Captain America: Brave New World is neither brave nor new
Marvel's latest is an exercise in cowardly political artifice
I went into Captain America: Brave New World optimistically, wanting it to have something worthwhile. Sure, it’s the 35th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (ignoring all those dang Disney+ shows), but previous Captain America titles at least gestured at relevance or, y’know, ideas. Boasting political thriller vibes while suggesting social significance, I naively charitably hoped Brave New World would be more than underwhelming slop.
I suppose, however, the joke is on me. I’ve bemoaned the state of the Marvel enterprise before, so, yes, a degree of this disappointment and ire is on me: Why would I go to McDonald’s and kvetch I didn’t receive a dry-aged ribeye? But Brave New World’s offense is largely its own, unique mess, and I spent much of its runtime wondering who was to blame.
Brave New World is the first film starring Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson as Captain America, which should matter! I would love to see a story tackling why a black man seeks to represent a country that has historically cared little about people who look like him, particularly one literally named Captain America. I can’t be faulted for wanting that.
But the film isn’t that. Mackie is a charismatic actor; his reliable work since entering the Marvel machine in 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier as Falcon, ostensibly Cap’s sidekick, shows that. 2021’s The Falcon and the Winter Solider on Disney+ gave Mackie that moment, providing Sam much to do in Mackie’s hometown of New Orleans and further humanizing the character as he tackled the potential of himself becoming Captain America. Despite its many faults and weak ending, the series centered a black man grappling with becoming a symbol of American exceptionalism.
Yet Brave New World disrespectfully eschews Mackie for something else: loose ends. Weirdly, the film’s story hinges on elements left hanging from disliked previous Marvels. A frozen alien rising from the Earth’s core (roll with me) from Eternals (2021) is a prominent plot factor. Other loose ends come from The Incredible Hulk, the long-forgotten second Marvel film from 2008. The biggest returner there is Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (Harrison Ford), a recurring Marvel troublemaker who used his military brass attempting to keep the Avengers in check. Ford replaces William Hurt, who died in 2022 after portraying Ross in The Incredible Hulk and four other Marvel films.
Ross, now President of the United States, is the target of an elaborate revenge scheme by the Serpent Society (it’s okay to laugh). Ross’s civil service record is not the cleanest, as we find he manipulated governmental systems for self-enrichment. (What would the Department of Government Efficiency have to say about ole Thunderbolt?) Comic book movies have to comic book, however, which means the conspiracy also turns Ross into Red Hulk. For the uninitiated, Red Hulk is exactly what it sounds like: a Hulk, but… red. I may also be spoiling the movie, but I can’t spoil the centerpiece of the marketing.
All this winding road is to say: the President of the United States is a vermilion-hued bully with anger issues pulling governmental levers for personal gain, falsely equating his success with America’s. Can’t imagine how that’d be relevant in 2025! But Brave New World again dodges being at all interesting. Red Hulk’s rampage, and all the implications of Red Hulk being the president and a black Captain America saving the day, are all waved away like they don’t matter. Truly, the film has shockingly little on its mind, but it’s almost too cowardly to want viewers to not think about it, being so devoid of any personal identity or firmly rooted social perspective.
Part of the issue is Brave New World’s five credited screenwriters and roughshod production and reshoots. The result is a muddied film too inept to have coherent themes. This also leaves the other appeals of film – visuals, performance, dialogue, production design, score, action sequences – to all be wanting, uninspired, and anonymous. I am sure the professionals who worked on Brave New World did their best, and I do not mean to besmirch them. I’m confident they were not set up for success.
Nevertheless, Captain America: Brave New World is a joyless, incompetent slog, which gives me no pleasure. The film could have been something: The title promises a brave new world, yet presents its world as empty racial and political artifice. Perhaps the bigger problem is Marvel doesn’t seem bothered – my screening featured an overeager IMAX promo littered in Fantastic Four iconography. Before I even have the chance to be crestfallen and sour at their current product, Marvel is desperate to remind me their next big thing comes this July. A shame they couldn’t show the same attention and energy to something that mattered to the world.