If there are two common criticisms beyond all others leveled at modern movie trailers, it’s that they either run too long or give too much of the story away, in some cases both. However, The Marvels opting to do neither has inadvertently added weight to the speculation that it could be the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s shortest movie to date.
Coming in at a brisk 128 seconds but almost entirely devoid of new footage, the latest full-length promo outlines that Nia DaCosta’s sequel is a sequel in every sense of the word, having to follow up multiple MCU film and television projects all at once. Of course, nobody was expecting a ridiculous Fast X-style spot that ran for an eternity or Terminator Genisys spoiling all of its biggest twists, but it’s curious that there’s such a lack of fresh clips.
Of course, you can buy into one of several conspiracies, such is the way anything Brie Larson-adjacent tends to work on the darkest corners of the internet; it could be an attempt to cover up the DiSaStEr certain folks want and expect it to be, it could be a ploy to avoid marquee moments should it end up being delayed in the face of the strikes, or those 98-minute including credits rumors are true and there’s not much that can be revealed without running the risk of showing too many cards too early.
Then again, it could be none of the three and everyone’s reading into things too much, but that’s the effect the biggest – and increasingly most polarizing – franchise in the business has on its fandom.