Still No Spider Man in the 'Civil War' Trailers! But That's OK!

Apparently, a rather large sporting event took place in America recently. It involved some sort of Superb Owl and a load of dudes in helmets. I am not a big fan of American "Football" (seriously, why is it even called football?) but I digress. During the (many) ad breaks that take place throughout the Super Bowl, there are often trailers for upcoming films or special adverts made specially for this ad break. Because of the HUGE audience, these are some of the most sought after (read: expensive) advertising slots in television, and as such people put a lot of effort into them.

The recent Super Bowl included a new trailer for Captain America: Civil War which showed a few extra glimpses of the film. This included a look at Ant-Man, who had not yet been featured in any of the trailers, but many fans were left scratching their heads because of one hero being excluded from the trailer - our friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man! If you've read any of my previous posts, you'll probably know that I am a huge fan of Spidey, so you might think that this would mean I was disappointed... but you would be wrong! It's actually a good thing that we haven't seen him yet, and here's why.

Building the Hype

Of course, there is the obvious reason behind Spidey's omission, building the anticipation of the character. Everybody knows that he IS in the film but we don't know how big a role he plays. In the original comic book, Spider-Man plays a vital role, but due to the issues with the rights to the character, it would be impossible for him to play the same role in the movie. We don't know if he will play a crucial role in the film or if it will just be a glorified cameo, but either way we all hope that Spider-Man's introduction into the MCU will be amazing! (Pardon the pun!)

You might remember that with Avengers: Age of Ultron, Marvel took a similar approach to The Vision. We did not see the character in full until very close to the release date, and even then he was only glimpsed briefly. Marvel kept their cards very close to their chest on this one and I think they could well be taking the same approach with Spider-Man.

Less is More!

Nowadays, I find that we are given far too much before a film comes out. We usually have two or three trailers at various stages of the production process, and then when the film is about to be released, we often find clips appearing online from the film. Personally, I don't like this. I like to go and see a film with an element of mystery, I don't want to have seen the whole film online before I see it at the cinema. I actively avoid watching clips on Facebook or Twitter as I want to experience the film knowing as little as possible.

If Marvel were to reveal Spider-Man now, it would almost feel as if they had revealed too much. As I said, The Vision was not properly revealed in the trailers and I feel they should do the same with Spidey. In my very first article I offered a suggestion that it would be fantastic (though impossible) if they could have kept Spider-Man a total secret, nobody would know what the costume looked like or who they had cast to play him. It would have been a truly brilliant piece of cinema if Spider-Man was to remove his mask in public for the first time (as in the comics) and reveal to both the characters and the audience just who he was. We do know the man behind the mask is Tom Holland, but we do not yet know what the mask will look like...

Is His Design Finalised?

We don't actually know if his design is finished, aside from a few (potential) concept drawings that have been placed online, we have seen nothing of the costume. All we have had really is a cryptic quote from Kevin Feige:

"I was more involved in the Raimi ones, and think they did a very good job. But that being said, we’ve already designed the costume, which is different than any of the ones that have come before. And yet ours is classic Spidey, as I think you’ll see."

Different from any of the ones that have come before, but still classic Spidey? Sounds intriguing. This was followed up with reports that the costume would require visual effects so there is the question of if the design was even complete. This only adds to the anticipation.

Ultimately, It Is a Captain America Film

Should we be surprised that Spider-Man has not been featured yet? Probably not. At the end of the day, the film is called Captain America: Civil War, not Spider-Man: Civil War or The MCU Presents... Spider-Man! Really we should just look at the film once it is finished and judge it on that. Besides, the MCU has always had a few secrets, who would have imagined Nick Fury popping up in Iron Man right at the birth of the universe? One thing I would certainly say is that we have the right team working on it. The Russo brothers did a wonderful job with Captain America: The Winter Soldier - it was arguably the best film of Phase Two (it's a toss up between that and Guardians). With these people in charge and with Marvel finally having a say in their flagship hero's cinematic fate one thing is assured - Captain America: Civil War will be a hit!