of keeping his appearance in the trailer under wraps while making the official declaration that our boy was back where he belongs.
When news first broke that Sony and Marvel had struck up a deal to implement Spider-Man into the cinematic universe of Captain America and company, the imaginations of diehard fans began to go haywire with all of the new and exciting directions these amazing films could go. In my eyes, however, there is no storyline more appropriate for Spider-Man to make his Sony/Marvel debut in than Captain America: Civil War. And seeing him play the role of Iron Man’s attack dog at the conclusion of the trailer was a reminder of what it is that makes Spider-Man so essential to this film and why I am counting down the days until he and the rest of the Avengers hit theatres.
For anybody not familiar with the Civil War comic book on which the film is based, the storyline forced superheroes to pick a side with either Captain America or Iron Man regarding the attempt to pass a superhero registration act. In a post-9/11 world, the timing for Civil War was a reminder of how we can often forego our civil liberties following a frightening tragedy, and asked the very good question of how much protection from our government might be too much. While writers like Mark Millar did a fantastic job of not making Iron Man a “villain” as much as he was someone emotionally reacting to the equivalent of a terrorist attack, Captain America was portrayed as more of the rebel who refused to succumb to Big Brother AKA Shield. A world of surveillance and constant monitoring was not the type of world Captain America had come from and even if it meant breaking the law, Cap refused to unwillingly see it go in that direction. So how did Spider-Man fit into all of this? Quite amazingly. Spider-Man initially sides with Iron Man in the comic book, even going as far as revealing his true identity to the public to prove his dedication to “outing” superheroes who insisted on keeping secret identities. Over the course of the story, however, Spider-Man rejects the idea of what his good friend in the iron suit is doing and instead pledges his allegiance to Captain America. As far as whether or not the film will follow this journey we can only speculate, but his appearance in the trailer certainly seems to show that he at some point does ally himself with Tony Stark.
As somebody who cheered on Captain America while reading the original storyline, I had a major issue with the adult Peter Parker fighting alongside Iron Man, but with Peter being introduced as a teenager in this film, the decision makes perfect sense. What kid wouldn’t want to align himself with the incredibly cool Tony Stark? The guy is a rock star and it’s zero mystery while a kid who grew up watching his aunt and uncle trying to make ends meet, the opportunity to join sides with the iron Daddy Warbucks would be difficult to pass up on. It would only be after exposing himself to Tony’s world and all of the other compromises that probably come along with it that Peter might come to understand that things can often be deceiving from the outside looking in.
For the record, Captain America is much cooler than Iron Man for many of the same reasons that Spider-Man is cooler than Batman. While most people adore Tony Stark and Bruce Wayne for their lack of superpowers, I’ve always seen things far differently. To anybody who finds those billionaire playboys more relatable, I encourage you to check my bank account and see why I cannot say the same. I ask you to look back at my history with females in high school and reconsider. Yes, Captain America and Spider-Man underwent experiences to which we might not be able to relate to on the surface. But all of us have gifts and all of us have been bit by a radioactive spider of some sort or another. Whether or not we took full advantage of the opportunity is where we differ from those gentlemen.
Where Spider-Man will fit into the Marvel Universe of the silver screen and whose side he will join we can only guess. But with films like The Avengers, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Guardians of the Galaxy showcasing how well Marvel can produce films featuring anywhere from one hero to several, I can honestly say that I’m very glad to see him there. And I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the creators of the film will follow in the steps of what Mark Millar did back in 2006.
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