What's so civil about war anyway? Watch the second trailer for 'Captain America: Civil War' and find out

First things first – the second trailer for Captain America: Civil War is amazing. Yes, there is a glut of stories about super-powered individuals on the big and small screen, and each of them has a viral trailer that shows up at regular intervals. And yes this isn’t the first or only ‘mega battle of the superheroes’ story this year, after all there is Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice and even Punisher vs Daredevil coming up on Netflix. But what sets the trailer of Captain America: Civil War apart is the scale/magnitude; of both the war and the superheroes involved. It may be a Captain America film, but it involves every, okay most, major heroes introduced over the last eight years, in a (clichéd as it sounds) never-seen-before avatar — as opponents. (Sorry again Thor and Bruce, but there are the Infinity Wars) The trailer opens with an organisation, presumably the new SHIELD, questioning the actions of superheroes, which leads into a disagreement on superpowers between Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) and Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) and features their friends getting into a dangerous scuffle and ends with full-blown superhero-on-superhero action. [caption id=“attachment_2668778” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Yes, it’s coming soon. Screen grab from YouTube[/caption] This trailer, the second one focuses more on the dynamic within the Avengers — the heroes we already know — rather than on Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which is a change because the first trailer was largely about the Bucky Barnes-Steve-Tony plotline , which, while central to the film, might be just one aspect of the eponymous war. In the comics, the Superhero Registration Act was the catalyst for the war — a plotline similar to what we see in the opening scenes. It has all the elements you expect from a much-hyped, multi-starrer, big-budget superhero film trailer – it virtually gives 80 percent of the plot away (no biggie, as it seems to be largely based on the Civil War arc from the original comics), it includes gratuitous, artfully filmed shots of violence and destruction, our haunted-looking heroes trying to rise above it all, with poignant lines, quips and long stares, and armed with gorgeous CGI powers. But it also has several unexpected things — first and foremost, it finally features Spiderman! Yes, nearly nine months after Tom Holland was introduced as the new Spiderman, we get our first look at him, in the full, traditional, nostalgia-inducing costume. Oh, and they have saved the best for the last as Spidey, who appears to be a part of Team Wait, that last shot featuring our friendly, neighbourhood Spiderman is best watched, not read about. Secondly, it has the usually high-and-mighty heroes shown in grey. Keep aside Deadpool and Suicide Squad, but how often do superhero films show their protagonists as morally ambiguous characters or fighting within themselves? Since the Marvel Cinematic Universe made superheroes cool again with Iron Man in 2008, both the standalone and ensemble films have showed the valiant and kind side of ‘Earth’s mightiest heroes’ (and Guardians), who have come together to fight a common enemy in the even in the most tense of circumstances. But here we have the squeaky clean Captain America slugging it out with Iron Man both verbally and physically. We see the tight-knit Avengers from the first break up into factions who actually, battle each other. We see one member of the team actually, grievously injured due to the action of another. We see new superheroes and their cool new stripes (again, props to the costume department for Black Panther’s gear). Cap even says that sometimes you cannot save everybody in this job, a big statement to make, should we take that as some sort of prophecy? Lastly, it is the star cast, all of which finally makes an appearance in very visually pleasing frames that whets our appetite for the film. Apart from the usual suspects seen in the Avengers series, Scarlett Johanssen as Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow, Sebastian Stan James ‘Bucky’ Barnes aka The Winter Soldier Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff aka Scarlet Witch, Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton aka Hawkeye, Don Cheadle as James Rhodes aka War Machine, Paul Betanny as Vision, Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson aka Falcon, there is Chadwick Boseman as T’challa aka Black Panther, Paul Rudd as Scott Lang aka Ant Man, Tom Holland as Peter Parker aka Spiderman. Captain America: Civil War will hit theatres on 6 May. It is directed by Captain America: The Winter Soldier filmmakers Joe and Anthony Russo. Watch the full, exciting trailer here: