The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has captured my attention and obsession since my dad bought me the Iron Man trilogy on DVD when I was 11 years old. I’ve been an avid audience member and fan of the MCU since then—until Phase 4, after WandaVision left us with such high expectations that nothing truly great came after it. I have a variety of opinions, as do many other disappointed fans, but let’s talk about Marvel’s newest drop: Captain America: Brave New World, directed by Julius Onah.
Brave New World is the fourth installment in the Captain America franchise, the previous film being Captain America: Civil War, which came out back in 2016 (the first two being Captain America: The First Avenger in 2011 and Captain America: The Winter Soldier in 2014). So much has happened in the MCU since then, and I don’t know if creating a Captain America 4 almost a decade after the previous film was the best idea.
To reCAP (haha): Captain America is no longer Steve Rogers (played by Chris Evans); he is now Sam Wilson (played by Anthony Mackie), who was previously the Falcon. The Avengers movies took over Cap’s storyline after Civil War, with Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. At the end of Endgame, Steve Rogers passes the shield to Sam Wilson, donning him the new Captain America. This was the end of Marvel’s Phase 3, with Phase 4 just on the horizon. Phase 4 introduced The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, a television miniseries that released on Disney+ in 2021. In the show, the audience follows Sam and Bucky (The Winter Soldier) in the aftermath of Endgame. Here is a video recap of the plot, because I would need to write several paragraphs to get everyone thoroughly caught up. Very quickly: Sam does not feel fit to be Captain America, so a new guy named John Walker becomes Captain America; however, Bucky does not appreciate or approve of this, so after a collection of different storylines, Sam ultimately takes his title back and emerges with a hybrid suit of the Falcon and Captain America, made specially by the Wakandans. In the series, we are introduced to two important characters that we will see in Brave New World—Isaiah Bradley, a super soldier, and Joaquin Torres.
Before watching Brave New World, I highly recommend watching The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Eternals (2021) and The Incredible Hulk (2008). Brave New World has an important recast that audiences should be aware of: Harrison Ford as the character Thaddeus ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross. In a couple of films (most importantly in Civil War), he was played by William Hurt. Hurt passed in 2022, necessitating a new actor to continue the role. For timeline context, we are quickly catching up to the MCU timeline; Brave New World begins in 2026 and supposedly goes into 2027. Ross (Ford) is elected as the next U.S. President.
As Ross is elected as the new President, we see how Sam’s role as Captain America is treated in relation to the government and how he is treated now that Steve Rogers is gone. We follow in the aftermath of the Eternals film and see how the world treats its new, celestial island in the Indian Ocean.
As a new but avid Letterboxd enjoyer, I decided to rate the film 3.5/5 stars (this is somewhat of an unpopular opinion though, I must point out). I went in with low expectations and was pleasantly surprised and entertained. This was director Julius Onah’s first Marvel film, and I think he did a great job of capturing the nostalgia of the previous Captain America films. Without spoiling, I must state that my main critique of the film is the antagonist. The character’s personality did not fit into the storyline properly and took away from the seriousness of the film, given the way the character was written and displayed on screen. As a whole, throughout the film there were jokes that did not land or were genuinely not necessary. Harrison Ford brought the tone of the unneeded humor down, which made the movie more enjoyable for me.
This is my perspective after my first watch in which I ultimately enjoyed the movie and, while I have my critiques (some of which I cannot say without spoiling), would recommend it and will watch it again. It was not groundbreaking like past Marvel films, but it was definitely better than ones released in the past couple of years. I also recommend watching in 3D…I accidentally bought the tickets for a 3D showing, but it enhanced the experience for me! Captain America: Brave New World is in theaters right now.