Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for “Captain America: Brave New World.”
As 2025 gears up for a year of unrelenting releases from the Big Mouse, the question on everyone’s lips seems to be straightforward: Is Marvel finally back?
On Friday, Marvel’s “Captain America: Brave New World” released in the United States. The fourth of the Captain America films has the unfortunate task of comforting every Marvel film critic into thinking the “Infinity Saga” is back. The truth, “Brave New World” is a fine film, easily one of the most enjoyable in recent years. However, it falls flat in common Marvel style — the narrative is uninventive and lacks heart.
“Captain America: Brave New World” picks up three years after “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” (2021) mini-series on Disney+. Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) has taken up the red, white and blue shield; the world learns the story of the first Black Captain America, Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly); and Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford) is now president of the United States. Wilson has a new Falcon sidekick in Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez) and the world is continuing to rebuild after the “Blip.”
After the events of “Eternals” (2021), the world’s nations begin to fight over a newly discovered material, adamantium, that makes up the celestial being lying dead in the Indian Ocean. Are you still with me? Well, after Wilson recovers missing adamantium from a terrorist group, President Ross invites Wilson, Torres and Bradley to the White House. Here, an unusual attack on the President sends Wilson searching for the true culprit controlling soldiers through the classic single “Mr. Blue.” Oh, and there’s another Widow thrown in the mix, too.
Throughout the film, Ross struggles to hold his life together with an estranged daughter, tormenting foe, failing heart and sudden red skin chipping at his foundation. Between several long fight scenes, Wilson uncovers the true villain in Dr. Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson).
While a compelling idea, Marvel’s execution is unremarkable. Despite being a Captain America film, Wilson is not given the privilege of having his own unique story arc. Every plot point is a continuation from “The Incredible Hulk” (2008), a film Sam Wilson has no connections to. Instead, Wilson is shoved into the plot and forced to do damage control because Marvel thought Captain America should headline a Hulk movie. And who isn’t even in this Hulk reunion? The Hulk.
But there is a bigger problem with “Captain America: Brave New World” and Marvel as a whole. Marvel is scared of saying anything with substance, character and narrative. One could possibly argue the film is about the dangers of hurting others for revenge, but that would be giving Marvel far too much credit considering Wilson has nothing to do with Sterns’ revenge. Marvel is making art for the sake of making art and no longer making art that reflects and impacts the audience.
This is not to say “Captain America: Brave New World” is a bad film. Wilson’s fight choreography is unique to the character, the colors fly off the screen and despite the almost too clean-cut nature, the constant straight framing is an interesting choice. Mackie is entertaining and Lumbly is perhaps one of the best actors to grace a Marvel project. However, it does not matter how long you spend color grading, editing, reshooting or throwing money at a project — if the story lacks heart, everything suffers.
If all you desire from the Marvel franchise is a loosely connected story with a big bad, massive fights and quippy dialogue, maybe Marvel is back. However, if you are one of the tired souls wanting characters who are complex and fully-fleshed, Marvel still has a long way to go.
