By George & Josh Bate
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has dominated megaplexes for 17 years and counting, now with a whopping 35 movies under its belt. Conversations regarding the best of these 35 MCU movies frequently converge on answers like Guardians of the Galaxy or Avengers: Endgame, but there’s a smaller scale, grounded film that endures as many fans’ favorite of the bunch. Captain America: The Winter Soldier traded in extraterrestrial aliens, magical superpowers, and intergalactic travel for a political thriller / espionage story unlike anything the superhero genre had seen before, resulting in an enduring hit among fans and critics. The film’s sequel – Captain America: Civil War – retained some of these political thriller elements, albeit couched in a grander story of warring superhero factions. It wasn’t until the Disney+ series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier that the MCU dabbled in political thriller territory so fully again and, although that series started and ended on a shaky footing, there was something refreshing about a more grounded MCU story amidst the ever-expanding multiverse of Marvel adventures. The latest MCU movie – Captain America: Brave New World – follows in the footsteps of the previous two Captain America movies and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier in once again operating at the intersection of political thriller and superhero blockbuster. And, while always entertaining and proving to be a surprising sequel to The Incredible Hulk, Brave New World fails to hit the same heights as its predecessors.
Captain America: Brave New World stars Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson, who has taken on the mantle of Captain America from Steve Rogers after the events of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Following the election of Thaddeus Ross (played by Harrison Ford) as president of the United States, Wilson finds himself at the center of an international incident involving his friend Isaiah Bradley (played by Carl Lumbly) and must uncover the identity of the mastermind behind it.
While not solely a fault of Brave New World, the latest MCU venture falls victim to the overwhelming multitude of disconnected stories that have characterized the post-Endgame era. For the first decade of the cinematic universe, everything seemed somewhat connected, helping to foster the feeling of satisfaction audiences got from the conclusion of so many related characters and arcs in Avengers: Endgame. However, in the six years since that movie, the storytelling has become more variable in quality and wayward, with numerous disconnected stories taking place at the same time. Brave New World, for example, takes place at roughly the same time as Echo, which occurs at the same time as Deadpool and Wolverine, and so on. Brave New World occurs in the same world where Charlie Cox’s Daredevil is fighting in the streets of Hell’s Kitchen, and where Ant-Man traveled to the quantum realm to fight the villainous Kang the Conquerer. And yet, when plummeted into the political thriller tale of Captain America: Brave New World, the audience wouldn’t know any of that. For a universe that has expanded in so many interested ways in recent years (and produced excellent post-Endgame titles like Loki and Spider-Man: No Way Home), there is an unfortunate downside to such rapid expansion – that the fictional universe does not feel as unique or lived-in as it should be. None of this is directly the fault of Brave New World, although the film does little to pull the pieces of an ever-expanding universe together in a cohesive manner.
Mirroring the broader MCU’s struggles with cohesion are Captain America: Brave New World’s similar stumbles. While generally followable, the story feels clumsily pieced together at times. Behind the scenes reports have detailed how extensively the film was reshot and reworked following the conclusion of principal photography, and this patchwork approach to filmmaking shows. Knowing that everything with Giancarlo Esposito’s villainous character (who plays a rather important role) in the film was added after-the-fact emphasizes just how extensively the film was reworked. Admittedly, ‘reshoots’ has become something of a dirty word in Hollywood these days, but there is plenty of evidence to suggest that a film that is substantially altered during post-production can still come out well. Look no further than Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which is arguably the most universally beloved Star Wars film created since Disney purchased Lucasfilm. In the case of Brave New World though, there is a disjointedness to the plotting that stands out at times, although the film should be commended for not devolving into incomprehensible territory as many heavily reshot films do.
