If you have seen one Marvel Cinematic Universe flick, you have seen them all. This, of course, is with few exceptions, which would be 2024’s Deadpool and Wolverine because it was actually R-rated, the Agatha All Along series because it had nudity in the form of Agatha’s nude figure in the first episode, and maybe 2019’s Avengers: Endgame since we had seen mass death. You might throw 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy in there because seeing Groot sacrifice himself for the greater good is heartbreaking. Mind you, there have been forty-nine combined movies and series since the MCU’s Disney inception, and four out of forty-nine that are actually memorable are not good. So, it is with Julius Onah’s (The Girl Is in Trouble 2015, The Cloverfield Paradox 2018) Captain America: Brave New World released on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2025.
After casting issues that saw Harrison Ford take up for the late William Hurt, who died in March 2022, as President Ross/Red Hulk and condensing the Serpent Society down to Giancarlo Esposito (Do The Right Thing 1989, Breaking Bad series) as Seth Voelker / Sidewinder, the flick also included Anthony Mackie (Captain America: The Winter Soldier 2014, Twisted Metal 2023) as Sam Wilson / Captain America, Danny Ramirez (Falcon and the Winter Soldier 2021, Look Both Ways 2022) as Joaquin Torres / Falcon, Shira Haas (Unorthodox series, Shtisel series) as Ruth Bat-Seraph, Carl Lumbly (Cagney & Lacey series, Alias series) as Isaiah Bradley, Xosha Roquemore (The Mindy Project series, Cherish The Day series) as Leila Taylor, Liv Tyler (Empire Records 1995, The Leftovers series) as Betty Ross, and Tim Blake Nelson (Minority Report 2002, Ghosted 2023) as Samuel Sterns.
Briefly explaining everything, Sam Wilson, the new Captain America, finds himself in the middle of an international incident and must discover the motive behind a nefarious global plan.
The reshoots for Captain America: Brave New World go up there with movies like 2019’s Dark Phoenix, 2018’s Solo: A Star Wars Story, and 2015’s Fantastic Four, which contributed to its bad reception. In short, it is a CGI fest. This is cool for those who like watching the latest tech at work, but this is not even good CGI. CGI’s supposed to be seamless… and this is anything but such.
One thing the film has going for it is that it mentions Adamantium, which means Wolverine. So you can take Captain America: Brave New World as a prequel to Deadpool and Wolverine, which raises its own question of why it was released first. Anyway, there just might be excitement down the pipeline.
So, how is Captain America: Brave New World acting? More or less, the acting is straight. Giancarlo Esposito tends to overact even when being cold cool. Harrison Ford’s Harrison Ford is wry and cool, as always. It is fun to see Liv Tyler. Unfortunately, Ford does not save the ho-hum, same old, same old, even if Mackie brings new blood to the Captain America character.
Overall, general audiences liked the film enough, more than some who found it disappointing. Anyhow, some might wonder – what is next on the docket for the MCU in 2025? Daredevil: Born Again arrived on March 4th, Thunderbolts drops on May 2nd, Ironheart on June 24th, The Fantastic Four: First Steps on July 25th, Eyes of Wakanda Series on August 6th, Marvel Zombies on October, and Wonder Man arrives in December. Daredevil and maybe Marvel Zombies have the most potential since Daredevil is bringing back the superior Netflix cast, and they have said what they have done aligns with that. Hopefully, Disney does not mess up zombies.
All matters considered, the slate looks like another helping of milk and cookies because Captain America: Brave New World is anything but brave. The MCU could learn a lot from James Gunn’s new DC Universe. Until then, Cryptic Rock gives Captain America: Brave New World 1 out of 5 stars.
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