Face front, true believers! The latest trailer for Captain America: Civil War has arrived, and it’s full of juicy snippets about the upcoming movie. From the looks of the trailer, the third Captain America movie is drawing more inspiration directly from a story arc in the comics than has been seen before in an MCU movie.
The big talking point of the trailer is the reveal of Spider-Man, and while viewers are only given a tiny glimpse of newcomer Tom Holland’s brand new webhead, it’s possible to surmise more than a few plot points which are taken directly from the 2006 Civil War comic book event.
Spider-Man is one of the key characters of the Civil War comics, providing an insight into the human cost of the fight between superheroes. If Spider-Man’s allegiance in the trailer is to be taken seriously, it could be a sign that a lot of these elements from the comics will be reflected in the movie. Here are 10 Spider-Man Scenes From Civil War Which Could Appear In The Movie.
Of course, if you haven’t read the Civil War event comic, there could be spoilers contained within.
10. Spider-Man and Cap Go Toe-to-Toe
The few seconds of Spider-Man that we’ve seen from the trailer show Spidey sneakily stealing Captain America’s shield with a well-timed web-shot and a backflip. This is a scene straight from the comics, where, in a street fight, Spider-Man removes Cap’s weapon to give him a better chance in a bout of fisticuffs.
In many ways, Cap and Spider-Man are fairly well-balanced in a fight, both having super-strength and agility, so a fight that mirrors the comic book tussle would work well on the big screen. One of the standout fights in Winter Soldier involved Cap facing off, shield-free, against the martial artist Bartok – a similar fight against Spider-Man would work well with the Russo brothers’ brutal, fast-paced action style.
9. Spidey Returns Cap’s Stolen Shield
No matter what happens after the scene from the trailer where Spider-Man steals Cap’s shield, it has to be returned to him later in the movie – the first trailer for the movie has shown Cap and Bucky taking Iron Man down a peg while sharing the giant vibranium Frisbee.
In the comics, out of respect for a hero he looks up to, Spider-Man makes sure that, after his fight with Captain America, he leaves the shield somewhere Cap can get his hands on it – a symbol that while they’re on different sides of the war, the fighting isn’t personal. This would be a nice scene to see mirrored in the movie, as it would show that while there are two sides to Civil War, each character’s stance is nuanced and complex.
8. Peter Parker Banters with Tony Stark
At the start of the Civil War comics, Peter Parker is working as Tony Stark’s assistant – the pair have a friendly relationship, trading jibes and insults while working together both at Stark Industries and as Avengers. Over the course of the comic series, this relationship is strained to breaking as Peter’s political stance drifts away from Tony’s, and the two stop seeing eye-to-eye.
It’s clear from Tony’s call to Spider-Man in the Civil War movie trailer (calling him “Underoos” to jibe at his spandex costume) that there’s going to be a bit of back-and-forth between the two characters. For Spider-Man to be siding with Tony – at least at the start of the movie – suggests that they might share a similar relationship to the comics, with Tony mentoring Peter both as a superhero and a scientist.
7. Iron Man Uses Peter’s Spider Sense
Probably Spider-Man’s greatest power – and certainly the one that’s most useful on a battlefield – is his spider sense, an instinctual advanced warning that lets Spidey know when something’s about to go wrong so that he can act quickly to avoid it. In the Civil War comics, Iron Man makes use of this power, putting Spider-Man on point for various missions, notably the transport of prisoners when it’s expected that Cap’s team will stage a rescue.
The newest Civil War trailer shows Bucky in a restraint chair at least once, hinting that Cap’s best friend will end up being captured at one point in the movie. It’s possible that at this point and at others throughout the movie, that Tony Stark will make use of Peter’s spider sense to make sure Cap can’t sneak up on their operations – thereby adding an additional layer of difficulty and tension to any rescue attempts Team Cap might try to make.
6. Spider-Man Unmasks
Perhaps the single most powerful moment in the entirety of the Civil War comics comes when Peter Parker chooses to unmask himself to the world press as Spider-Man. This creates phenomenal difficulties for Peter and his family, and ultimately leads to a botched assassination attempt that gets Aunt May shot.
Considering that Marvel and Sony are intending to build a new Spider-Man movie series set in the MCU, it’s highly unlikely that Peter will publicly unmask during the Civil War movie – nor would the scene have any kind of impact, as Spider-Man is a brand new player. But there’s a good chance that Spidey will unmask to somebody at some point in the movie – likely Captain America’s team – before giving his backstory.
Thus far, every Spider-Man movie has found an excuse for Peter to remove his mask during key scenes of high drama. While the character’s MCU costume, with its focusing lenses in the mask, is clearly an attempt to give the character more expression while wearing his mask, there will likely still be at least one scene where Spider-Man ditches the mask for a minute to express some emotion.
