Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD
Starring Anthony Mackie (Sam Wilson / Captain America), Harrison Ford (President Thaddeus Ross / Red Hulk), Danny Ramirez (Joaquin Torres / The Falcon), Tim Blake Nelson (Samuel Sterns), Carl Lumbly (Isaiah Bradley), Shira Haas (Ruth Bat-Seraph), Giancarlo Esposito (Seth Voelker / Sidewinder), and Xosha Roquemore (Leila Taylor), with Liv Tyler (Betty Ross) and Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes)
Directed by Julius Onah
Produced by Kevin Feige with Nate Moore
Written by Rob Edwards, Malcolm Spellman, Dalan Musson, Peter Glanz, and Julius Onah
Music By Laura Karpman
Distributed by Walt Disney Pictures
Run Time: 1 hour and 58 minutes
World Premier: February 11, 2025, in Hollywood, California
Opening Weekend Box Office: $88.5 million / $100 million (President’s Day 4-day Weekend total in North America)
Worldwide Box Office: $415 million
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 47%
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Fun Captain America: Brave New World Facts
At the 2022 San Diego Comic Con, Marvel Studios CCO Kevin Feige announced a fourth Captain America film with a release date of May 3, 2024, as part of Marvel Studios’ Multiverse Saga and Phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film was originally titled Captain America: New World Order with Anthony Mackie in the lead role as Sam Wilson / Captain America. Chris Evans starred as Steve Rogers / Captain America during the first three Captain America films produced by Marvel Studios (Captain America: The First Avenger in 2011, Captain America: The Winter Soldier in 2014, and Captain America: Civil War in 2016). Evans’ Rogers passed Captain America’s iconic (Vibranium) shield and the mantle of Captain America with it on to Mackie’s Wilson in 2019’s Avengers: Endgame. However, 2021’s Disney+ series The Falcon and The Winter Soldier chronicled Sam’s struggle with accepting the Captain America mantle due to political and social issues. Said series ended with Wilson finding the inspiration to pick up the shield and take up the mantle through the encouragement of Rogers’ childhood friend Bucky Barnes following the failings of interim “Cap” John Walker. Mackie first portrayed Wilson in Captain America: The Winter Soldier as the heroic “Falcon.” Mackie went on from there to portray Wilson / Falcon in 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, 2015’s Ant-Man, 2016’s Captain America: Civil War, and 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War. In Infinity War, Wilson was one of the trillions of souls who were “Snapped” out of existence by the Cosmic Warlord Thanos, when he wielded the combined power of the six Infinity Stones to erase half of all life throughout the 616-Universe. The “Snap” was reversed through the time-traveling exploits of The Avengers in the aforementioned Avengers: Endgame.
On Tuesday, June 6, 2023, the working title for Marvel Studios’ Captain America: New World Order became Captain America: Brave New World, as confirmed by Marvel Studios. New World Order was previously the title of the first episode of Marvel Studios’ The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, which premiered on Disney+ on March 19, 2021. The Falcon and The Winter Soldier introduced characters such as Joaquin Torres (Sam’s US Air Force personal friend and professional supporter) and Isaiah Bradley (a Korean War Veteran and abused Super Soldier), who both appear in Captain America: Brave New World in a reprisal of their respective roles.
In the Marvel Comics, Sam Wilson officially took on the mantle of Captain America in 2012’s Captain America # 25 by Rick Remender when Steve Rogers passed the shield and the mantle of Cap with it, on to Sam. In 2014, The former Falcon’s exploits as Captain America officially began in All-New Captain America # 1 by Remender. Joaquin Torres debuted in Captain America: Sam Wilson #1 written by Nick Spencer in 2015. With Sam Wilson now serving as Captain America, Torres took on the mantle of The Falcon. As for Isaiah Bradley he first appeared in 2003’s Truth: Red, White, and Black published by Marvel Comics and written by Robert Morales, which told the story of a post-WWII Super Soldier serum that exploited African-Americans.
The casting of Harrison Ford as Thaddeus Ross in Captain America: Brave New World came about due to the death of actor William Hurt, who portrayed Ross in the MCU in 2008’s The Incredible Hulk, 2016’s Captain America: Civil War, 2018’s Avengers; Infinity War, 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, and 2021’s Black Widow. Hurt passed away on March 13, 2022, at the age of 71.
