Captain America: Brave New World Review – Hulking Out Over Nothing Much

2025 will arguably be one of the most important years for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. 2024 only had TV releases, and with the next Avengers movies incoming, Marvel Studios needs to prove that it still has the magic to keep interest up and break box office records. Their latest film is out, and it’s an important step forward toward that Avengers reunion. However, as my Captain America: Brave New World review will show, this film was anything but a return to form. Sadly, it was very much a retreading of old ground.

Following the events of Falcon and the Winter Soldier and previous MCU films, Sam Wilson is now not only Captain America but also doing his best to help others and honor the legacy of his predecessor. He’s training his new Falcon, Joaquin, while maintaining a watchful eye and friendship with Isaiah Bradley (Patriot). However, when new President “Thunderbolt” Ross asks him to help recreate the Avengers and negotiate a new treaty involving a key MCU item, things quickly go from optimistic to problematic.

Isaiah and others are brainwashed into attempting to kill Ross. While he survives, the question of what is really happening leads to multiple storylines and paths. The problem, almost immediately, is that these paths don’t lead to anything meaningful, and the more I thought about it, the more I realized they took us to places we had already been too many times before. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

I want to start with the good because there was some good in the film. Easily, the best part of the film was Sam Wilson. Anthony Mackie definitely has a leading-man presence, and nearly every scene I liked in the film had him in it. For example, the opening sequence—where he attempts to recover a key item, followed by some key banter between him, Joaquin, and Isaiah—was incredible. They felt like a true family and a crew that had been together forever, and I wanted to see more of that. Instead, they were separated quickly, which, in my opinion, took away from the film’s quality.

Another key positive aspect of the film was the action sequences. Sam isn’t Steve Rogers or even Bucky Barnes—he doesn’t have the super soldier serum. So, the filmmakers had to ensure he came off as a serious replacement for Steve and could handle himself in a fight.

Part of that was established in the Disney+ series, where Sam gets a Vibranium suit. However, the movie took things one step further by giving him special weapons and expanding Redbird’s capabilities to help him in key situations. That led to some rather memorable fight scenes that showcased why Sam is a special fighter and can absolutely take on major threats (within reason, of course).

I will praise the film for incorporating certain key cameos and ties to early MCU films to ensure that parts of the plot flowed smoothly. Yet, that is sadly where the good things end and the issues begin.

The easiest one to point out is that this is yet another case of a brainwashed hero being pursued by everyone and having to find the true mastermind behind everything before it all unravels. If that sounds familiar, it’s because it’s essentially the same plot as The Winter Soldier and Civil War. All you have to do is swap out Isaiah for Bucky (twice over), The Leader for Hydra or Zemo, and Sam for Steve. It’s really the same story we’ve seen before, just with new characters that don’t measure up to what we got in The Winter Soldier.

A key reason for that is the trailers made it very clear that there were strings being pulled and that Ross would turn into the Red Hulk. As a result, all the mystery was lost the moment those trailers dropped. In contrast, The Winter Soldier focused on Bucky’s return, which was fine, but when the Hydra reveal happened, it blew all of our minds. Imagine if they had managed to keep Red Hulk a secret and he had shown up at the end with no warning. Instead, they built the entire trailer campaign around that fight, even though it wasn’t the film’s actual focus.

It also didn’t help that both The Leader (Samuel Sterns) and Thunderbolt Ross were framed as sympathetic characters, even though that didn’t align with how they were previously portrayed (Ross) or because we had seen them so little that it hardly mattered (Sterns). With Ross especially, they kept trying to frame him as a man trying to reconnect with his daughter and a changed man, yet he remained a jerk throughout much of the film. This included his refusal to release Isaiah, even after knowing Sterns was behind everything—simply because he didn’t want to lose everything he had. And while some will argue that he changed by the end, it was absolutely a case of too little, too late.

Meanwhile, Sterns (whose appearance compared to his comic counterpart was basic at best) repeatedly claimed to be a genius yet kept making simple mistakes. Then, he turned himself in to make his plan work, even though that plan would have worked without him being in custody. He had a recording of himself and the President, and he somehow hacked his own press conference—he didn’t need to be in jail to make that happen or to get Ross angry enough to transform. It was a rushed and unsatisfying conclusion for a villain who was supposed to be much more than this.

Furthermore, when we did get the Red Hulk fight, most of it had already been shown in the trailers. Seriously, you didn’t miss much. The fight’s conclusion was almost condescending—a simple talk-down attempt (done far better in What If…?) that shouldn’t have worked. Sam had tried the exact same thing just minutes earlier—when Ross was arguably much calmer—and yet, it had no effect. It came off as overly cheesy, which has become an unfortunate trend in recent MCU films.

Just as frustrating as the villains were the supporting characters outside of Joaquin and Isaiah. The biggest faux pas was Sabra—another member of the Red Room who is… just there. She does nothing truly consequential, and it makes no sense why Ross trusted her more than Sam. Yet, the film tried to make her seem important, even though I highly doubt she’ll be seen again. In fact, you could argue she was only included to deliver a certain one-liner so cringeworthy that I’m not even going to acknowledge it.

Oh, and let’s talk about Sidewinder. They cast Giancarlo Esposito in a Marvel movie, only to make him an incredibly forgettable side villain. He deserved better.

The biggest missing piece of this film, though, was Bucky Barnes—who is… a congressional candidate? Say what now? There’s no explanation for how we go from Bucky’s arc at the end of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier to this. He gets one scene and then just leaves… even though the job isn’t done and The Leader is still out there. He just… left. Why would Bucky do that to someone he cares about? It makes no sense. And yet, somehow, we’re supposed to believe he’ll be teaming up with the Thunderbolts later on? With people he barely knows? That’s not believable at all.

Oh, and speaking of unbelievable, the movie tried to Jedi Mind Trick its way out of major plot holes without any meaningful justification. For example, after the events of Endgame, the Avengers are just… done. Why? No idea. But the movie keeps bringing it up (including in The Thunderbolts trailer) without explaining why characters like Sam, Strange, or others wouldn’t still be defending Earth after what happened with Thanos.

Then there’s the aftermath of The Eternals, which the movie acknowledges by revealing that the Celestial is apparently made of Adamantium (how convenient…) and that the world’s reaction to it is just… studying it and figuring out who owns it. Seriously? That doesn’t make sense.

And finally, the numerous reshoots were glaringly obvious—not just in the way the plot unfolded but also in scenes with blatant greenscreen. One moment was so bad that I’m genuinely shocked it made the final cut.

As I finish up my Captain America Brave New World Review, I want to stress that this isn’t a bad film, despite my misgivings about it. I’d put this above the “lower tier” of the MCU, like Thor Love and Thunder, Celestials, Quantummania, etc. The problem here is that this film should be WAY above them, especially since there were blueprints about how to make things work and work well.

Instead, we got an incredibly by-the-numbers plotline that didn’t let the cast shine, tried to “smooth over” various plotholes and issues with a half-hearted effort, and didn’t even try to build upon what had been done in Falcon and the Winter Soldier. There was a scene where Sam said he “should’ve taken the serum” and that “Steve would’ve done better,” except he’s already proven to himself that he “doesn’t need to be Steve” or “need the serum” so why are we even talking about this?

If you’re looking for a decent film to watch? This will do it for you. If you’re looking for a “high-level MCU film,” then you should just go back and watch Winter Soldier.