5. Peter Parker is Unhappy With Tony Stark’s Superprison
Over the course of the Civil War comics, Peter grows dissatisfied with Tony Stark’s plans to arrest costumed heroes – one of the big points of contention between the two characters is a massive isolated superprison built by Tony to detain superheroes indefinitely without trial. This, among other things, is what causes Peter to ultimately leave Iron Man’s team and join with Captain America instead, fighting against his former boss in the final fight of the comic series.
The latest trailer for the Civil War movie shows a superprison that’s clearly inspired by the comic book – except instead of being situated in the Fantastic Four’s Negative Zone alternate dimension, it’s buried under the sea. In the comics, Tony’s argument for building the prison away from American soil is that prisoners are stripped of their rights while incarcerated – if this same logic applies in the comics, this might well be the issue that sees Peter Parker (and the audience) siding with Cap for the movie finale.
4. Iron Man Fights Spider-Man
In a movie full of teamups, in-fighting, and attempts answer the classic comic book question of ‘who would win in a fight’, it won’t be at all surprising to see multiple heroes facing off against each other in different pairings. Such a scene occurs in the comic book, as in addition to fighting Captain America one-on-one, Spider-Man later has to deal with Iron Man, who’s enraged with Peter decides to make a run for it. It’s a pivotal scene in the comic, full of emotion as the relationship between two allies breaks down entirely.
Of course, Civil War is going to be a busy movie, full of superhero fights but mostly focusing on Captain America – there may not be time for a fight between Iron Man and Spidey. That said, if the movie does show Peter Parker switching sides, there may be enough time for a quick trading of blows with Iron Man before the webhead swings away to join with Cap.
3. Spider-Man Hacks Tony’s Tech
In the comic, when Spider-Man and Iron Man fight, Spidey’s wearing a costume designed for him by Tony – one which Tony attempts to lock down in order to stop Spider-Man’s escape. It’s revealed, though, that Peter has already played around with the suit enough to hack his way into it and install a few safety measures to keep him from getting caught out by Tony’s overrides.
It’s rumored that Spidey will get a suit made by Iron Man in the movie, as well as having one of his own making. If this is the case, Spidey’s costume choices may play out very similarly to the comics. Beyond this, though, there’s a good opportunity to use Peter’s inside information of Tony’s operation to perform different hacks.
In the comic book, various heroes (including the Punisher and the shapeshifting Hulkling) sneak into pro-registration heroes’ bases to get hold of key information that helps Captain America’s team. It might be possible that Spider-Man will provide this information himself as he crosses over to the other side, bringing a bunch of secret files with him.
2. Captain America Gives Spidey a Speech on Patriotism
Spider-Man’s change of sides in the Civil War comics doesn’t come without some opposition, and Cap’s team are hardly willing to trust Spidey the moment he crosses over. Steve Rogers, though, is willing to trust Peter, and at one point gives him an impassioned speech about what it means to be a true patriot. In the speech, Cap states that a true American patriot doesn’t change their stance just because it’s unpopular, but participates fully in the democratic process to make their voice heard. Heroes have a responsibility to make their voice heard.
It’s a powerful moment, and one that totally convinces Spider-Man of Cap’s ideals. With so many cinematic versions of Spider-Man relying on the “with great power” speech from Peter’s Uncle Ben, having Cap deliver an alternative would be a great way to set up Spider-Man’s motivation as a hero without rehashing ideas that everybody’s seen before on the big screen.
1. Spider-Man gets Beaten Up by a Supervillain
One important point from the Civil War comics that probably won’t be included in the movie is Tony Stark’s use of key Spider-Man villains as a team of law enforcers. Norman Osborn, aka the Green Goblin, is made the head of the Thunderbolt initiative and tasked with using villains to round up any superheroes that don’t register with the government. At one point a team of villains corners Spider-Man, beating him so thoroughly that he is only rescued from death when The Punisher appears on the scene.
Sadly, Norman Osborn probably won’t be making an appearance in the Civil War movie – that said, there are plenty of other nasty characters in the movie, including Crossbones, who could probably fill the role of the Green Goblin in the comics by working under Tony Stark and taking the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man out for the final act of the movie.
If too many heroes team up with Captain America in the movie’s finale, the fight will end up being hugely imbalanced, so it makes sense to give Peter Parker a reason to sit out the final showdown. Having Spidey incapacitated would set up the danger of Crossbones, as well as giving the villain something to do in a movie that has a lot of characters vying for screen time.
Excelsior!
It’s important to note that at this point, Spider-Man’s role in the upcoming movie is unknown, and any possible plot points the webhead might be involved with are subject to speculation. At this point, all that’s known is that a young Spider-Man will be on Tony Stark’s team at one point in the movie – at least long enough to get his hands on Captain America’s shield.
That said, the trailers suggest that Spider-Man’s story arc will closely mirror his role in the comics, without the dramatic public reveal of his secret identity. On the other hand, he’s only had a few seconds of screen time in all of the footage we’ve seen for the movie, so there’s a good chance that his role might not be all that large. But whatever happens with Spidey, it’s likely to be well planned, and to set the stage for the character’s eventual solo movie coming in a few years.
