8 takeaways from the Avengers: Infinity War trailer – Spidey’s new suit, Thanos gets bling, sad Tony Stark

We’re officially in the holiday season now, so the time is right for Marvel to give fans the gift they’ve been eagerly awaiting. What better way to top off what’s been an outstanding year for superhero movies than the first trailer for Avengers: Infinity War?

The first look at the latest Marvel blockbuster debuted Wednesday morning on Good Morning America (corporate synergy, assemble!) and made its way online shortly thereafter. As you would rightfully expect, the trailer is packed full of superheroes and the villain that’s been lurking in the background since the beginning of this saga, a blockbuster culmination of Marvel’s 17 previous films.

Though this was a full two-and-a-half-minute trailer, it really felt like more of a teaser. There was so much to show, so many characters to include and so many storylines at which to hint, that the preview couldn’t go into much depth. We’ll have at least two more trailers, promo clips that will play on talk shows, and plenty of spots that will play on TV and online between now and Avengers: Infinity War‘s May 4 release date.

For now, we just get a taste. A tantalizing one, to be sure. But like a good trailer should, this presents far more questions for fans than answers. Here are some takeaways (and screen caps!) from that blockbuster trailer. And there are several spoilers from recent Marvel films, so if you aren’t caught up with Captain America: Civil War and Thor: Ragnarok, you might want to check back on this later:

Black Panther wins the trailer

OK, I realize this is entirely open to argument and plenty will disagree. But King T’Challa of Wakanda (Chadwick Boseman) had the best line of the Avengers: Infinity War preview with his beautiful African accent that sounds surprisingly fierce when the Black Panther means business. Get Captain America his shield, indeed!

Do we know if Cap gets his shield? By the end of the trailer, it’s not clear (nor do we know where he’s been) and he could certainly use his signature weapon against whatever it is that the Avengers are facing, presumably in the Panther’s native land of Wakanda. (Notice the presence of Bucky/The Winter Soldier, who was frozen in Wakanda at the end of Civil War.)

Vision is almost human

Perhaps the most interesting reveal of the trailer is a nearly human Vision (Paul Bettany), whose relationship with Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olson) has obviously progressed. In the comic books, these characters eventually got married, maybe too strange a storyline for the movies to get into. But Avengers: Age of Ultron and Civil War made allusions to that story development and it’s obviously pushing ahead in Infinity War.

Bettany has to be relieved that he doesn’t have to put on all that Vision make-up and prosthetics for at least a few scenes in the film. But as we see later on in an encounter with Thanos (first seen in a post-credits for the first Avengers movie and again in Guardians of the Galaxy), it might not go too well for the Avengers’ resident android — not when it comes to keeping his Infinity Stone, anyway. Thanos needs some bling for his golden gauntlet.

Thanos gets that Infinity bling

The Infinity Gauntlet don’t mean a thing if it doesn’t have Infinity Stone bling. In this scene, Thanos has two of the five Infinity Stones, three of which we’ve seen in the previous Marvel films. Going by the purple and blue colors, he has the Orb from Guardians of the Galaxy and the Tesseract. And we know he gets another from Vision’s forehead.

But there’s no sign of the red stone seen in Thor: The Dark World, nor whatever — and wherever — the fifth stone is. Maybe it’s somewhere in Wakanda, which would explain the clash between some Avengers and a horde of invaders that we see later in the trailer.

It’s an alien invasion!

Speaking of those invaders, what has four arms and a jaw full of sharp teeth and is fighting the Black Panther? What the hell are the Avengers and a whole lot of Wakandans fighting in on that African plain? Those creatures look much more fearsome than the Chitauri which made up Loki’s invading army in The Avengers.

Whatever is going on, all those good guys and bad guys running at each other gives us the signature money shot featured at the top of this post. Damn, the Marvel films are good at getting all their heroes in one sequence. But they’ve had some practice at it with the Avengers films and Civil War.

Spider-Man took that new suit, after all

Peter Parker may have politely declined Tony Stark’s invitation to join the Avengers at the end of Spider-Man: Homecoming, but something apparently happened to make him change his mind. (Maybe Aunt May kicked Peter out of their apartment after finding out that he’s Spider-Man.)

First, we get a look at what is probably Peter’s “Spider Sense,” his difficult-to-explain ability to sense danger that wasn’t depicted in Homecoming. His hair standing on end is a nice way of doing that. (Though how will they do it when Peter is in his Spider-Man outfit?) But then he’s in action with the upgraded suit that Stark made for him, which resembles the suit artist Alex Ross designed for this year’s new Amazing Spider-Man #1. There’s also a slight Iron Man feel to the suit, though the movies thankfully aren’t going in the “Iron Spider” direction that the comic books took when Stark took Parker under his wing.

But what the hell is that wheel in the sky that keeps on turnin’ that Spider-Man is trying to stop?

Loki has the Tesseract again

Oh, Loki. Dude just can’t stay out of trouble. But that probably should be expected from the Norse god of mischief. Loki (Tom Hiddleston), Thor and the rest of Asgard encountered a mucho grande spaceship in the mid-credits scene for Thor: Ragnarok. It was reasonable to presume that the ship belonged to Thanos and danger loomed.

As seen in The Avengers, Loki and Thanos do have a previous working relationship. Maybe Loki was sent back to Asgard to retrieve the Tesseract (which was taken there for safekeeping in the first Avengers film) after Surtur destroyed Thor’s home realm.

Hey, it’s the Guardians of the Galaxy!

Speaking of Thor, look who he bumps into — presumably after that encounter with Thanos not going so well for him. If you follow Marvel movie news and rumors, you might know that the Infinity War footage shown at Comic-Con showed Thor bumping into the windshield of Star-Lord’s ship.

Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see that in this trailer (some footage should be saved for the devotees who made it to San Diego and waited in line outside Hall H), but this is obviously the subsequent meeting between Thor and the Guardians. How will he and Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) get along? Is there enough testosterone in the Milano for both of them?

Who dies?

This is the biggest question surrounding Avengers: Infinity War. Earlier this week, a Vanity Fair feature on the Marvel Cinematic Universe made clear what fans and media have speculated for years: Eventually, Marvel will make some changes with its lineup of stars. Actors’ contracts will expire (Robert Downey Jr. can’t play Tony Stark forever, as much as we’d like him to), storylines will reach their natural end, new characters are being introduced and Marvel needs to freshen up its cinematic universe before it gets stale.

All of this has led to the presumption that at least one of Marvel’s popular characters will die in Infinity War. What better way to explain why someone isn’t appearing in these movies anymore than for him or her to be struck down in battle or sacrificed himself for a greater good? The second shot of the trailer shows a solemn Tony Stark holding someone who has apparently fallen. Losing his teammates (or letting them down) has been a fear of his going back to Age of Ultron, and it looks like Tony’s fatal vision has become reality here.

It’s a powerful shot that sets the tone of Infinity War. The stakes are high in what will be the Avengers’ greatest battle yet, and not everyone makes it out alive.

Avengers: Infinity War hits theaters on May 4.