It’s interesting to see what taking some time off can do to your health. For Marvel Studios, the post-Endgame years have been a bit of a roller coaster. The delay in releases caused by the Covid-19 pandemic forced Marvel to reshuffle their plans, and this created a bit of a backlog for them as they were trying to move forward with their newest phases. As a result, their yearly output nearly doubled, with as many as three or four new titles making it to theaters within a given year. This was coupled with the studio also making their big push into streaming aboard their parent company’s newest platform, Disney+. For a moment, audiences were happy to see the MCU back on the big screen, but as the bombardment of new titles kept coming as Marvel tried to relieve themselves of the backlog, audiences started to feel a sense of fatigue from all of the stuff Marvel had to offer. Couple this with the inner turmoil at the Disney Corporate offices with the chaos caused in the short lived Chapek era, and people were starting to believe that Marvel had lost it’s magic touch. The movies were not being received as warmly as the ones released in the lead up to the end of the Infinity Saga, and people cared even less about the shows that were appearing on Disney+, with some notable exceptions. This growing super hero fatigue was also not unique to Marvel either, as DC was also experiencing the final death throws of their struggling DCEU. It all came to a head in the year 2023, where Marvel saw it’s biggest losses as a brand. Though Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 managed to succeed at the box office, the other films that year (Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and The Marvels) became the first ever money losers in MCU’s stellar history. All of this led to Disney CEO Bob Iger making the decision to slam on the brakes with Marvel’s output and have the studio take a break in order to get things back on track.
In the whole of 2024, Marvel only had one film release in theaters; a significant reduction in their yearly output. But, that single film would end up being the sure fire Deadpool & Wolverine (2024), a long awaited sequel to one of the bigger franchises around one of Marvel’s most popular characters. While Marvel didn’t have the benefit of multiple mega-hits to carry them through the whole year, they still benefited from having Deadpool & Wolverine carry the spotlight all by itself. The movie would end up grossing $1.5 billion at the worldwide box office, their biggest hit in years, and second only to Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) in the post-Endgame era. The pause in the output also allowed the studio more time to re-organize themselves and put more work into the projects that were having trouble in production. This year, Marvel is getting back to their regular ambitious output of 3 in one year. Later this summer, we are getting the team up movie called Thunderbolts* (2025) and the long anticipated The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025). But before then, we are getting the release of one of the more troubled productions Marvel has had in their whole history. This new film is Captain America: Brave New World (2025), which is the fourth film centered around the iconic character, although this version is not the same Captain that we’ve known up to now. At the end of Avengers: Endgame (2019), the original Captain America Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) literally aged out of the persona, and he left his iconic shield to his trusted friend Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), aka The Falcon. In between then and now, there was a Disney+ plus series called The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which followed up the events of Endgame by having Sam Wilson make that transition even more towards accepting the role of Captain America, a position that he was reluctant to take before. Now, having finally donned the red, white, and blue, Brave New World gives Sam Wilson’s Captain the full cinematic spotlight. The only question is, does the new direction of Captain America as a character mark a fresh new path for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or does the film unfortunately still bear the scars of their misfortune and disorganization over the last couple of years.
The story of Brave New World begins after the events of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Sam Wilson (Mackie) has fully assumed the mantle of Captain America, fulfilling the wishes of the late Steve Rogers who bestowed him the Vibranium shield. The next generation Captain America has been conducting missions in assistance of the United States army alongside his wingman Joaquin Torres, who has inherited the role of The Falcon from him. After successfully retrieving a key piece of cargo necessary for the US Government to sign a peace treaty, Wilson and Torres are invited to the White House to meet with the newly elected President, Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (Harrison Ford). Ross wants Sam to rebuild the Avengers team, which is a shocking proposition from him considering he used his influence to dismantle the Avengers with the implementation of the Sakovia Accords, which landed Sam in prison for a brief while. Along with Sam and Joaquin is an old friend named Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly), who is a super soldier serum enhanced fighter that later was abandoned by his country and thrown into prison for decades in order to hide the truth about his powers. While President Ross is giving a presentation to world leaders at this White House Summit, Bradley suddenly stands up and attempts to assassinate him. He is arrested and after questioning reveals that he has no memory of the incident. Against the President’s wishes, Sam seeks answers and begins investigating further based on his assumption that Bradley had been set up. He does some digging and finds a secluded, off the grid army base where it appears secret scientific experimentations had been taking place. There, they find Dr. Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson), who had been imprisoned there ever since he helped create the Abomination that attacked the Hulk over 16 years prior. After being exposed to gamma radiation himself, Sterns’ brain had doubled in size and functionality, and he had been exploited for his intellect by then General Ross for all these years. He’s now seeking revenge on Ross, and it involves manipulating world governments into fighting each other over a new element called Adamantium that was discovered in the newly emerged Celestial Island in the Indian Ocean. Complicating matters even more, Captain America is also dealing with a rogue mercenary named Sidewinder (Giancarlo Esposito), head of a group named Serpent. Captain America and the Falcon must act fast in order to unravel Sterns’ master plan and clear Bradley’s name. But Stern’s plans run even deeper than they thought, including a stealth plan in place involving President Ross himself.
