The Trailer Detective: Is Materialists the Challengers of This Year?

My love for Challengers has not been shy on this blog. The tennis drama starring Zendaya, Josh O’Connor, and Mike Faist, all of whom are stuck in a decades-long love triangle, was tragically snubbed at the Oscars, and I’m pretty sure I talked about this in every Oscars post I wrote. That is why I am so excited to announce that we seem to have a new Challengers-esque movie this year, with another exciting cast and enthralling premise.

Starring Chris Evans, Pedro Pascal, and Dakota Johnson, Materialists follows Captain America, Reed Richards from Fantastic Four, and Madame Web as they team up to fight crime as evil villains materialize. Actually, I’m kidding. Materialists DOES star Chris Evans, Pedro Pascal, and Dakota Johnson, but the premise is not watching them team up across multiverses to fight intergalactic crime. Rather, Johnson stars as Lucy, a professional matchmaker who’s at a loss romantically in her own life. She may have gotten nine married couples together, but when it comes to finding her own two loves, she’s at a crossroads. Does she choose Chris Evans’ John, who plays her ex? Or does she choose Pedro Pascal’s Randy, whom she recently met?

While the trailer seems rather coy on details, it certainly establishes Johnson’s easy chemistry with both Evans and Pascal. There doesn’t seem to be too much interaction between Evans and Pascal, however, but if those two were to confront each other over the woman they love, will they battle it out on the court in a Challengers-style tennis match? After all, the director and writer of Materialists, Celine Song, is married to the writer of Challengers, Justin Kuritzkes.

Nonetheless, watching the Materialists trailer leaves me with a lot of questions:

First, the most important: Who will Dakota Johnson choose?
Why is the movie called Materialists? Is love the thing Dakota Johnson is trying to materialize for herself?
Also, if the song “material girl” plays in the trailer, that means there’s going to have to be some awesome fashion, right?
Who would win in a fight: Captain America or Mister Fantastic?
Maybe more importantly, which one of them would win a tennis match? Captain America is fairly strong, but apparently Mister Fantastic is…fantastically stretchy, which could help getting to the ball faster if it’s on the opposite end of the court.
If Pedro Pascal wins an award for this, do you think he’ll continue his “feud” with Kieran Culkin?
Why is Chris Evans throwing electronics in a blender full of what looks like a disgustingly green smoothie?

^{A24/via Giphy (Kate Jakubowski)}

Is it a kale smoothie? A spinach smoothie? A DIY Erewhon smoothie? I would rather attempt to make my own than pay $21 for a vanilla matcha smoothie, thank you very much.
What does this lady have against cats?