The film starts strong with a mysterious beginning, an unknown mastermind operating behind the scenes, and an interesting conspiracy theory to unravel. As the film progresses, however, and the pieces of the plot are eventually all laid out, things get unnecessarily convoluted and require some mental gymnastics to make sense of everything. This is particularly evident when it comes to Dr. Samuel Sterns, the main antagonist of the film played by Tim Blake Nelson, who plays an integral role in the film. Sterns, also known as The Leader in Marvel comics, is an all-knowing antagonist whose threat comes from his incredible intelligence. Brave New World succumbs to the same issues that have plagued other films who have gone down the route of having an all-knowing villain in that the character can only be as smart as the writers are, leaving the plot to be somewhat messy at times and easy to poke holes in. Again, (mostly) everything ultimately makes sense in the film, although patchwork filmmaking and convoluted plotting muddle the proceedings.
Leading the film is Anthony Mackie in what is his first leading role in an MCU theatrical release. Having debuted in the franchise in 2014, it’s been a long road to get to this point, although Mackie did lead the mixed Disney+ series that showed his character Wilson eventually take on the role of Captain America. And, while Brave New World is overall an improvement over The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Mackie’s Sam Wilson disappointingly lacks much of an arc in the film. When one looks back at the previous three Captain America films, the arcs of Steve Rogers are glaringly evident, with The First Avenger following a brave man willing to transform to support his country, The Winter Soldier tracking Rogers as he wrestles with loyalty to a friend compared to loyalty to his country, and Civil War depicting Rogers’ core morals and allegiance to dear friends at odds with one another. In Brave New World, Wilson lacks anything close to the substantive arcs Rogers had in the previous trio of Captain America movies. Shoehorned-in speeches in the third act about living up to Rogers’ legacy and the shield come far too late in the film, and repeat an arc that was covered pretty comprehensible over six hours in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Wilson’s personal investment in the story comes from his friend Isaiah Bradley (played by the wonderful Carl Lumbly). But, other than ensuring Wilson has some incentive to be so involved in the central conspiracy, this link is never built upon in an interesting manner.
Coupled with the lack of an arc for Sam Wilson is the film’s disappointingly apolitical stance. For a political thriller, the movie fails to feature anything beyond superficial messages, with occasional throwaway lines about accepting others and making compromises lacking any subtlety. One would think that a Captain America film released in 2025 amidst such a politically tumultuous era in real life would have a lot to say, but it comes up painfully short in that regard. Some may argue that demanding a blockbuster film like Captain America 4 feature strong political messaging is a tad harsh, although the previous Captain America movies managed to thoughtfully contemplate interesting political topics and themes, something Brave New World fails to do.
Greater success is found with Harrison Ford, stepping into what is essentially a co-lead role in the film alongside Mackie’s Sam Wilson. Ford proves he still has that movie star magnetism and charm that he brought to Star Wars and Indiana Jones (and, ironically, another film in which he played the U.S. president, Air Force One). Ford has a screen presence that commands the attention of the audience; your eyes are always drawn to him in whatever scene he features in. Hearing the legendary actor who brought Indiana Jones and Han Solo to life say words like Adamantium, The Avengers, Wakanda, and Hulk is such a treat and will bring a smile to many viewers’ faces. That being said, despite the fact that Ford has a surprisingly substantial amount of screen time, appearances from Red Hulk, arguably the main selling point of the film from promotional material, is limited. Almost every shot of Red Hulk in the final film already feature in trailers and other promotional material, leaving very little new footage for the audience to appreciate. While Red Hulk’s absence for the majority of the film aids in building up to the grand moment where Ross eventually turns into the gamma-fueled rage monster, his alter ego still feels underutilized come the end of the film.