In the Marvel Comics, Thaddeus Ross technically debuted as the Red Hulk in Hulk (2008) # 1 under the pen of writer Jeph Loeb. Red Hulk was designed by artist Ed McGuinness. “The Leader” (featured in Captain America: Brave New World, portrayed by Tim Blake Nelson) played a part in Red Hulk’s creation in the comics. In the 2010 Marvel Comics Series Fall of the Hulks: GAMMA, the Red Hulk is revealed to be Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross, who’d been presented as the chief antagonist to Bruce Banner’s Hulk for decades in the comics. In the 2010 Marvel Comics Event Series: World War Hulks, Betty Ross (Thaddeus Ross’ daughter and Bruce Banner’s longtime love interest) is revealed to be the Red She-Hulk.
Betty Ross (portrayed by Liv Tyler) made her MCU debut in 2008’s Marvel Studios film The Incredible Hulk starring the aforementioned William Hurt as Thaddeus Ross and Edward Norton as Bruce Banner / The Hulk). Her reprisal of the role in 2025’s Captain America: Brave New World concluded a 17-year gap in MCU storytelling. She is not presented as a Hulk during the film.
In the Marvel Comics, the angrier the Red Hulk becomes, the more heat his skin generates. In Captain America: Brave New World, when President Ross transforms, some of his clothes burn off. Though it isn’t explored much further, this is a subtle nod to the Marvel comics.
Due to the actors and writers Strikes of 2023, Captain America: Brave New World underwent several rewrites and reshoots. “The Serpent Society” (created in 1985 by Mark Gruenwald) were slated to appear, complete with WWE Superstar Seth Rollons as one of their more prominent members. These scenes were cut, however, with Giancarlo Esposito (as Sidewinder) used in their stead.
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Tim Blake Nelson first portrayed Samuel Sterns in 2008’s The Incredible Hulk, produced by Marvel Studios. Due to contractual issues with Universal Pictures, it was 17-years before Nelson reprised his role within the MCU. Captain America: Brave New World revealed that during the time between 2008’s The Incredible Hulk (which saw Sterns get infected with Hulk blood during an altercation with actor Tim Roth’s The Abomination) and 2025’s Captain America: Brave New World, Nelson’s Sterns was held captive by Thaddeus Ross, who reshaped the narrative to blame Sterns for the MCU events depicted in The Incredible Hulk. Ross held Sterns prisoner and gave him several doses of GAMMA while he sold his story, promising to release Sterns if he healed his critical heart condition (as referenced in Captain America: Civil War) and ensured that Ross would clinch the Presidency. The enhancements that Sterns received from the GAMMA poisoning however, made him a human supercomputer that can predict future events based on calculated probabilities. Obviously, Sterns complied, but devised pills with traces of GAMMA within them; traces that accumulated over time, resulting in Ross’ eventual transformation into a (Red) Hulk.
In Captain America: Brave New World, Harrison Ford’s Thaddeus Ross becomes the President of the United States. Previous Presidents of the United States within the MCU include Matthew Ellis (Iron Man 3) and James Ritson (Secret Invasion). Real-world Presidents Dwight Eisenhower, Jimmy Carter, Franklin Roosevelt, and Barack Obama have also been referenced as having held the position within the Marvel Cinematic Universe in various projects.
Captain America: Brave New World is confirmed to have undergone several reshoots due to the 2023 writer’s and actor’s Strikes. Several plot points and scenes were consequently removed, such as the inclusion of “The Serpent Society” (replaced by Sidewinder), the mutant powers of Sabra (made over into a former Black Widow), and a much more villainous Samuel Sterns as opposed to the tragic version of the character that appeared in the film. The look of Sterns was also drastically altered from his comic book counterpart (green skin and elongated head with goatee) to the version seen in the film (seeping brain through cranium and glowing green eye).
Captain America: Brave New World reveals that the failed Emergence as seen in 2021’s The Eternals resulted in the introduction of Adamantium into the MCU. Thaddeus Ross actively campaigns to prevent a war amongst Nations over the revolutionary metal that was used in Marvel Comics, Fox X-Men films, and ultimately, the MCU to create the Multiversal mutant killing machine known as Logan / Weapon X / Wolverine.
