'Captain America: Civil War' trailer: Signs of another Marvel blockbuster?

A new trailer for 'Civil' shows a very familiar face. Can the upcoming Marvel film become as big a blockbuster as the studio's 'Avengers' movies?

A new trailer for the upcoming Marvel movie “Captain America: Civil War” has been released and got fans talking because of a cameo at the end of the clip. 

It had long been reported that Spider-Man, who has already been at the center of five of his own films, would appear in “Civil War.” Comic book fans know that the web-slinger played a role in the “Civil War” storyline when it appeared in print. 

And now the new trailer, which shows various superheroes allying either with Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) or Captain America (Chris Evans), ends with Cap finding his shield yanked away and his hands tied up by a spider’s web. 

“Hey, everyone,” Spider-Man (newbie Tom Holland) says. 

The plot of “Civil War” centers on a government act that requires superheroes to register themselves. Iron Man is for it, while Captain America is opposed. 

The film is one of two being released by Marvel this year, with a movie centering on a new superhero, “Doctor Strange,” coming out this November. 

It will be interesting to see how “Civil War” performs at the box office. Marvel is hugely successful financially. Of the films released by Marvel Studios (rather than just involving Marvel characters), the two highest-grossing movies are 2012’s “The Avengers” and that movie’s sequel, last year’s “Avengers: Age of Ultron.” 

While the upcoming movie brands itself as part of the “Captain America” film series (the previous movies were “Captain America: The First Avenger” and “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”), it more closely resembles the “Avengers” films, what with the movie seeming to involve almost every Marvel character we’ve seen so far, judging from the trailers. Even Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man, introduced in this past summer’s film of the same name, makes an appearance. 

“It’s the very fact that so many heroes band together – and clash against one another – that gives this is movie its charm,” Forbes writer Erik Kain wrote of the original “Avengers” movie. (And it certainly looks like there will be a lot of clashing in “Civil War.”)  “… [It’s] a smart, subtle, and funny critique of the bad things that good people, and ostensibly good governments, are willing to do in the name of security." 

“Civil War” looks like it will take this thinking even further. 

Marvel has also pretty well staked out early May as the time for a new Marvel release. Both “Avengers” movies opened in early May, as did the third-highest-grossing Marvel movie ever, “Iron Man 3.” Now “Civil War” will open in that spot and USA Today writer Brian Truitt predicts the time will be lucrative again for Marvel. “Marvel has ruled that first weekend in May,” Truitt wrote.