The Infinity War trailer is here! For those of us who weren’t lucky enough to have been at San Diego Comic Con when it debuted, it’s been a months’ long wait. With every new Marvel film release since then, we all hoped that that would be the film with which the trailer dropped. Now it finally has.
The fact that it’s broken the record for Most Viewed Trailer in 24 Hours speaks volumes to how much fans have been waiting for this trailer and how hungry they are for this film. So without further ado, here’s a list of the ten things we loved about the Avengers: Infinity War trailer and four things we didn’t.
For the TL:DR of this list, watch the the video above. For the full list with details and explanations behind the choices, continue reading below.
1. The Romance
Ever since they joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Avengers: Age of Ultron, those of us who have even the teensiest bit of knowledge about the characters in Marvel comics and their history, have been waiting – rather impatiently – for Scarlet Witch and Vision to become an item.
We got a bit of a tease for their upcoming romance in their first appearance together when Vision saved Scarlet Witch from a train and again in Captain America: Civil War. Now they straight up live together, it seems. With Scarlet Witch climbing out of bed and gently caressing his face as he cups hers. Could Scarlet Vision shippers squeal any louder?
And for the Brutasha shippers, it looks like there will be a bit more of that ship in Infinity War as well. Forced as their romance was in Age of Ultron, it’s kind of grown on me. Sure, the intimate moment we got between them wasn’t as overt as the one between Scarlet Vision, but smiling at each other is enough. Right?
2. The Science Bros Meet The Magic Bros
Technically science and magic are the same thing in the Marvel Cinema Universe. As Thor said, magic is just science that we mere mortals don’t understand…yet. In any case, we see Tony and Bruce standing with Dr. Strange and Wong. We already have an idea of how Bruce will end up at the Sanctum Santorum – he dropped through the roof – and we have yet to see how Tony will.
Don’t expect a moment similar to when Jane went to Asgard in Thor: The Dark World and geeked out over the “magic” she saw, which, before then, was theoretical science to her. Strange and Wong practise a different kind of magic and Tony and Bruce are different kinds of scientists from Jane. Still, it will be fun to see how the Science Bros and the Magic Bros interact.
3. Peter’s Spidey-Sense
One of the complaints about Spider-Man: Homecoming was the fact that Peter apparently didn’t have his Spidey-Sense. The film’s director, Jon Watts, stated that audiences have “already seen a Spidey-Sense sequence done extremely well in Marc [Webb]’s and [Sam] Raimi’s movies” and that his spider-sense could be developed later in the MCU and done differently. And Kevin Feige confirmed that the does have it. Seeing it cinematically represented here and, as Watts hinted at, differently from how it has been before was pretty cool and should satiate the fans who hated its exclusion in Homecoming.
4. He’s Just Being Loki
Uh…spoilers for Thor: Ragnarok? You really shouldn’t be watching this trailer if you haven’t watched that movie and if you have, it’s already been spoiled for you a tad.
During the final battle of Thor: Ragnarok, Thor sent Loki down into Odin’s vault to join Surtur’s helmet with the eternal flame. Right before he does that, however, we see him pause as he walks past the Tesseract…and then it cuts back to the battle. It was left up in the air whether or not Loki actually took it, but I think we all knew that he did. Now the Infinity War trailer has confirmed that Loki did in fact steal the Tessaract. And thanks to that post-credits scene, I think it’s safe to say that it’s his fault that Thanos came to them in the first place. After all, he’s looking for the Infinity Stones and Loki, unluckily for him and the other Asgardians (I’ll get to them in a bit), he just happened to have one.
5. Bearded Captain America
Cap’s new facial hair has been a topic of conversation – and the inspiration for many a fantasy, certainly – ever since Marvel released that three part, splash page poster featuring everyone in their new looks. Metal Gear fans say he looks like Big Boss (they’re not wrong) and Steve Rogers/Chris Evans fan girls think he’s never been sexier (they aren’t wrong either). Bearded Cap is always a win and seeing him with that facial hair is always a treat.
6. T’Challa
Aside from building even more hype for Infinity War, did this trailer make anyone else want to watch Black Panther that much more? Not only did T’challa have the coolest line in the entire trailer (sorry Thanos), we see him doing hand to hand combat with one of Thanos’ alien soldiers and leading the Wakandan army (with Cap and Bucky in the background at the ready). Black Panther will show us how T’challa becomes this leader, Infinity War will show us him being that leader. Also, he has a new suit.