Despite Brave New World marking Harrison Ford’s debut in the MCU, his character Thaddeus Ross has featured in the franchise since 2008 with his role in The Incredible Hulk. Perhaps the most surprising element of Brave New World is how much of a direct sequel it is to The Incredible Hulk, providing resolution to arcs for Thaddeus Ross, Samuel Sterns (aka The Leader), and even Liv Tyler’s Betty Ross. The sizable roles of both Tim Blake Nelson’s Sterns and Harrison Ford’s Ross feel like payoff for the years in which the events of The Incredible Hulk were largely ignored in the MCU. And, for fans of that underappreciated Marvel movie, there is something refreshing about seeing the franchise embrace one of its less well received projects (much like how Avengers: Endgame embraced Thor: The Dark World). Unfortunately though, attempts to follow-up The Incredible Hulk aren’t resoundingly successful. Tim Blake Nelson simply didn’t make enough of an impact in The Incredible Hulk to have his return feel monumental here, and the recasting of Ross prevents his arc from being as satisfying as it could be. Marvel Studios don’t deserve criticism for that, as they were forced to recast Ross following the death of William Hurt, but one can’t help and think how much more effective Ross would have been in this film had it been made clearer that this is the same Ross who appeared in Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame.
Accompanying Ford and Mackie in the cast is Danny Ramirez, who reprises his role as Joaquin Torres from The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Torres is essentially the loyal sidekick to Mackie’s Wilson, but, unlike the strong role Mackie played as Chris Evans’ sidekick in previous MCU movies, there isn’t much of interest with Torres. His purpose in the film is to provide comedic relief (which almost always falls flat), hack into things, and give someone for Wilson to talk to. Ramirez does well with the material at his disposal, and makes Torres a likable addition to the film, even if his character is rather hollow.
Also falling flat is Shira Haas as Ruth Bat-Seraph, a former Black Widow and close ally of Thadeus Ross. Haas and her character never quite work in the film, with Haas feeling miscast and her character Ruth adding little to the movie.
Likely amplified by the aforementioned extensive reshoots, Brave New World is far from the most visually impressive superhero outing. With the exception of Red Hulk, who is excellently realized with impressive visual effects, the film features all sorts of off-putting CGI and obvious green screen usage. There are numerous shots from the film that will inevitably appear in social media posts ridiculed and critiqued and used as continued evidence that the MCU falls flat visually.
Finally, it wouldn’t be an MCU movie without a post-credits scene, and Brave New World is no exception. Without spoiling what the post-credits scene entails, it can be said that the scene is one of the lazier post-credits scenes the MCU has attempted. The scene tenuously teases the Multiverse Saga, in a lazy attempt to connect this completely non-Multiverse movie to the broader Multiverse Saga. This once again speaks to a larger issue with this recent crop of MCU movies and shows in that the multitude of disconnected stories have meant it isn’t entirely clear what direction the franchise is heading in.
VERDICT: 6.5/10
Captain America: Brave New World is an engaging, yet flawed entry in the ever-expanding MCU. A strong start featuring a mysterious conspiracy proves to be compelling, although the story becomes unnecessarily convoluted, albeit still followable, as the pieces of the puzzle are eventually laid out. Anthony Mackie delivers a commanding lead performance despite Sam Wilson lacking any semblance of a substantive character arc. Greater success is found with Harrison Ford, whose trademark movie star magnetism continues to shine in his MCU debut (although Red Hulk is disappointingly underused). Most surprising is the extent to which the film is a direct sequel to The Incredible Hulk, which while commendable in finally resolving elements from the underappreciated MCU film, falls short given the recasting of Thaddeus Ross and the subsequent discontinuity of the character from his previous appearances. Patchwork storytelling, likely influenced by extensive reshoots, is coupled with off-putting visual effects that will likely be torn to shreds on social media. Finally, a lazy post-credits scene tenuously teasing and connecting to the Multiverse Saga emphasizes the degree to which the MCU currently lacks a sense of cohesion in its overall storytelling. While entertaining and never losing one’s interest, Captain America: Brave New World is a far cry from the MCU’s previous attempts to dabble in the political thriller genre, hindered by disjointed storytelling and lacking bravery (despite its title) with a disappointingly apolitical message. As the MCU continues to expand, it becomes clear that there will be greater and greater variability in the quality of projects, with Brave New World falling pretty firmly in the middle of the pack.