faced troubled production periods. While it doesn’t bear the Boris Karloff scars of, say, DC’s Justice League or Sony’s Madame Web — Marvel’s too smart for that — it’s still a largely lifeless affair that could’ve done with another bolt of electricity.
The Disney Plus-ification of the MCU is a debate that rages on Reddit daily, but Brave New World may just represent the most egregious example to date. Despite having Anthony Mackie in the stars and stripes for the first time on the big screen, what could’ve been an all-inclusive Captain America relaunch intent on winning back wider audiences makes the curious decision to directly tie into 2008’s The Incredible Hulk and 2021’s Eternals, two of the least memorable MCU movies of the lot. The reason why is presumably so you’ll feel compelled to watch them when you get home and keep that subscription going. By reaching back to the beginnings of both Phase 4 and its entire lifespan, the MCU is coming full circle… but also eating its own tail.
In the long run-up to its release, Brave New World received a lot of heat online for appearing to be the most politically contentious MCU film yet seen, thanks to the presence of Marvel’s first Israeli superhero and its White House-centric storyline. As it happens, Shira Haas’ Ruth Bat-Seraph won’t enrage anyone, as she’s simply a walking (or butt-kicking) exposition machine in the mold of Maria Hill (RIP!). Far more interesting, though, is how the film approaches its intriguing reflection of our own current cultural climate. Which is to say, it ignores it wholesale.
Although it stars a controversial president who survives a near-miss assassination attempt, bungles international relations, and can turn into a monster with brightly colored skin, don’t expect any Trump commentary here. The studio clearly saw the writing on the wall when this one was reshot in early 2024 and made sure the movie never strayed onto either side of the political divide. If there is a central theme buried under that mandate it’s that togetherness is more powerful than division, which is certainly apposite and aspirational, even if it feels more Care Bears than Captain America.
Perhaps the biggest flaw of Brave New World is one it shares with many of the weaker Multiverse Saga offerings: its hero has no hero’s journey. Anthony Mackie is as strong a screen presence as ever and any faults with the film are not his own, but the script gives him precious little to get to grips with. It’s frustrating, as SamCap has the potential to be just as interesting as his predecessor. While Steve Rogers is a man out of time, Wilson is treated like a man out of place — never given the same respect as his forebear and kept at arm’s length of the important conversations, despite his clear popularity with the public. Any possible personal turmoil or growth that this promises is only paid lip service.
Really, despite whose name is on the poster, this is Harrison Ford’s film, as President Ross inarguably has the most transformative arc (both internally and physically). Ford brings his familiar brand of curmudgeonly charm to the part, reconceiving the character from William Hurt’s suit with a mustache into a man haunted by a lifetime of mistakes just looking to make amends. Whether he returns as Red Hulk — what? We all saw the trailers, didn’t we? — is the big question, but he’s easily Brave New World‘s best gift to the Marvel multiverse, so with any luck he will.
Just as Ford’s President Ross barely contains the Red Hulk within throughout, there’s a sense while watching Brave New World that a much bigger, more interesting beast has been wrestled into submission after much blood, sweat, and tears. Multiple scenes have some truly eye-watering background CGI (a plain-as-day consequence of all the reshoots), Giancarlo Esposito’s Sidewinder is as paper-thin as only a major antagonist added at the eleventh hour can be, and all the fan-service builds up to a crossover cameo in which the two actors at play were patently never even in the same room.
The result is something far closer to Thor: The Dark World than Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which was surely the MCU movie the filmmakers put on a pedestal while shooting. Working on a script from five (!) screenwriters and no doubt having to restage his own work extensively, director Julius Onah had no hope of recreating the Russo brothers’ jewel in Marvel’s crown, although he doesn’t help himself out with largely lackluster action and small screen-level visuals.
When it comes down to it, Brave New World is not, in fact, all that brave. The extent to which Marvel clearly carved out the heart that must once have beaten within this lumpen, limping mass of moving wallpaper means you could even call it cowardly. On the plus side, though, Captain America 4 might be craven, but at least it’s not, you know, Kraven.
Published: Feb 14, 2025 01:52 pm