7. The Hulkbuster Is Back
Tony gets to take his Hulkbuster armour out for another spin! One of the reason why fans were eagerly anticipating Civil War, the armour didn’t disappoint in that film in the least. The fight scene between Tony – in the suit – and Hulk was a spectacle to behold and had its funny moments to boot. With the armour making another appearance in this franchise, would it be too much to hope that we get another scene like that this time around? Perhaps not with Tony fighting Thanos (he’d lose anyway), but one of the members of the Black Order maybe? Twice in the trailer we see the armour in Wakanda so there’s a pretty good chance we’ll see him use it in the battle against Thanos’ army.
8. Thanos Assembles The Infinity Gauntlet?
Now this would be very bad news for the Avengers themselves, but a pretty good thing for us audience members. Think about it; we’ve spent how many films now waiting for this man to make his move? Too many. So after all of that build up and teasing, to not see him get all of the Infinity Stones after all of that anticipation would be kind of disappointing. And imagine the epic fight that will ensue when the Avengers fight him at full strength!
9. Bucky Returns…Again
Stucky shippers rejoice! The other half of arguably the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s biggest same-sex ship is back. And he too is sporting a beard. Other than setting fan girl hearts aflutter every time he and Cap appear in a scene together, Bucky is just, well, hot. So is literally every other actor in this franchise (I’ve been saying for a while now that Marvel seems to want to be the cause of the sexual awakening of an entire generation), but there’s a hierarchy to that and Bucky, for many of us, ranks pretty darn high. It’s like Sebastian Stan gets better looking with every appearance he makes in this franchise.
10. Wakanda’s Army vs Thanos’ Army
The fact that not just Black Panther, but what looks to be the entire military force of Wakanda get involved in the fight against Thanos was unexpected, but delightful. What other military would go up against them, really? Wakanda is the most technologically advanced nation on the planet in the MCU. No other nation would have the resources to take on alien invaders with superior tech. And, come on, for all of us people of colour, especially those of us of African descent, it’s really cool to see a Black, African King leading an army of Black, African soldiers. Power to the people!
Things We Hate
1. The Asgardians Are Dead
After all of the work that Thor did in Ragnarok, all of the talk about Asgard being its people and not a place, evacuating them so Surtur could destroy Asgard and kill Hela in the process…and they still die anyway? Certainly, the dead Asgardians we see in the trailer can’t be every last one of them, leaving Thor and Loki the last of their kind, but still. Even a few of them dying makes what Thor did in Ragnarok feel, in some ways, pointless. This is all Loki’s fault.
These probably aren’t the Asgardians – just look at the people in the background – but the first time I saw the trailer I thought that they were.
2. Bald, Wife-Beater Wearing, Thanos
The first time I watched the trailer, I couldn’t put my finger on why Thanos looked so weird. Then it occurred to me; He’s bald! We’ve never seen the man without his helmet or full armour on, the latter of which is another reason why he looks so darn strange. Not to mention the fact that his design has change…again. Sure, we got a preview of this new look in the aforementioned three-part splash page poster, but either I forgot what he looked like, it didn’t bother me at the time or I didn’t pay that much attention to him (even though he’s in the dead centre of the thing). Either way, his look in his first appearance, the post-credits scene at the end of Avengers, was his best look. And thank you Jeremy Jahns for the apt description of Thanos’s shirt.
3. Vision Dies?
Scarlet Vision just became canon dang it! You’re going to take it away in the very same film in which this gift was given? What a cruel mistress you are Marvel.
Yes, we all expect(ed) Vision to die since it’s almost certain that Thanos will retrieve all of the Infinity Stones and assemble the Gauntlet, and in order to do that, he needs to take the Mind Stone from Vision’s forehead. But still. Brief though his appearances in the films may have been before this point (compared to the cumulative screen time across all of the films some characters, like Natasha, have had) Vision was instantly loveable and Paul Bettany has been a part of this universe for so long. It’d be sad to see him go.
4. The Date
This movie is one hundred and fifty-four days away. That’s one hundred and fifty-four days too far.