The road to the big screen was not easy for Captain America: Brave New World. Greenlit towards the end of the Chapek era, the movie seemed to struggle from the very beginning. It was delayed multiple times, with a major one forced upon it in the middle of shooting by the strikes of 2023. It also faced multiple rewrites and reshoots, as it seemed like Marvel and Disney were desperately trying to salvage what had been a poorly planned out production. But, the movie has finally arrived in theaters at a time that Marvel hopes to start off a major revival of their struggling MCU. And after all the trouble that went into making the movie, it unfortunately results in a movie that is just okay. It’s far from the worst thing that Marvel has made, and yet it also pales in comparison to it’s best. Of the four Captain America movies that have been made by Marvel, this is unfortunately the weakest one, which is a sad thing to say for a movie that is meant to introduce us to the next generation of the beloved character. The main problem with the movie is that you can really feel the mechanics of all the re-workings this movie went through. The different acts of the film all feel like they came from entirely different drafts by different writing teams. The first act is an exposition heavy re-introduction of the characters, while the middle act is a taut mystery thriller, and the final act is yet another bombastic, CGI-enhanced Marvel action sequence. There are individual moments throughout that do work on their own, but the movie struggles to hold it all together. And you can definitely feel where the reshoots happened in contrast with the other scenes; they stick out like sore thumbs. Giancarlo Esposito’s Sidewinder was one of those late editions to the film added in reshoots, and you can definitely tell that he was shoe-horned into the movie. None of it though is exactly awful to watch; it’s just disappointing when all the different elements don’t lead to a cohesive whole.
One of Marvel’s major problems since Avengers: Endgame is that they have struggled to define their direction in the next phase. The Multiverse Saga as it’s been defined has certainly had some high points, but the track record that Marvel had sustained for most of the last decade at a high point has more recently been more of a roller coaster. The big problem is that more of their movies now feel more like a new episode of an on-going series rather than films that can stand well on their own. That’s what made the MCU so special in the Infinity Saga years; that they were working with so many different flavors and allowing them to define themselves in addition to serving toward the ultimate goal of the Avengers films. Now, each Marvel property is beginning to feel the same. Some of it has still worked (Guardians, Deadpool), and I’ve been a bit more forgiving than other critics of Marvel’s recent direction, because as long as I come away entertained I will still give a movie a pass for some of it’s faults. The problem with Brave New World is that the faults get in the way of the entertainment value of the movie. It’s humorless for the most part, and the action scenes are showing me nothing new that I haven’t seen before from Marvel. There is still some competency in it’s production that helps it to avoid the basement of the MCU. I wasn’t angered by the film like I was by Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania or Iron Man 3 (2013). But, the lack of anything special about the movie also leaves this in the bottom half of the MCU. But, Marvel at it’s worst can still be better than most. The best thing I can say about the movie is that I would definitely choose it over any of Sony’s Spiderverse films, but that’s a phenomenally low bar. It’s about on par with some of the average DCEU films at worst. Marvel definitely needs to relearn how to allow these movies to stand on their own again. For this movie, not only is it necessary to have seen The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Disney+ series, but the film also references the previous Captain America movies, the Avengers movies, 2008’s nearly long forgotten The Incredible Hulk, and surprisingly also Eternals, which thankfully gets a long overdue resolution to one of it’s hanging plot threads. And with the introduction of Adamantium in this film, it’s likely that this movie will be a stepping stone for the eventual introduction of the X-Men in the MCU. There’s a lot going on in this film, but what it’s not doing is making you care for the actual plot that’s happening in the moment within the movie.
