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It’s no secret that Marvel films have struggled in recent years to get back to the heights the studio saw in the 2010, so it may be a good thing that its latest entry, “Captain America: Brave New World” goes back to the MCU’s roots in a couple of ways.
Officially, “Brave New World,” which opens Friday, is a new Captain America film but this is a film that harkens all the way back to Phase 1 of the MCU. It relies heavily on the audience being able to at least recall the overall story of 2008’s “The Incredible Hulk.”
That previous film, which was the second film released in the MCU, never got a direct sequel of its own and “Brave New World” picks up the threads from that film that have been dangling for nearly 17 years and continues the story.
The new film probably requires the least amount of homework for audiences of any Marvel film released in years, which is a good thing since this is the 35th film in the MCU (and that’s not even counting the Disney+ streaming series).
They just have to be familiar with the events of two films, “The Incredible Hulk” and 2021’s “Eternals,” and the streaming TV series, “Falcon And the Winter Soldiers.”
The audience doesn’t need to know all of the intricate details of those previous projects. A general familiarity with the plots of them should be enough.
But, “Brave New World” is a return to Marvel’s roots in another way. The stakes and scale are smaller in this film than Marvel has seen in awhile.
There are no alien armies invading from space or incursions from other universes or mutants fighting over the future of the human race. No one is trying to snap half the universe out of existence or devour planets.
It’s simply a revenge story and, in some ways, a political thriller. Overall, in many ways, it echoes the scale and tone of “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.”
It is essentially the palette cleanser that the MCU has needed for a few years after a steady stream of films with multiverse threats, god butchers, intergalactic mad scientists and the whole streaming mess that was “Secret Invasion.”
The film does finally bring the MCU back around to the celestial whose emergence was stopped in “The Eternals.” The fact that a giant head and hand sticking out of the Indian Ocean has sort of been ignored by the MCU in the more than three years since “The Eternals” was released, raising questions among fans if Marvel had any intention of ever addressing it again.
The answer is Yes and, as a result, we get our latest X-Men reference. Unfortunately, there are no actual X-Men in this film.
If you’ve seen the trailer, you already know this film deals with the discovery of adamantium. Marvel fans know that adamantium will eventually lead us to the Weapon X program and Wolverine. Let’s hope, however, that we don’t have to wait another three-and-a-half years for that payoff.
Although we still haven’t gotten any clues after three-and-a-half years about why the rings introduced in “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” are significant so I wouldn’t hold my breath on Wolverine showing up any time soon.
Now that we have out of the way, let’s talk Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson stepping into Steve Rogers’ shoes and becoming Captain America.
A major theme for Sam in this film concerns him taking on the Captain America mantle despite not being a super soldier. Although the film might have been tempted to delve into a idea of a Black person taking on that mantle, it wisely chooses instead to focus on whether Captain America needs to be a super soldier to be a hero.
The idea of Captain America being Black given America’s complicated history with race was a topic that was already dealt with in “Falcon and the Winter Soldier.” To dwell on that further in this film would have meant Sam’s character arc hadn’t progressed since then.
The question of whether someone needs super powers to be a hero, however, is an interesting idea to explore.
Now, let’s talk about the new Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross.
Obviously, William Hurt, who had played Ross in several MCU films, couldn’t be in this one due to his death in 2022.
Enter Harrison Ford to take over the role, which was actually a good choice. If you’re going to recast the role for a film that leans heavily on politics and intrigue, why not get the guy who played Jack Ryan back in the 1990s?
The best thing the producers did with Ford’s version of Ross was to ditch the character’s mustache. While Hurt sported a mustache throughout his appearances in the MCU, the one scene in “Brave New World” where Ford has to wear a mustache, for what is presented as archival new footage, it looks ridiculous.
That being said, for all of the hype in the marketing about Ross turning into the Red Hulk, the actual use of the Red Hulk was a bit of a bust.
But, then again, fans are likely to be disappointed about how Giancarlo Esposito — an actor Marvel fans have been dying to see join the MCU — is actually used in this film.
Esposito is good at playing the villain. He just doesn’t get enough screen time to do that as Sidewinder in this film.
Going back to the Red Hulk for a moment, though, this is where the script is flawed. It ended up telegraphing the plot points about how he becomes the Red Hulk and how he is brought out of his rage early in the film.
That means the actual reveals of both are cheapened because you can see them coming.
All in all, however, whatever weak points “Captain America: Brave New World” may have in its script — and the script is not perfect — it’s still the best MCU film to come out in years — and let’s face it, since 2008, MCU films, even the best of them, have had their issues.
“Brave New World” a solid entry in the franchise though.
It is truly a return to form and a return to roots for Marvel Studios and it should set up the franchise nicely for the next Avengers film that is set to come out in 2026.
”}]] It’s no secret that Marvel films have struggled in recent years to get back to the heights the studio saw in the 2010, so it may be a good thing Read More