Somehow the NFL seasons survived a global pandemic, completed a full sixteen game season including the playoffs to deliver us… a subpar Super Bowl. I guess that’s cool? Sure, this was a great game if you were a fan of the Tampa Bay Bucs or a New England Patriot fan who was now on the outside looking in as Tom Brady won his seventh Super Bowl ring. I can almost hear R.E.M.’s “Everybody Hurts” playing in the New England area from here. Otherwise, this game was just a bunch of hot air being deflated from a successful pandemic filled NFL season. 

For those of us who tuned in to the game for the commercials and trailers, I’d say last night was a bit of a mixed bag. The uncertainty of when movie theaters can open and the limited vaccines resulted to allow us to safely attend movies limited the number of movie trailers we saw. Come to think of it, I can only think of three (Old, Coming 2 America, and Fast 9) which can be disappointing for those who don’t watch the big game for the, uh, big game. As for commercials, if you weren’t Jason Alexander or Oatley, did you even have one? 

I was one of those who went into the Super Bowl not only excited for the game before it turned into a massive beat down that made me feel better about the New York Football Giants’s offensive line, because it meant new Marvel content. There were rumors circulating that Marvel had four trailers lined up for the big day and I was scribbling lists all weekend long of the possibilities. “It has to be Falcon and Winter Solider because that’s out in March. But also Loki… oh, and Black Widow! Maybe Disney will put out a new trailer announcing it’ll be coming to Disney+! But what will the fourth trailer be? Ooooh, how about Shang-Chi…maybe Eternals?! This is going to be better than the game!”

Turns out that was only half true. Marvel only released one trailer last night but it was better than the game. Hands down. It wasn’t even close.

After our first real look at The Falcon and The Winter Soldier series at the Disney Share Holders Meeting, this new trailer brought with it a release date (March 19^th) and a much deeper, yet still vague, look at what’s to be expected in the follow up to Wandavision. We know that the Zemo is returning to villain up the MCU but the trailer only alluded to his arrival and his new badass purple mask. Other than that, we still don’t know exactly what this show is about although it’s clear that Sam is going to have to fight to assume the mantle Steve Rogers bestowed upon him. And that fight looks like it’s going to be awesome! Looking at the way this show is filmed you can already tell that when the series is completed, it’ll just feel like one epic MCU movie. And I’m very much here for that. Say what you will about Disney but much like Jurassic Park, they spare no expense! 

The clear star of this trailer though was the chemistry between Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan, the odd couple of the MCU. I can live without knowing what exactly this show is about because the chemistry between Mackie and Stan is so freakin’ good. You’re going to give me six episodes that build on the “can you move your seat” and “I hate you” moments of Civil War?! All the yes, please. There could be one full episode dedicated to the staring contest and I’d be happy. For real. I’d be cool with it. 

While Wandavision seems to be catapulting Phase Four of the MCU into the multiverse (!!!) it looks like The Falcon and The Winter Soldier are going to touch base on those familiar MCU tones in a post-Endgame world. The mantle of Captain America is too important to fall into just anyone’s hands, and I can’t wait to watch Sam Wilson and Bucky fight to protect it.

What did you think of the trailer Geeklings? Are you excited about The Falcon and The Winter Solider? Were you disappointed there weren’t any other Marvel trailers? What did you think of the Super Bowl as a whole? Sound off in the comments or throw me a line over on Twitter @iamgeek32 for further discussion. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a trailer to rewatch and a staring contest to implement with my cat.