The post-credits scene of Captain America: Brave New World sees Sam Wilson / Captain America visit the film’s antagonist in the super prison known as The Raft (in which Thaddeus Ross previously incarcerated Scott Lang / Ant-Man, Wanda Maximoff, Clint Barton / Hawkeye, and Sam Wilson himself). During the scene, Samuel Sterns warns Sam about a looming Multiversal threat that is expected to play itself out in the upcoming 2026 Marvel Studios film Avengers: Doomsday.
Due to its many plot threads, Captain America: Brave New World serves as a sequel to several MCU projects, most notably, 2008’s The Incredible Hulk, 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, 2021’s The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, and 2021’s Eternals.
Captain America: Brave New World became the 35th consecutive MCU film produced by Marvel Studios to debut at # 1 at the Box Office, dating back to 2008’s Iron Man. The 34 previous films are Iron Man (2008), The Incredible Hulk (2008), Iron Man 2 (2010), Thor (2011), Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), The Avengers (2012), Iron Man 3 (2013), Thor: The Dark World (2013), Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Ant-Man (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Doctor Strange (2016), Guardians of the Galaxy Volume Two (2017), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Black Panther (2018), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Ant-Man and The Wasp (2018), Captain Marvel (2019), Avengers: Endgame (2019), Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), Black Widow (2021), Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021), Eternals (2021), Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), Thor: Love and Thunder (2022), Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania (2024), Guardians of the Galaxy Volume Three (2024), The Marvels (2024), and Deadpool and Wolverine (2024).
Captain America: Brave New World marked Marvel Studios’ third “Rotten” theatrical release, according to Rotten Tomatoes. From 2008-2019, all 23 MCU films produced by Marvel Studios were certified “Fresh”, but post-2019, Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania (2023 – 46%), Eternals (2021 – 47%), and Captain America: Brave New World (47%) all ranked as “Rotten.” Despite the discouraging news, 32 / 35 MCU productions produced by Marvel Studios were certified “Fresh” from 2008-2024.
Captain America: Brave New World was released on Blu-ray, DVD, and Ultra HD Blu-ray on May 13, 2025.
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
My Captain America: Brave New World Review
I missed Captain America: Brave New World in the theaters for various reasons, but I finally got around to watching the movie and I was … underwhelmed.
I watched Brave New World in a two-day block along with Sony’s Venom: The Last Dance and Kraven the Hunter, and to be honest, I didn’t feel much better about Brave New World than I did the Sony films. It WAS the better of the three, it just wasn’t all that great.
In case this is the first review that you’re reading from me, let me be clear on something: I love the Sam Wilson character and have no problem with him being Captain America. It happened in the comics, and I was a fan then, and I enjoyed The Falcon and The Winter Soldier quite a bit as Sam wrestled with picking up the shield. I think Anthony Mackie is a great actor and I have enjoyed his work in the MCU.
That being said, this movie just wasn’t good.
I wanted it to be good. I wanted to like it. It just wasn’t. And I just didn’t.
When Marvel Studios projects were in their prime, you didn’t feel an agenda and you didn’t feel the filmmakers trying to make a good movie. The movie was good because it was good. Not because you as a viewer wanted it to be. You didn’t have to make excuses or try to expand upon the narrative and exclaim how good the original story was in the comics … the average person could simply go to the theatre and watch Iron Man or The Avengers, or Captain America: The Winter Soldier, or Guardians of the Galaxy, or Black Panther, or even Avengers: Infinity War and simply enjoy the movie without hype because the movies were GREAT!
Captain America: Brave New World isn’t that. It tries to be, and it wants to be, clearly, but a lot is lost in translation, and it just lacks that familiar MCU punch.
This is a Sam Wilson story, and this is a Thaddeus Ross story, and sadly, for all its efforts to stand on its own, it misses Steve Rogers, and it misses Bruce Banner. The Marvel Comics are driven by characters, but the Marvel Cinematic Universe is driven by character portrayals, and Captain America: Brave New World is lacking in character portrayals. Sadly, it’s a very predictable film. Sam Wilson, the new Captain America investigates a conspiracy that could lead to a world war. This conspiracy revolves around mind-controlled would-be assassins (like Isaiah Bradley) and Vibranium (harvested from Celestial Island in a callback to Marvel Studios’ Eternals) and a convoluted plot by Samuel Sterns to avenge his treatment at the hands of President Ross by turning Ross into what he hates most: a Hulk!
