This may sound like a hopelessly naive thought about a superhero movie, but Captain America: Brave New World presented an exciting opportunity. The Marvel Cinematic Universe, now on its 35th entry, has probably been exhausted at this point, yet the latest installment’s advertising was intriguing. It promised a thinky thriller in which the new, Black Captain America butts heads with a growly, militaristic president (played by Harrison Ford). There’s a little juice to that, right?
Well, not if you’re the megaproducer Kevin Feige—who, based on this film, appears most interested in cleaning up the MCU’s weird loose ends from nearly two decades ago. (I certainly did not expect to be challenged on my knowledge of The Incredible Hulk, which came out during George W. Bush’s presidency, and the somewhat memory-holed celestial adventure Eternals.) Despite the potential that its title hints at, Brave New World is unconcerned with plumbing any of its latent politics, let alone exploring any fresh ground. Instead, the movie serves up another sloppily knocked-together bit of pseudo-entertainment. It makes other recent duds, such as Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Deadpool & Wolverine, look practically triumphant.
The chief problem, which at least one other Disney franchise is dealing with right now, lies with the story: A lot of what could have unfolded in Brave New World already happened elsewhere. The 2021 Disney+ show The Falcon and the Winter Soldier followed the newly anointed Captain America, Sam Wilson (a.k.a. the Falcon, played by Anthony Mackie), as he struggled to accept the hero’s mantle. That series, while incredibly flawed, at least attempted to upend the iconography of his predecessor: Chris Evans’s picture-perfect, towheaded Cap. It also introduced a fascinating character named Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly), an aged super-soldier who nearly became the first Black Captain America. Instead, the government subjected Bradley to its body-chemistry-altering experiments, then jailed him for decades to keep the man quiet—and as punishment for rescuing his fellow imprisoned Black servicemen.
Bradley returns in Brave New World, where he at least gently offers Wilson some advice: to keep his head on a swivel, as the Stars and Stripes–clad hero starts working for the president. But any subversive edges have been sanded off this script, which is credited to five people. It doesn’t explore the racial underpinnings of Wilson’s budding relationship with the government, despite its mistreatment of the prior Black Captain America, nor does it reckon with the president’s desire to use him as a patriotic prop. Instead, Wilson’s internal dilemma boils down to his feelings of inadequacy about stepping into his mentor’s shoes—which the Disney+ show dealt with—and his anxieties about his superpowers; unlike the Captain Americas before him, he’s just a regular Air Force veteran with a very fancy pair of robot wings.
The movie’s team—including the co-writer and director, Julius Onah—seems to fear that the emotional drama isn’t compelling stuff for a big-budget superhero feature. So in parachutes Harrison Ford, about as big a name imaginable, to serve as a co-lead of sorts. He plays Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross, a retired general (and former villain) who has recently been elected president. William Hurt, who died in 2022, played him in his previous appearances; Ford is quite the glitzy upgrade, and he’s quite sprightly for the age of 82. Still, it’s a little uncomfortable to watch the old legend creak around, delivering incomprehensible exposition about things like adamantium and gamma radiation.
Ross and Wilson’s relationship doesn’t have much substance to it: They briefly faced off during the last Captain America sequel, 2016’s Civil War, but that was before Ford took over the role. Much of Ross’s arc here entails him nursing regret over his estrangement from Betty (Liv Tyler), his daughter—her first appearance since The Incredible Hulk, 17 years ago. Another minor Hulk character, Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson), shows up too, in a major way. I have sometimes admired the skill with which the MCU weaves a multimovie saga over several years while keeping casual audiences on the hook. Relying on a relatively old film and characters is a bridge too far, however; it’s practically a homework assignment for viewers, especially those who might not have even been born when it was released.
Meanwhile, the trailers have already given away what should have been its biggest reveal—Ross’s transformation into the Red Hulk. This crimson version of the radioactive monster doesn’t appear until late in Brave New World’s final act, suggesting that its inclusion in the marketing was a bit of a desperate move by Marvel. The studio appeared eager to assure viewers that something wild might happen in this otherwise rote entry. Even the momentous Hulk showdown amounts to a big nothing, however—a major tease that becomes another speed bump on the MCU’s rocky road of late. The trip back to higher quality will likely necessitate a total storytelling reboot for this sprawling, listless cinematic universe. No matter which big name is delivering them, a couple of ruddy Hulk smashes just aren’t enough.
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