The Glaring Issue with Captain America: Brave New World (2025)
Ever since I first saw Captain America in 2012’s The Avengers, I was always amazed at his bravery and morality. He didn’t teach us how to be the perfect soldier, he taught us how to be a good man. And despite my personal feelings on the current state of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Captain America and his friends will always hold a special place in my heart. It was one of the reasons why I enjoyed Falcon and the Winter Soldier, because it was focused on Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes. And when I heard a new Captain America movie was in the works starring Sam as Captain America, I was actually excited.
Five months after Secretary Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (played by Harrison Ford) is elected President of the United States, Captain America (played by Anthony Mackie) and the new Falcon, Joaquin Torres (played by Danny Ramirez) are tasked with retrieving stolen Adamantium from a group of mercenaries. Cap is successful and upon return, is invited to meet the president along with Joaquin and Isaiah Bradley (played by Carl Lumbly). Everything goes well at first until Isaiah suddenly pulls a gun and fires several shots at President Ross. Bradley is arrested facing a possible death sentence as Sam and Joaquin race against the clock to figure out who could be behind the President’s assassination attempt.
I was unpleasantly surprised at the negative reception Brave New World received from critics. Frankly, I have no idea what they were so worked up over, as the film was exactly as it was advertised to be: fun, exciting and entertaining. However after sleeping on it (literally), I realized what was the film’s biggest flaw: it tried to juggle way too many storylines in a single film. We juggle Isaiah Bradley’s story of fitting in with the rest of the world from Falcon and the Winter Soldier, President Ross’s estrangement from his daughter, Betty and coming to terms with his past, and Sam’s personal dilemma towards his own physical mortality. Meanwhile, the (kinda?) side plot of Ross wanting Cap to rebuild The Avengers only serves as the unicycle we’re riding on. With a run time of only 2 hours, the film feels like an entire TV season crammed into a single film.
My other issue, not with only Brave New World, but with the larger MCU is the poor advertising. ”But wait!” You say. “Brave New World had a ton of publicity and merchandise!” Yes, that’s true. But that’s not my main issue, no. My main issue is that the trailers always give away too much. Almost as if the producers were trying to summarize the entire movie in a mere 2 minutes. And this is only more egregious with the new Thunderbolts trailer. I understand that Marvel Studios and Disney want more seats in theaters, but if you ask me, it only makes fewer people want to go. Because why would you want to go to theaters to watch the entire movie if you can get the gist in a minute fraction of that time?
Despite my first issue, the film does a pretty good job pulling off some of the plot points it addresses. My favorite would have to be President Ross’ character arc. It’s really interesting to see someone who represents traditional norms of order, structure and control lose everything close to him because of his hard-headedness. The harder he tries to control everything around him, the more he loses what’s most precious to him: his public image, respect, and his freedom. I was initially skeptical about how Marvel would handle the recast after William Hurt’s untimely death, but Harrison Ford does a surprisingly good job handling Ross’ emotional turmoil. He never feels like he’s giving a phoned-in performance and genuinely connects with the character.
Even though Captain America: Brave New World was thoroughly entertaining and had some emotional themes revolving around Ross, what prevented it from being great was its overwhelming ambition and poor marketing. I think Brave New World had the trappings to be the next Captain America: The Winter Soldier and it could’ve reminded audiences of the impact of Marvel’s street-level heroes. Do I have faith that Marvel Studios can bring it back to formula? Honestly, I don’t know. But what I do know is that they are slowly taking those baby steps to regain their former glory.
