Thursday, 23 October 2014

The Age of Ultron teaser has sold me... on the MCU Civil War

So, as I was a little slow in finding out, the official teaser trailer for Avengers 2 (in the UK... what? Avengers Reassemble?) is now online. I am going to talk about it and the whole 'MCU are doing Civil War' bit, so if you're avoiding all spoilers... well, I sort of blew it already mentioning Civil War didn't I, but definitely don't read further, and if you do then don't blame me.


Okay, so the obvious: That's some solid epic right there. Lots to intrigue and tantalise, from James Spader's nigh-seductive* Ultron voiceover to Hulkbuster suits and some hardcore emoting from Elizabeth Olsen, hinting that maybe the big teen contract went to the wrong sisters. And our favourites are all there, and apparently being served; Cap kicking in doors, Stark and his armour, Hulk and Black Widow having a moment, Hawkeye... in a forest; Thor dropping his hammer. There's a creepy version of an old Disney song.

And everyone is talking about that, so I want to focus on something this sold to me personally.

I've never being keen on the idea of Civil War; I'd not yet seen a speculative path from Iron Man 3 to a Civil War storyline that didn't basically involve Tony Stark performing a complete 180-heel turn or Pepper getting shoved in the fridge.

Now I see a path. After that trailer, I can see exactly how they can do this, and how it could really, really work.

It's been speculated that the Hulkbuster is not intended to bring down the Hulk, just slow him down so that he can be put on the naughty step if he kicks off (also that it's Ultron in the Hulkbuster, but it looked like Iron Man's helmet in there to me.) If that's the case, and especially if the suit was designed at Banner's request (look at him in the shot inside the jet, all curled up and woobie, and tell me he isn't having some control issues again,) then that's the first step on Stark's path to feeling that heroes need to be policed. Add in Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch running around with Ultron and the seeds of registration are there.

There's an army of quasi-Iron Man drones in the trailer, either forming Ultron's army or being crushed by... I'm not sure if it's an early version of his body or another drone or suit he's puppeting; puppetry being a pretty clear theme. Stark also talks about the end of the path that he started them on, and there are scenes of the Avengers raiding a kind of monastery and anonymous army types led by bearded Andy Serkis, so if the Avengers (perhaps in line with SHIELD Mk 2) have set themselves up as Earth's Hydra-hunters and it's going to go horribly wrong, that's another step towards Tony being more in favour of opening up and letting the government control things, as much so he doesn't have to as because he thinks that they should.

Finally, the broken shield. It's a corny bit (unless done very well) but it makes me suspect that Quicksilver and Scarlet With may be used to give a glimpse into a darkest timeline. If that were shown to Stark, it could again lead towards the Civil War.

The trailer for Avengers 2 definitely makes me want to see Avengers 2, but it has also taken me past a bump in the road that made me wonder if I'd still be watching MCU movies further along. Civil War is going to be rough, and that's right and proper, but I'm looking forward to seeing what they do with it.

*Description amended as more and more responses make it clear that the voiceover is in fact just plain seductive.

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