All of this slowly and meticulously leads to President Ross transforming into a (Red) Hulk on the Whitehouse lawn and brawling with the man he previously tasked with reassembling The Avengers: Captain America. And to be fair, the Captain America vs Red Hulk fight is AWESOME! It’s far and away the highlight of this film and it embodies everything that has made the MCU so good over the years. The problem is … that’s about five minutes or so … the rest of the movie is a slow, plodding, poorly paced mess of a film that tries to disguise itself as a “political thriller” in the spirit of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, but with far less suspense and far less interesting characters, even with the Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes cameo. The end of the movie and the post-credits scene is at least intriguing, but admittedly still underwhelming. An imprisoned Ross endorses Sam and reconnects with his daughter Betty, and then Sterns ominously warns Sam about “The Others” that his probabilities have shown him are a looming threat. I suppose this is an allusion to Avengers: Doomsday.
Sadly, for all of the good that Anthony Mackie has brought to the MCU as Sam Wilson, in Captain America: Brave New World, he buckles under the pressure of being a leading man in a Marvel Studios movie, getting lost in the shadow of Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers and lacking the charisma and the conviction to fill Evans’ proverbial shoes. Mackie’s Sam fails to inspire in the way that Evans’ Rogers did, and that’s not a race issue, it’s an acting issue, straight and simple. The Vibranium wings and the Ant-Man helmet and all of the bells and whistles just don’t equal Steve Rogers fighting in an alley and wielding a trash can lid as a shield. You can call Sam Wilson “Captain America” all day long, but the character doesn’t boast the same weight. It just isn’t the same. And I couldn’t help but miss Steve Rogers throughout this movie.
Furthermore, I missed Mark Ruffalo too! If there were ever an MCU project that needed Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner, this was it! How did we not get a Hulk vs Red Hulk fight here? It writes itself! Sam Wilson has never had Super Soldier serum, so he should not be a worthy adversary to a Hulk. So, let’s use Bruce Banner, who has SO much history with President Ross and let’s have a Battle of The Hulk’s in Washington! It could have been great! Instead, Sam Wilson pretty much kicks Red Hulk’s ass in the final act and looks WAY more formidable than he should have ever looked, which does nothing to endear the character to fans.
Samuel Sterns? Major miss! His arc could have tied into She-Hulk: Attorney at Law if that show wasn’t so damn stupid, and here, he is rendered to an afterthought; a whiney victim who resents Ross for making him his puppet. Yawn. Making Ross into a Hulk should have carried much more weight, and before She-Hulk made fun of all things Hulk in its finale, this movie could have featured Sam Wilson as Captain America (with some additional heroes) facing an ARMY of Hulk’s and that could have expanded the Act Three fight from 5-15 minutes and maybe word-of-mouth would have been better, but … no such luck. I will say that I prefer Sterns’ revised design to the concept art, but one way or the other, he was a character that I anxiously wanted to see return in the MCU, only to materialize into a disappointment.
There was a lot of over-the-top stuff here (looking at you Sidewinder) and a lot of goofy stuff (looking at you Joaquin Torres), and in the end, it just wasn’t up to the MCU standard that has been set in so many other projects. The Rotten Tomatoes score and the Box Office tally both reflect that, as does Producer Nate Moore’s unceremonious Marvel Studios exit following the release of this film. I’m not on the “Marvel is Woke” bandwagon because that doesn’t reflect my personal political or social views, but I do believe that story should trump agenda and that the people hired to write and produce these MCU projects in the future should get back to focusing on telling an intriguing story and making an interesting movie above ALL ELSE. And that clearly hasn’t been the case at times in recent years. Did Sam Wilson as a character evolve from the end of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier through the end of Captain America: Brave New World? I don’t think so. Other than him looking to assemble a new team of Avengers, it was pretty much flat and static. And for viewers like me, it’s not about race or politics, it’s about character evolution and being better than the project that proceeded yours. On top of even that, it’s about intriguing characters and entertaining stories, and in the end, as much as I hate to admit it, Captain America: Brave New World wasn’t about that.
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Highlights of Captain America: Brave New World:
Red Hulk vs Captain America
Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes Cameo
Tease of a Potential New Avengers Team
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Continue Following the MCU Journey of Sam Wilson and Joaquin Torres in Avengers: Doomsday (2026)
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