Captain America: Brave New World (2025)

★1/2 Contrary to its title, there is nothing brave nor new about the latest instalment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as the diminishing superhero franchise continues to re-tread previous entries.

Watch Feb 23, 2025 0 1 Add to Reading List

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Dir: Julius Onah

Cast: Anthony Mackie, Danny Ramirez, Shira Haas, Carl Lumbly, Xosha Roquemore, Giancarlo Esposito, Liv Tyler, Tim Blake Nelson, Harrison Ford

Contrary to its title, there is nothing brave nor new about the latest instalment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as the diminishing superhero franchise continues to re-tread previous entries

Back in 2018, audiences worldwide were left on tenterhooks having witnessed the demise of half the Marvel Cinematic Universe at the hands, or rather fingers, of Thanos. “Avengers: Infinity War” was the first half of a global phenomenon, which left audiences waiting a year to find out the fates of several of their beloved superheroes, who had been reduced to dust in the film’s gut-punching climax. This downer of an ending, in which Thanos had seemingly prevailed, saw unprecedented levels on anticipation for 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame”, and to this day I have never seen such a fanfare surrounding any theatrical release. To say “Endgame” was a success is an understatement, not only did the Infinity Saga finale briefly become the highest grossing movie of all time, before an “Avatar” re-release promptly reclaimed its place, it also brought a decade-spanning narrative, that threaded through numerous films, to a more than satisfactory conclusion.

Ever since its more humble begins in 2008, I have never been too invested in the MCU, but even I found myself caught up in the Marvel hullabaloo in 2019, and regardless of anyone’s opinion on the franchise, you cannot argue that what Kevin Feige and his Marvel creative team were able to accomplish after 10 years of set-up was anything short of impressive. Marvel well and truly established itself as a cinematic Juggernaut, one that was on course to dominate the global box-office for many years to come.

Now, approaching the six year anniversary of Endgame’s release, the MCU remarkably finds itself in dire straits. Having once been strategically mapped out, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has become increasingly convoluted in recent years, making it extremely difficult for the average cinema-goer to keep up with proceedings. It appears that the success of The Infinity Saga saw Feige and his team get too giddy in their subsequent endeavours, with The Multiverse Saga lacking any real direction as a result of an oversaturation in the Marvel market. The concept of a multiverse is a challenging one to start with, and once you start adding countless new theatrical releases and even more television series to the mix, you find yourself alienating your global audience as even the most devout Marvel stans struggle to keep on top of the endless hours of content.

This focus on quantity of quality has seen both critics and audiences turn unfavourably on the once respected franchise, which has also seen its box office returns diminish as a result. While a major factor may also be the Covis-19 pandemic which saw the rise of streaming platforms, most notably Disney+, Marvel’s decision to release streaming exclusive content, such as the shows, distances those who were once invested in the franchise – including myself.

The MCU is about to enter its sixth phase, and is in urgent need of a restart. The last attempt to restore balance to the franchise before it enters its new phase comes in the form of “Captain America: Brave New World”, the first cinematic release to star Anthony Mackie‘s Sam Wilson as the patriotic superhero. Having been handed the iconic star-spangled shield by an elderly Steve Rogers in “Endgame”, Wilson took on the mantle of Captain America in the Disney+ series “Falcon and the Winter Soldier”, and while I admire Mackie as an actor, I was sceptical going into this latest MCU entry given the lack of background previously given to his character when he was Falcon.

“Captain America: Brave New World” Trailer | Marvel

We catch up with Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), sporting his new and improved Captain America gear, having been deployed in Mexico on a covert operation by the recently inaugurated President of the United States, Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (Harrison Ford). Sam, accompanied with Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez) – now serving as the new Falcon – successfully recover classified items stolen by the Serpent Society, however their rogue special-ops team leader Sidewinder (Giancarlo Esposito) manages to escape. Ross subsequently invites Wilson, Torres and formerly incarcerated super soldier Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly) to attend a summit at the White House. Striving to prove his days as a cold-hearted U.S. Army General are a thing of the past, Ross reveals his plans of a treaty with Japan, France and India to govern and distribute the recently discovered new metal Adamantium, which was formed when the Celestial emerged from the Indian Ocean during the events of “Eternals”. During the summit several men, including Bradley, are triggered by an audio cue to begin shooting at Ross and other dignitaries.

