What we learnt from Marvel's Disney+ Superbowl trailer

Charlotte Whyatt • 04 Feb 2020 Features

Get ready for the return of an old villain and a brilliantly bizarre journey through classic US sitcoms. 

Despite only being 30 seconds long, there's a lot to unpick in Disney+'s new trailer for its three exclusive Marvel series which was aired during Sunday night's Superbowl.

Here's the five most important things we learnt:  

1) Captain Zemo is back

After trying and spectacularly failing to turn The Avengers against each other in 2016’s Civil War, Daniel Bruhl’s evil Captain Zemo will return to face off against Falcon/new Captain America (Anthony Mackie) and Bucky (Sebastian Stan).

It’s not yet clear what his goal is, but it’s safe to assume that neither will be particularly happy to see him especially after he tried to frame the super solider for the bombing which killed Black Panther’s dad King T’Chaka (John Kani). 

2) U.S Agent will feature 

A shot of a packed American football stadium complete with cheerleaders and fireworks gives fans the first glimpse of a new character U.S Agent (Wyatt Russell), who’s dressed in what really looks like Captain America’s old uniform.

Again, exactly what role the character will play is unclear but the celebratory element of the shot hints that he could be the government sanctioned choice for Captain America’s replacement. If the show adopts the comics original right-wing extremist version, it’s possible he too could serve as a villain for Sam and Bucky. 

3) WandaVision will riff on classic US sitcoms

The clips of Marvel’s weirdest Disney+ show seemingly confirms the idea that it’ll be set in the different worlds of classic US sitcoms. Both Wanda/Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and Vision (Paul Bettany) are shown in different styles of dress and against backdrops which resemble those of shows like I Love Lucy and The Brady Bunch.

The surreal setting is presumably a result of Wanda using her powers to create some kind of perfect dream world where Vision, who died in Infinity War, is still alive. Their happiness has a brilliantly unsettling edge to it which implies everything’s set to come crumbling down. 

4) Scarlet Witch and Vision will have superpowered children

A blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment shows a 1980s-styled Wanda and Vision stood in front of two cots, suggesting that the show will introduce their superpowered twins from the comics who are willed into existence by her reality warping powers. 

The inevitable realisation that they aren’t real is sure to have serious consequences for the MCU (especially as it’s already confirmed she’ll appear in next year’s horror-centric Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness) and could spell something really dark for a character that’s already quite mentally unstable.

5) Loki is being held by the TVA

As its only just started filming, Loki is the series that’s given the least amount of coverage in the trailer with just one shot of Tom Hiddleston’s fan-favourite Asgardian sat in a dark room smirking as he declares “I’m going to burn this place to the ground.”

Eagle-eyed fans have spotted that the shirt he’s wearing displays the initials T.V.A or Time Variance Authority, an organization who police the mystical multiverse working to prevent the creation of dangerous timelines and too much time travel. Given this is exactly how Loki escaped his fate in Endgame, it’s almost certain they’ll come into some kind of conflict.