First 'Oppenheimer' Trailer Teases the Creation of the Atomic Bomb

"Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds," was the line uttered by nuclear physicist and father of the atomic bomb J. Robert Oppenheimer as he gazed upon the first detonation of the weapon of mass destruction. Cillian Murphy illustrates how that detonation could very well have destroyed the world in a tense first trailer for Christopher Nolan's latest project Oppenheimer. Murphy plays the titular scientist in the adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and the late Martin J. Sherwin which explores the conflict and politics surrounding the creation of the nuclear bomb and the complicated man at the center of it all.

The trailer starts off by introducing Oppenheimer as a troubled man whose flaws are ignored in favor of his brilliance. Reluctantly asked to help end the Second World War, he points to one hope - a nuclear weapon developed in secret in the desert with the destructive power to dissuade anyone from continuing to fight. A haunting score plays as he looks over the large-scale development of the bomb, imagining a pillar of fire engulfing their enemies and ending the fighting in one swift move. The only pushback he gets from higher-ups is that the detonation has a non-zero chance of not just destroying the U.S.'s enemies, but also the world itself by ruining the atmosphere. A timer ticks down, and the music slowly builds as the catastrophic consequences become clear and the launch nears. Nolan denies us his grand non-CGI bomb detonation for now, though, as the countdown hits zero, the trailer teases us with the line, "We all know what happened there."

To truly capture the scale of Oppenheimer, Nolan managed to get together what may be, on paper, one of the greatest casts ever assembled. Murphy stars opposite Emily Blunt who plays the scientist's wife Kitty. Also on board the massive cast are Matt Damon, Florence Pugh, Rami Malek, Kenneth Branagh, Gary Oldman, Robert Downey Jr., Benny Safdie, Josh Hartnett, Dane DeHaan, Jack Quaid, Matthew Modine, Alden Ehrenreich, David Krumholtz, Michael Angarano, and Matthias Schweighöfer among others.

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Nolan is no stranger to creating grand, innovative cinematic giants, helming the beloved Dark Knight films, the mind-bending Inception, and Interstellar among others that required truly impressive amounts of research and practical effects work. Even by his lofty standards though, Oppenheimer is a beast. Together with visual effects supervisor Andrew Jackson, the director, and his team recreated the entire Los Alamos testing ground where the Trinity test took place as well as the test itself and all the quantum physics work Oppenheimer and his team would've done to create the bomb. It was also a challenge for Murphy who did plenty of reading to truly understand who Oppenheimer was and portray all aspects of his character. Even from the trailer, the scale of the project is fully on display as footage pans over the massive structure of Los Alamos.

There'll be some tough, star-studded competition when the historical epic releases. While Oppenheimer was hoovering up stars, another bright pink, plastic, and fantastic film was doing just the same - Greta Gerwig's Barbie. As fate would have it, the two are set to release on the same day, setting up a battle of the blockbusters of epic proportions.

Oppenheimer bursts into theaters on July 21, 2023. Check out the trailer below.