Seeking to prove Bradley’s innocence, Wilson investigates the attack and deems the buyer who did not attend the arms deal in Mexico to be the culprit. The attack also has seen tensions between the US and Japan reach crisis point, with the Japanese Prime Minister Ozaki (Takehiro Hira) deeming the attack as an act of war as Ross refuses to take accountability. With an arms race for the highly coveted Adamantium under way, and with an unknown figure manipulating military personnel and government officials as sleeper agents, Wilson and Torres are tasked with stopping the culprit before all out war breaks out.

As the MCU finds itself at a pivotal point in its seventeen year history, it was crucial that this latest release propelled the franchise in a fresh new direction, kickstarting a Saga that has fallen apart due to poor planning and constant rewrites having had to scrap signature villain Kang, following abuse allegations against actor Jonathan Majors. Unfortunately, “Captain America: Brave New World” fails to deliver two of the three words in its sub-title, as once again Marvel looks to harken back to previous instalments in the franchise, in this case, not even good ones. During its run, Marvel have released a whopping 35 films in the MCU, and not many would argue that two of the most forgettable releases are “The Incredible Hulk” (2008) and the aforementioned “Eternals” (2021), yet these are the two films that the latest Captain America film chooses to follow on from. Having been largely overshadowed by the superior “Iron Man” that was released the same year, many forget that “The Incredible Hulk” is part of the MCU, most likely due to the eventual recasting of Bruce Banner from Edward Norton to Mark Ruffalo. As for “Eternals”, it was heavily impacted financially by the pandemic fallout, and was creatively misjudged with Chloe Zhao, fresh off the back of her Academy Award wins for “Nomadland”, struggling to weave her filmmaking talents into the superhero genre.

Even more problematic than these baffling narrative choices is our central lead. As previously mentioned, I had my doubts about Mackie going into this, as Sam Wilson was a character I had previously had very little emotional investment in, and despite being given some time to shine here, I still found myself not caring too much about him or the events unfolding. Having refused to take the super soldier serum that gave Rogers his powers, we are led to believe that Wilson is incapable of meeting the standards set by the previous Captain America, and this underdog story could justify the disappointment surrounding this new “Cap”, from both an audience perspective, and an in-universe character one. However, with his brand new Vibranium suit and wings, rendering him essentially indestructible, Wilson in reality appears to have the attributes of Captain America, Black Panther and Falcon combined, making it impossible to sympathise with him as he regrets his decision to not take the serum. This unsuccessful character arc has also been previously explored in “Falcon and the Winter Soldier”, and we get here a quick 2-minute rundown of that entire series as Wilson has a brief interaction with Sebastian Stan‘s Bucky Barnes.

The only saving grace in “Brave New World” is Harrison Ford, who is surprisingly good as Thaddeus Ross, having inherited the role following William Hurt‘s death in 2022. Having gained a reputation for not committing to performances in his latter years, Ford actually seems invested in his recently acquired Marvel character, with Ross’ character arc proving to be the most interesting and tragic. As for the supporting cast, quite simply they are not given anywhere near enough to do. Lumbly succeeds in bringing emotional weight and physicality to the role he reprises from “Falcon and the Winter Soldier”, but Shira Haas and Xosha Roquemore who appear as two agents working closely with Ross, seem to have split narrative responsibilities that could have very easily been undertaken by one character.

With phase 5 very ending on a whimper, Kevin Feige and co. will be hoping that the upcoming “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” manages to entice audiences back into the MCU again, if not, I cannot see the once dominant franchise lasting much longer.

Captain America: Brave New World is now showing in UK Cinemas