Don Shanahan
With the host of loose ends tossed around throughout what’s been called the “Multiverse Saga” and their purposeful one-year siesta to only present the tangential 20th Century Fox love letter Deadpool & Wolverine, it’s like the Marvel Cinematic Universe has lost their way, and ours. Marvel has needed to smash a reset button with a big, proper film to get the machine churning and building again, something with flagship characters that demands appointment viewing. Well, new headliner Anthony Mackie called his shot. True to the old adage of “absence away makes the heart grow fonder,” they have their new jumpstart in Captain America: Brave New World.
That said, there’s still a little bit of “Where the hell are we now?” 35 films in, sauntering (or wallowing for plenty) through the fifth phase of this comic cosmos. The government-sparked clash of the trilogy capper Captain America: Civil War was nine years ago. Chris Evans’s torch-passing coda in Avengers: Endgame was six years ago. Mackie’s televised Disney+ sidequest of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and the cataclysmic emergence of the Celestial Tiamut in Eternals happened four years ago. The Hulk’s battle against The Abomination in Harlem against Gen. Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (the late William Hurt) was 17 years ago in The Incredible Hulk in 2008, the year this whole shebang got started right after the original Iron Man. Even Captain America: Brave New World itself was shelved for a year due to the industry strikes of 2023 and reshoots.
In the social media-fueled “what have you done for me lately” buzz cycles of today that last more like 24 minutes than 24 hours, any of those pluralized years might as well be eons to diehard and casual fans alike. Each of those above precursor films (and then some) come prominently into play in Captain America: Brave New World, which is why it is refreshing jolt to see a Marvel entry embracing and adhering to continuity rather than splintering it just for kicks.
The film opens on Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford, replacing Hurt) popping a pill and stepping onto a stage before a cheering crowd after winning the Presidential election. The retired general and former Secretary of State has come a long way from being the “Hulk Hunter” scapegoat and the political pusher of the controversial Sokovia Accords crafted to control and regulate the activities of enhanced individuals. Ross presents himself as a changed man, thankful instead of contrary for the exploits of the victorious Avengers who returned half the world’s population back after The Blip. Even with those efforts of betterment, he remains estranged from his daughter Betty (played long ago by Liv Tyler), much to his lament.
President Ross’s chief objective for his first hundred days in office is to broker a monumental treaty between the United States, European powers, Japan, and India over the lucrative geological boon found in Tiamut’s petrified remains in the international waters of the Indian Ocean. The contested prize is the discovery of adamantium, a new element with potential inventive applications and an open supply greater than the guarded vibranium of Wakanda. This superpowered arms to race to seize and control adamantium sets off Captain America: Brave New World’s chess match between world powers, nefarious organizations, and the true puppeteer of it all—the rebuked biologist Samuel Sterns (a returning Tim Blake Nelson), altered by his exposure to Bruce Banner’s gamma-infused blood years ago to become a statistical and strategic genius.
Caught in the middle of all this is Sam Wilson’s winged Captain America, flanked by Joaquin Torres (Top Gun: Maverick’s Danny Ramirez) assuming his former mantle as The Falcon. A daring opening scene pits Sam against Sidewinder (professional villain Giancarlo Esposito) of the clandestine Serpent Society to retrieve an adamantium sample. President Ross, who previously tossed Sam into The Raft prison following the events of Captain America: Civil War, has pitched him to reform The Avengers. After thwarting an assassination attempt by former Super Soldier Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly, shattering and stealing hearts with his graveled stoicism) during a lavish White House event, Sam soon uncovers the mind control scheme that would clear Bradley’s name for Ross’s investigating security chief Ruth Bat-Seraph (accomplished Israeli TV actress Shira Haas), a former Black Widow alum. Needless and welcome to say, there’s very little fluff or nostalgic dilly-dallying in Captain America: Brave New World and its 118-minute running time.
Wilson plays the parts of government enforcer, celebrity figure, ethnic idol, and patriotic symbol across the span of Captain America: Brave New World. One would think it’s all part of the burden and acclaim for carrying that vaunted shield. However, unlike Steve Rogers, there is no special serum coursing through Sam Wilson’s veins, meaning he’s a mortal human—a Black male at that in a modern, yet contentious fictional political climate matching a great deal of our actual one outside of multiplex—who often has to work things the hard way. He must rely on and do his best with assistive tech, his trained fighting skills, charismatic guile, empathetic heart as a former veteran counselor, and sheer bravery to find even the smallest victories, let alone ones bigger than his own country.
In the same way that all of the pressure comes down to Sam Wilson, the same can be said of Anthony Mackie in this well-deserved leading role for Captain America: Brave New World. The shadow of Steve Rogers and the slivers of self-doubt are still present, but shorten with every noble act and decisive measure of heroics by Sam Wilson. Mackie, two screenwriters continuing from The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (Malcolm Spellman and Dalan Musson), and few extra polishing scribes (Rob Edwards of The Princess and the Frog, The Longest Week’s Peter Glanz, and the film’s director Julius Onah) have progressed the character’s wisdom and maturity to become as true blue of an inspiring figure as Evans’ prior incarnation. Mackie shoulders the responsibility strongly without losing an ounce of his jovial charm flying, punching, and kicking out of the gauntlet laid out by stunt coordinator Joey Box (Den of Thieves) and fight coordinator Cameron Early (Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F).
Most fans are likely counting their lucky stars at the casting coup of scoring Harrison Ford for a Marvel movie. They’re not wrong. Like Robert Redford as the respectable heavy before him in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, it’s true the soon-to-be-83-year-old icon ushers a significance and ageless fortitude to any role he takes at this stage of his career. Ford’s status brings in extra audiences that wouldn’t normally partake in Marvel’s cinematic energy drinks. That said, all juice drains to the promised and heavily advertised transformation of Ross into the fabled Red Hulk. Equaling the extra effort shown in the rest of the film with time granted to not rush a final product, the visual effects and performance capture work supervised by Alessandro Ongaro (Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire) for the big showdown do not disappoint.
Astute cinema fans stepping into this graphic novel sandbox will undoubtedly notice director Julius Onah (Luce) and company angling for Captain America: Brave New World to follow the classic beats of the bygone paranoid political thrillers of the 1970s, not unlike the Russo brothers did with their tonal escalation of Captain America: The Winter Soldier in 2014. It’s an ideal, heady vibe to aspire to and repeat after that past success. The evil seeds, layered twists, danger music score of Laura Karpman (The Marvels), and suspense plot templates present achieve the desired effect—save for one glaring 800-pound Red Hulk in the room. Because everyone knows the hot-and-bothered behemoth is coming and precisely who it is thanks to the studio’s unnecessarily oversold marketing campaign, the biggest and most important element of real sizzle to match those old shockers is greatly diminished, if not entirely absent. It goes to show that, even with a tremendously polished and solid effort that quite honestly sells itself on brand name alone, Marvel and Disney still can’t help themselves.
