A new trailer for M. Night Shyamalan’s Glass is dropping on Thursday, and today the lead-in to that trailer premiere continues with a second character teaser, this time featuring Bruce Willis’ David Dunn from Unbreakable.
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What’s unique about this teaser, however, is that it seems to reveal a new and important piece of information: David Dunn’s superhero name. If you look closely at the image of Willis’ Dunn made out of shattered glass shards in the teaser video, you’ll see his character referred to as “The Overseer”:
Bruce Willis is The Overseer. Watch the new trailer for #GlassMovie Thursday. pic.twitter.com/KVCXgNPiMJ
โ Glass (@GlassMovie) October 9, 2018
Fans will no doubt have some spirited debates over the quality of the codename “Overseer,” which is, perhaps not the most well-thought out pick. Shyamalan caught raging heat over his Last Airbender movie and it’s whitewashed casting picks; the word “Overseer” definitely carries strong associations with things like American slavery, in which an “overseer” was the person responsible for managing and/or punishing teams of slaves working in the plantation fields.
To be fair, Shyamalan and Co. probably chose the name “Overseer” as a reference to David Dunn’s power set. In Unbreakable, Dunn learns he can make physical contact with a person and see into their mind – specifically, the dark deeds that someone has committed, which range from theft to murder over the course of the film. Likely, the term “Overseer” is meant to frame Dunn as a protector that people have come to regard as someone watching over them, able to see them in their moment of need – or the righteous hand of justice who can see into their hearts. Either way, “Overseer” conveys the high moral ground and watchful eye that are the signatures of Dunn’s heroic identity.
What do you think of the name? Let us know in the comments!
The voiceover for the teaser seems to be taken from a scene in which Dunn gets a bead on his target / villain rival, James McAvoy’s Kevin Wendell Crumb (aka “The Beast”). Dunn feels his usual calling to step up and defend humanity by taking down The Beast – yet Sarah Paulson’s Dr. Ellie Staple remains unconvinced that Dunn is anything special. As we can surmise from the first Glass trailer, The Beast will be at an old factory by the water, about to consume some unlucky teenage cheerleaders. It seems as though Dunn finally catches up with The Beast, but in their struggle, they go out the window and Dunn’s superpowers are negated by his primary weakness: drowning in water. However, it looks like the cops arrive in time to stop The Beast – and also take down Dunn, as well. That’s how Dunn, Crumb, and Samuel L. Jackson’s Elijah Price all end up in Dr. Staple’s mental hospital, being studied for their superhero “delusions.”
Glass will be in theaters on January 18th. The new trailer drops on Thursday.