The first full-length trailer for Captain America: Civil War was released on Jimmy Kimmel Live last night courtesy of Cap and Tony themselves, Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr.
And there’s a LOT to be excited about, without a doubt—the reappearance of several of our favorite Avengers like Natasha Romanoff and Sam Wilson, as well as hints of gloriousness to come from new additions such as Black Panther (who gave us the face-kicking gif of our dreams, among other things).
But there was one brief snippet from the trailer that sort of gave me pause—an exchange between Steve and Tony that is already sending fans into speculation overdrive. It looks like Cap is set to spend most of the movie coming to the defense of long-time buddy and teammate Bucky Barnes, and there’s a moment where he tells Stark that he “wouldn’t do this if [he] had any other choice, but [Bucky’s his] friend.”
Tony Stark’s response? “So was I.”
It’s a curious answer, especially given the road these two characters have taken to get to where they are now—and when it comes to Cap and Tony, there really hasn’t been any love lost between them. Sure, I could easily refer to them as teammates or brothers-in-arms, but… friends? That might be a little bit of a stretch. So I’m confused by Tony’s wording, and I have to wonder just how different his understanding of the concept of friendship is. It’s certainly different from Steve Rogers’.
I’m not the only person who’s scratching their head over Tony Stark’s unique definition of friendship; Gavia Baker-Whitelaw over at The Daily Dot cites a perfectly legit reason why Tony’s view might be so skewed: “He’s so unfamiliar with functional human relationships that Steve’s ‘betrayal’ in Civil War may partly take place inside Tony’s head.” Granted, it’s not entirely without cause: “He’s a socially isolated genius with serious PTSD and father issues and has only had three friends for most of his adult life: Rhodey, Pepper Potts, and JARVIS, who died (more or less) in Age of Ultron.”
This certainly doesn’t diminish the real source of the conflict in Civil War, or change the fact that it’s going to be a super engrossing story. The contention between Cap and Tony has been building up for some time; it only makes sense that things would come to a inevitable boil sooner or later. I also don’t want to speculate too much in the wake of just a trailer, but I am curious to see exactly how things will play out—and whether or not Tony Stark will realize that he may have to reevaluate his definition of friendship.
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