What Marvel's Eternals and Spider-Man Trailers Taught Me about Main Idea

For Marvel fans, the past few months have been an absolute gold mine of ground-breaking movies and TV shows (Loki, anyone?). AND THERE’S MORE TO COME. If you’re anything like my husband – and okay, fine, me too – you’re anxiously awaiting new trailers that give us a peek into the next phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

But in addition to giving us sneak previews of the multiversal chaos to come, all these trailers and releases can also teach us something surprising about...main idea. Yes, really.

As teachers, we’re always looking for ways to show you how the strategies you encounter in our tutoring sessions actually show up in real life, too. And as I’ve watched and rewatched trailers (plus approximately 100 hours of commentary on them), I’ve noticed something.

Many Marvel movie trailers use the topic + so what format.

It makes sense when you think about it. The point of these trailers is to tell you generally what the movie is about and why we care about it in terms of the broader Marvel Cinematic Universe. So absolutely, there will be zingy one-liners and some exploding arrows, but our favorite main idea formula of topic + so what is also very apparent.

Let’s examine some recent trailers and see what I mean.

The Eternals

First, give this trailer a watch.

Now, let’s find the topic and so what.

Even if you’ve never read the comics (I haven’t), you can tell that the movie is going to be about the Eternals, these laser-eyed superheroes who have been around since the dawn of human civilization. That’s our topic. And why do we care about them – in other words, what’s our so what? These eternals seem to want to protect humans, but there’s going to be a problem (TBD) and they won’t be able to.

If we put this into our topic + so what formula like we’re doing SSAT prep, we get the Eternals + want to protect humans but can’t.

Let’s try another.

Spider-Man: No Way Home

So what’s our topic and so what? Throughout this trailer, it becomes pretty clear that this upcoming movie is going to focus on Peter Parker’s wish to be anonymous after Mysterio revealed his identity in the previous movie. Marvel nerds care about this one for a big reason: it messes with space-time and the multiverse. (And, as we’ve also seen hinted all over Wandavision, Loki, andWhat If, that’s probably going to tie into the upcoming Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness.

In our topic + so what formula, this would look like Peter Parker’s privacy + problems for the space-time continuum.

Now obviously, my predictions could be wrong. If you’re reading this after the movies and shows release, tell me if I was way, way off.

But I have a hunch that these movies and shows are going to stay pretty true to the main ideas revealed in their trailers.

As you watch other movie trailers, pay attention. Can you figure out the topic + so what? It’s great practice for the SSAT reading section – plus, it will make your friends happy when you can summarize the latest trailer on Youtube with one single sentence.

Now, it’s unfortunate, we know, that the SSAT is likely not going to use Marvel content to check your knowledge of main idea. If you’d like some practice with actual test passages, check out our free SSAT test prep series on Youtube. Our Main Idea video is a great place to start.