Can we consider, for a moment, the concept of patience? Perhaps lend some thought to the idea that the only thing to be gained from ‘leaked’ trailers and images of highly anticipated movies is more frustration? These are the questions that spring to mind as we wrestle with the fact that an image has surfaced online that appears to be from Avengers: Infinity War – and it’s a picture of a bearded Captain America.
Now, here’s the thing. Cap dispensing with shaving is not a revelation, in and of itself. We’ve known about his hirsute appearance for several months, thanks to both footage seen by fans attending San Diego Comic Con, and also concept art already released into the public forum. It certainly is an interesting choice for the character though, and leads to understandable speculation about the emotional state he’ll be in when Avengers: Infinity War begins.
When last we left him, he was dealing with the heavy, life-changing ramifications of the events of Captain America: Civil War, so it’s not too much of a stretch to assume that Infinity War will involve Steve Rogers being in a much darker place, in psychological terms. And as we all know, giving facial hair to a hitherto clean-shaven hero is a traditional, cinematic method of visually communicating such character development.
Unfortunately, there are no other details in the image here from which we might derive information about the scene it’s depicting. In fact, the most useful point to be gleaned from this picture is the fact that it appears to be a screenshot of moving footage – which means it’s either taken from the previously leaked SDCC footage, or from a post-production screening event. If the former is true, it has little value given the readily available concept art. If the latter is found to be the case, then Disney and Marvel clearly have some holes in their notoriously tight ship.
It certainly has been true, historically, that some film-related leaks have been traced back to the distributing studio – using it as a marketing method to build advance interest – but that’s unlikely in this case. With Thor: Ragnarok releasing within a matter of weeks, and Black Panther following in February, the chances of Disney seeking to purposefully divide the attention of audiences are slim at best.
Indeed, the directors of Avengers: Infinity War – Joe and Anthony Russo – have assured fans that the trailer will arrive when it’s ready, and not before, so again, it’s perhaps worthwhile to engage a little patience. With the giant team-up movie due to arrive on May 4th, 2018, there really isn’t much longer to wait.
