The newest trailer from James Cameron and Robert Rodriguez’s Alita: Battle Angel is out, featuring new glimpses of Mahershala Ali as the film’s villain set on taking Alita down.

Ali plays Vector, a character from the original Battle Angel Alita manga who was a Scrapyard businessman known for his underhanded dealings. It seems like there are some differences from the manga and film since he’s not working from a dark, junky metropolis–it looks like he’s a high-powered tech giant working in a clean, futuristic facility. Vector is also determined to bring down Alita because she disturbs “the natural order of things” and she contains “technology that had been lost for 300 years.” Jennifer Connelly also appears in one of the scenes with Ali, so it can be assumed that her character, Chiren, is an associate, whereas in the original video animation (OVA), Chiren is a cyberphysician who was originally Ido’s partner.

The film also stars Rosa Salazar as the title character, Christoph Waltz as Ido, the doctor that finds her and becomes her guardian, and Keean Johnson as Hugo, a new friend she meets who triggers her memories. The film also stars Ed Skrein, Jackie Earle Haley, Michelle Rodriguez, Casper Van Dien, Jeff Fahey and Lana Condor.

Alita: Battle Angel will come to theaters December 21.

Jennifer Connolly

Get relevant content delivered to you once a week