Captain America: Civil War's first trailer is here and it's dividing the fans

Avengers...disassemble? That certainly seems to be the overall premise of the new Captain America instalment.

The new trailer, which was introduced on Jimmy Kimmel Live by the actors playing superhero frenemies, Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) and Captain America (Chris Evans), will feature some classic good-guy-versus-good-guy battles.

Before we get into the trailer, here's my issue with the Marvel Cinematic Universe (and the DC Extended Universe): setting release dates for sequels and team-ups like The Avengers way into 2019 lowers the stakes for the superheroes we are rooting for in every film.

In other words, how do we fear for the lives of these characters when we know there will be a sequel in two years?

That said, the new trailer seems to skew closer to a gritty thriller than Marvel's usual peppiness. Revolving around the chase for Bucky aka the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), the film sees Captain America and Iron Man act on their ideological differences when ol' Cap decides to help his friend hide from the law, leaving the other heroes like Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) in the lurch.

Online reactions ran the gamut, where fans and critics seem to be either really looking forward to this particular instalment of Avengers, particularly due to the introduction of a few new heroes and team-members like Ant-Man (Paul Rudd), or being disappointed with this new direction.

What's particularly interesting about the new trailer is that directors Joe and Anthony Russo (of the excellent Captain America: The Winter Soldier fame) have pointedly included actor Chadwick Boseman's Black Panther in the promotion, amidst constant criticism of the heroes being predominantly played by white actors. Meanwhile, the forever-being-rebooted Spider-Man (Tom Holland) is nowhere to be found.

With promising action sequences that seem to be in service of dramatic character beats, I for one am really looking forward to Captain America: Civil War.

May 5, 2016 can't arrive soon enough.

prabukm@sph.com.sg