Comic Vine News

109 Comments

Captain America Super Bowl Spot Breakdown & Analysis

What does the TV spot tell us about the movie and how it will compare to the comics?

By now you should have seen the long awaited Captain America: The First Avenger Super Bowl TV spot. At 31 seconds, it feels like it flies by. But those 31 seconds are filled with images we haven't seen before. Let's break down this clip to see what new information we can learn and get an idea of how faithful this movie appears to be compared to the Captain America's comic book origin. 

No Caption Provided

No Caption Provided
From the first scene we can see that Steve Rogers has a slightly different background. In the comics, he wasn't allowed to serve his country due to his unfit condition. The TV spot tells us that Steve managed to enlist and get his own uniform. In a later scene we also see him struggling through some training while the others around him are going through the obstacle course with ease. 
 == TEASER ==
No Caption Provided

No Caption Provided
You get an idea of Steve Rogers physique in the opening scene but seeing him in a t-shirt and right before his transformation, we see the government should have prevented him from actually joining the Army. Again, this shows us the difference when he is being prepared for the change. In the comics he was a simple volunteer. The first time we saw him in the comic was right before the change.  
 

No Caption Provided

No Caption Provided
The lab is looking pretty shiny here. In the comics, Project Rebirth involved Steve getting inoculated with the Super Soldier Serum. The movie version has Steve put in a high tech-looking pod.  
 
The pod encloses him and rather than a serum, it looks more as if he is possibly exposed to gas or some sort of electrical burst of energy. The process is a more dramatic and painful one that in the comic, which seemed to just mae Steve a little light-headed rather than showing him scream in agony. The process also didn't look to go completely smooth as there were electrical explosions around the lab. This could possibly lead to preventing the process from being repeated.  

No Caption Provided

No Caption Provided

No Caption Provided
Scrawny little Steve Rogers is no more. Enter the man with the giant pectorals. It's time for everyone in the room to cheer. The experiment is a success. When asked how he felt, his reply was, "Taller."  
 
We know in the comics that Abraham Erskine was the only one that knew the secret of Super Soldier Serum. He was then prevented from administering the formula to other soldiers. We have to assume that something similar happens in movie but we are not privy to that just yet. 
 
No Caption Provided
Throughout the clip, we jump around a little. The next scene shows Steve in his Captain America outfit holding the circular shield. In previous images, we've seen that at some point he has the original shield as well during the film. We'll also see this circular one in an earlier state towards the end of the clip. 
 
Also, take a look to Cap's left (our right), that guy in the derby hat with the fancy mustache has got to be Dum Dum Dugan. So where is Nick Fury
 
No Caption Provided
Captain America will be seeing some action. The scene above and this one shows him getting in the middle of things. Early reports suggested that the Army would be reluctant to allow their one and only Super Soldier to get into the thick of things out of fear of losing him. You would think that if the Super Soldier Serum's secrets were lost, they would have him strapped down in a lab and be conducting every single test they could on his blood and body. The shield might suggest that this too takes place later on. 

No Caption Provided

No Caption Provided
Here's where things start looking a little fishy. With the movie taking place during WWII, they have to ensure that everything looks right for the time period. Captain America will be fighting the forces of HYDRA and he's going to need some help (yes, HYDRA appears to be a bigger threat rather than the Nazis). Check out the plane and weapons the soldiers are carrying. Those don't really look like their from the WWII-era. Then again, if you've seen the footage from San Diego Comic-Con, you know that a cosmic cube is involved. Will that be the explanation as to how HYDRA managed to get some pretty advanced-looking weapons? 

No Caption Provided
Captain America uses a gun. It makes sense. I know over the years, writers have tried to shy away from Captain America using a gun. He was a soldier. It was war. Why wouldn't he have a gun? Sure, he doesn't need one because as Captain America he can kick pretty much anyone's ass but it's a nice little touch to see him actually having one. I have a feeling that by the time the movie's over, he'll realize that he doesn't even need one to get the job done. 

No Caption Provided
Another shot with who I suspect is Dum Dum Dugan. Things are looking a little calm here. Right behind Cap's shoulders is Sebastian Stan playing Bucky. There's been talk that Bucky and Steve's relationship will be different than what we've seen in the comics. If these other soldiers are part of the Howling Commandos, again I have to ask, where is Nick Fury? Whether or not he has a big role in the movie is bound to be kept a secret.

No Caption Provided
24 seconds into the clip, we finally get to see the Red Skull as he removes his human-looking mask. In the scene right before this, it looked like Cap was fighting the Red Skull. It's hard to tell if this reveal occurs immediately after. It's also hard to tell how...realistic the Skull's head will look. From this little peak, it's looking pretty good. 

No Caption Provided

No Caption Provided
Towards the end, we get a little bit of humor that is mandatory in trailers and TV clips. We see Steve Rogers holding an early (and unpainted) version of the circular shield. What's interesting about this is looking at Steve, he appears to be his pre-Super Soldier Serum self. This makes me wonder about his original shield and there's also the other prototype version of the shield seen in Iron Man 2.

No Caption Provided
And that ends the TV spot. It might have been short but it did reveal a tiny bit. We've heard recently that Bucky will have a bigger role. That and any involvement with Nick Fury or Howard Stark is not clearly evident from this. We also don't see any mention of the Cosmic Cube as in the San Diego footage. I imagine it won't be too much longer until we get an official (and longer) movie trailer.  
 
What did you think about this 31-second spot? Was there anything in this analysis that I missed? Are you more or less excited than you were before? 
 

Update 

And here's a look at the TV spot if you haven't seen it yet (without the watermark).