The saving grace for this movie is the very talented and entirely game cast. Anthony Mackie is charming as ever, and brings an infectious magnetism to the role. While the character himself seems to feel lost in his own movie, Mackie’s performance still shines through and you can’t help but like the guy through all the movie’s faults. What is really impressive though is just how well Harrison Ford fits in playing the role of President Ross. Ford is taking over a role that had previously been played by the late William Hurt in a span of 13 years and 5 movies. He had some big shoes to fill in a role that so many people associated with another legendary actor, and yet Ford manages to make the part his own and successfully carry on the legacy of the character into this new chapter. I love the sincerity of Ford’s performance here. Though this is Ford’s first ever performance in any super hero movie, let alone a Marvel one, he actually feels right at home and you quickly get used to him in the role of Thunderbolt Ross. The villains of the movie also stand out. Credit to Tim Blake Nelson for patiently waiting for his chance to return to the role of Samuel Sterns after a 16 year absence. While some of his villainous plan doesn’t make a whole lot of sense in the script, Nelson still gives Sterns a menacing presence that helps him to feel like an actual threat. And despite feeling like a last minute addition shoehorned into an already crowded film, Giancarlo Esposito does make the most of his time and steals every scene he is in as Sidewinder. But perhaps the best performance of the film belong to Carl Lumbly as Isaiah Bradley. He brings a subtle bit of gravitas to the character, and you really feel the weight of the history of this forgotten man. He brings a lot of powerful emotion into the film that it otherwise lacks, and you can imagine a whole film’s worth of backstory that would be worth exploring about his character. So while the script leaves a lot to be desired, the actors still make the film enjoyable enough to warrant at least a watch.
The visuals are a bit of a mixed bag. In some moments, the movie feels flat like an episode of a Disney+ Marvel series. But in other moments, it has some impressive visuals that live up to the high standards of the MCU. The finale in particular really feels like it had the majority of the budget invested into it, as we see Captain America go into battle with a big CGI creature that you probably already can guess who it is. The third act, which is by far the most cohesive part of the movie, feels like the section that experienced the least amount of changes during the re-working of the film, and it shows in the visuals. The way that some scenes feel bland and lacking in style while others are inventive in their visuals is another tell tale sign of the re-shoots that occured after principle photography. The re-shoots probably had a very different crew working on them, and that’s what leads to this feeling of inconsistency in the look of the film. The movie definitely lacks the visual punch that the Russo Brothers brought to the other Captain America movies, or the distinct styles of Taika Waititi, James Gunn, or Ryan Coogler who left their mark on the MCU over the years. Director Julius Onah is a competent enough director, but his approach here doesn’t deliver anything striking. His style just falls into the same house style that Marvel movies have become increasingly more reliant upon. The air battles in particular don’t have the visceral impact that they should. Marvel probably should’ve taken some cues from the flight scenes in Top Gun: Maverick to help make their moments feel more exciting. Again, it’s not terrible, but you really get the sense that it could have been better. There’s no risk-taking involved in the making of this movie. You can sense the makings of a great MCU movie within the ingredients on display here, but the complete product just stands as safe and predictable. As Marvel heads towards their final phase of their Multiverse Saga, they need to do a bit better than safe and predictable.
Captain America: Brave New World has elements that work, and potential to be great; but unfortunately it just doesn’t justify it’s need to exist in the greater continuity of the MCU. It’s a small chapter in a greater narrative, and one that most people are likely going to forget they even watched at all. Marvel is loosing the way that their movies felt like events. While they can still knock one out of the park occasionally, like last year’s Deadpool & Wolverine, they are more often making films that just barely cross the line into acceptability. There are some great performances in the film, notably from Mackie, Ford and Lumbly. But, the plot feels thin and inconsequential compared to Marvel at it’s best. The sad thing is that it undermines Anthony Mackie’s debut as the star of the Captain America franchise, which should matter especially if he’s got a bigger future as a part of the MCU going forward. He’s demonstrated that he can fill the part quite well; it’s just that Marvel needs to find a better story to play to his strengths as an actor much more. I would like to see a more about his friendship with Isiah Bradley, and why it matters to Sam Wilson to be carrying that torch of Captain America, which holds a special kind of burden in itself, especially given the fact that unlike Steve Rogers and Isaiah Bradley, he has not been enhanced with super soldier serum. My hope is that the mediocre elements of this film were more of a bi-product of the tumultuous Chapek era, where Marvel had less in-house creative control, and that the future films in the MCU are able to stand well enough on their own in addition to being part of the cinematic universe. I’m actually really looking forward to the rest of the 2025 MCU slate; especially with the very promising Fantastic Four reboot. Captain America: Brave New World is a shining example of the things that Marvel has been loosing their grip with in terms of quality control in their movies, but hopefully it’s also the point where their creative backslide starts to reverse itself. It’s hard to know if the reshoots did more good than bad for this film. We do know that they weren’t enough to reverse course completely. Brave New World still resulted in a flawed by still watchable film. Longtime Marvel fans may get a kick out of some of the more fan service moments in this movie, but otherwise most people will move on quickly to the greener pastures that are on Marvel’s horizon coming later this year and into the future.
Rating: 6.5/10