Captain America: Brave New World

Hey, everyone, and welcome today, we will be talking about the film Captain America: Brave New World. There will be spoilers so this is your warning.  Fun Fact: There is a poster from this movie with the Red Hulk hitting Captain America's shield that pays homage to the cover of Captain America #230 in which the Hulk is hitting Captain America's Shield. This film came out in 2025 and stars Anthony Mackie, Harrison Ford, and Danny Ramirez and was directed by Julius Onah. So, without further ado, let's get right into it.

Captain America: Brave New World sees the new President Ross dealing with the emergence of a new element born from the celestial that is in the ocean. Someone is mind-controlling people, and after Isaiah Bradley tries to kill the president, Captain America steps in to see who is really behind the brainwashing and how to take him out.

Captain America: Brave New World is a superhero action film. It has similar vibes to Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Salt, or The Incredible Hulk.

So I'm going to come out and say that I am one of the fans of the 2008 Incredible Hulk film with Edward Norton as the lead. When this movie was announced and news came out that characters were coming back, I was excited to see how they would tie into the story. It was weird that they had Liv Tyler listed in the opening credits, even though the only time we see her is when she has a cameo at the end.  This film seems like not only a continuation of The Incredible Hulk but also The Eternals, Black Widow, and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which is a lot to incorporate into this film.

Anthony Mackie plays Sam Wilson, aka Captain America. In The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, he takes over the mantle from Steve Rodgers and gets some updates to his suit from the Wakandans. One thing I hated about the Falcon was the fact that every time when he was in battle, he would get his wings ripped off, and then he was effectively useless. He is better with the upgraded suit in this movie, but one thing I did question is why part of his suit utilized nanotech and not all of it.  They showed how cool it was with Iron Man, and you would think it would still be around and in use with other heroes who don't have powers by now, but nope. I like how, in this film, they showcased how he is smart, can fight without his wings, and strives to bring peace to the world. I think Anthony did a great job portraying this character who is in a weird place where they want to support their country, but also they do not want to be a pawn in political squabbles and knows that when there are disagreements with the president, he won't hesitate to do what he thinks is right vs. what the president wants to do to make himself look better. I loved his dedication to proving Isaiah’s innocence even though the odds were stacked against him.

This film brings up the idea that Sam should be the new leader of the Avengers, which I thought was weird because I felt they hadn't really built up this character to eventually take on that mantle. It's been 4 years since he has taken the mantle of Captain America, yet he has not been in anything else, and his name has not been mentioned in any significant conversations about the Avengers or being its leader. I think this is a greater issue with the MCU because while the interconnected movies worked to get us to  Endgame but now it seems like everything is a mess, and some things connect, but there's too much that's been left out for so long, and by the time its brought up again people are frustrated that it took so long. I think Sam Wilson could be a great leader of the Avengers, but I think he needs more of a presence in the MCU so viewers can be constantly reminded that he is, in fact, the person who should be leading the team.

I must acknowledge that one of the best surprises was seeing Bucky come back because I love the banter between Sam and Bucky. They're two friends who bicker like a married couple, but when it matters, they are there for each other. One thing I was wondering: were they actually in the same room when they filmed? because it doesn't seem like they were.

Danny Ramirez reprises his role, playing Joaquin, aka the Falcon, who is this cocky kid who is a mentee of Captain America, but he has some experience fighting. He sees Sam as an inspiration because he showed that a person of color could take over such an iconic mantle and help bring peace to the world. It's nice to see that Sam has some backup, but it also shows how he doesn't have as much experience as Sam, as seen with him getting hurt. I hope to see him in more things and teaming up with either Captain America or other heroes to help save the world.

Harrison Ford Plays President Thaddeus Ross, taking over for William Hurt since he passed. I thought he did a great job taking over the role, and even though he loses the iconic mustache, they do address it and say that it was so he wouldn't lose the presidency, which made me wonder if that was something that was true. Upon my research, I found out that the last president to have facial hair was Truman in the 1940’s and it wasn't even during his entire presidency. But back to Harrison, he did a great job taking over this role and further showing how Ross only sees superheroes as something he wants to control and how he has this aggressiveness to him that only increases tensions between the nations. One thing that pissed me off so much is that the Red Hulk transformation is supposed to be this really big reveal because no one knows about it, but they spoiled it in the trailers and all the promo, which made it so anti-climactic.

In the end, to calm the Red Hulk down, he takes him to the Cherry Blossoms because it reminds him of his daughter, and the special effects in that scene look so bad. Most of the movie looked fine, but that part seemed like they had used most of the budget and time and were running out of both for the end battle. This is something that has been recurring in MCU projects as of late, and I think they need to address it, not by overworking the people but by either having more people or more time to work on it.

Samuel Sterns, aka the leader played by Tim Blake Nelson, returns from the Incredible Hulk, and he is the mastermind behind it all. The Gamma blood that dripped into a cut on his head in the Incredible Hulk movie made him very smart, and he helped Ross to heal his heart after a heart attack, but he is also the reason he turned into the Red Hulk. I wished his design was more like the comics, where his head was big, and not like they had him in the movie, where it looks like he has many cysts on his head. I will say he is one of those villains who actually has a valid reason to be upset because he was promised freedom by Ross, and he didn't get that.

I mentioned there were so many connections to other films or TV shows that it made sense to bring them up, but I'm unsure if this was the movie to do so. You have Ruth, who is a former Black Widow, and it seems like after the red room was destroyed, she ended up with the president. I didn't think we needed a black widow in this film, especially since the character seemed to be used to say hey, there are black widows in the world but fails to give a good reason as to why we would care about one being in this film that already feels slightly crowded with connections to other MCU projects instead of having someone return from the Falcon and The Winter Soldier show. Then you have the Celestial from the Eternals being used to harvest a new material called adamantium, and the frustration with this is because where are the Eternals, and why hasn't this been addressed, considering we have eight movies and 8 seasons of MCU shows that have not properly addressed this giant mass in the ocean. The end of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier shows Sharon Carter being the power broker, and it hints she would be a villain or, at the very least, play a part in something else to come, and she was not only not in the movie but wasn't even mentioned. The raft is mentioned again, and I don't think we've seen it since the Civil War, and it definitely should have been utilized more.

The worst infraction for me is that the main storyline between Samuel Sterns and Ross is a direct connection to the Incredible Hulk movie, and I think that if they were going to bring him back and Ross and Betty, it should have been in a Hulk movie since these are all characters from his story. The Hulk is not even in the movie and is barely mentioned. This is a big pet peeve for me because we all know these superhero films are adapted from comics, and these heroes have so many villains, but some have some iconic ones, and I'm always confused as to why you wouldn't make The Incredible Hulk sequel with these characters and make a Captain America movie with the Power Broker and maybe expand on the Serpent Society and Sidewinder more instead of having all these hulk characters. Like, I love Sam as Captain America, but it is wild to me to have him be the one going against the Red Hulk.  There are so many things this film is connecting to, and while I think it important to bring some of these topics up, I don't think all should have been brought up in this film, considering there were plenty of other projects to bring them up in.

My favorite part of this movie was Isaiah Bradley, and he was like the heart of the film. He pushes the plot forward, and as much as I hated to see how he was treated, the highlight of the film is seeing that he made it out alive. I love that even though he doubted his chances, Sam didn't and did everything in his power to ensure he would get out.

Captain America: Brave New World is a fun addition to the MCU but it does have its flaws. I think the cast is great and while the story did keep me invested, I felt that there was so much weight on this movie's shoulders being the one to connect so many things and I just don't think this was the proper way to do it. I really hope to see more of Captain America and see what's next for him and The Falcon.