Let’s Try to Figure Out What to Make of Marvel’s First Inhumans Trailer

The first trailer for Marvel’s Inhumans TV series is finally here, and it leaves us about as unsure how to feel about it as all the other promotional materials up to this point. The trailer itself doesn’t really help this in a variety of ways, not the least of which is barely showcasing any compelling action, seemingly on purpose.

The whole thing plays largely as a tease of Black Bolt’s abilities, specifically that his voice can generate incredible destructive power. The rest of it is mostly his brother, Maximus, handing out exposition while Medusa does … pretty much nothing for some reason. Whether due to unfinished CGI sequences or not, her hair—which is her weapon—goes unused for the whole trailer, as does her voice for the most part, despite the fact that she doesn’t have a Black Bolt-esque reason not to speak.

The highlight of the entire thing is Lockjaw, the dog. Sure, dogs are generally a highlight of anything and everything in which they appear, but they don’t have to provide the only enjoyable thing about a piece of media. Lockjaw’s the only one who gets to show any personality throughout the whole trailer, even down to the drab clothing on display. That’s not necessarily the case in the full series, but this trailer is severely lacking in any character to make up for holding back the action.

Black Bolt is necessarily stoic because of his powers, but we have to hope that doesn’t set the tone of the entire show as it seems to in this trailer. This all seems to be taken from the first episode, so there’s still a possibility that we’ll get more interesting characterization down the line, but showing that might be useful for marketing purposes. Inhumans will debut in IMAX theaters on September 1 and then head to ABC for its regular schedule on September 29.

(image: Marvel Entertainment)

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