When a sports team loses some key players, some people say that the following seasons are “rebuilding seasons” so they can build the team back up again. For the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), you could say the same thing for the last few years. (SPOILER ALERT) After the MCU movie “Avengers Endgame” (2019), the Marvel Universe lost 4 main superheroes. Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr) died, Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) probably died (except for a prequel “Black Widow” movie in 2021), Captain America (Chris Evans) pretty much quit and gave the title to someone else, and the actor Chadwick Boseman who played Black Panther in some Marvel movies passed away (so far Marvel says the character will not be recast) (END OF SPOILER ALERT). After that, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been introducing a lot of new characters and trying to build the universe back up again.
Unfortunately, their rebuilding has been plagued with issues which has led to delays, rescheduling, and rewriting. There was the pandemic, the writers and actors strike, actor Jeremy Renner was in a terrible accident that almost killed him, actor Jonathan Majors (who was in the “Loki” TV show and the “Ant Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” (2023) movie) – who was going to be a big part of the next Avengers movies according to reports – supposedly had his character minimized (or possibly removed) due to the actors legal troubles, actor William Hurt who played Thaddeus Ross in some Marvel movies passed away (that character was recast for this movie), and Disney acquired the 20th Century Fox studio. For the last one, fans can’t wait for the Marvel superheroes from that studio – including the X-Men, Daredevil, and the Fantastic Four – to join the main Marvel Cinematic Universe.
However, according to what I’ve read, the Marvel Cinematic Universe was starting to get back on track as they built up to the next Avengers movie in summer of 2026. So, after a little deliberation, I decided to go see “Captain America Brave New World”. Judging by this movie, the rebuilding is going slowly.
Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) – the new Captain America – is enlisted by the newly elected President Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford – replacing William Hurt) to help him create a new Avengers. While he’s at the White House – along with his friends Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly) and Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez) – he attends a party to celebrate a new pact with other countries over the Celestial Island – which contains a brand-new element called “Adamantium”. When Isaiah Bradley attempts to assassinate Thaddeus Ross at the party, Sam is determined to clear his friends name and stop what could become a world war over the new “Adamantium”.
Anyone who has seen the previews or advertisements for this movie knows that I didn’t mention a key part of the advertising for the movie – Red Hulk. I didn’t mention it because Red Hulk – who is only in one scene towards the end – is probably the best part of the movie. I didn’t want to spoil who the Red Hulk is or why he’s in the movie. The rest of the movie is CGI fight scenes and some exposition explaining the backstory of characters. All in all, it’s a very basic plot.
The reason they probably added the exposition is for the audience that aren’t comic book fans and haven’t seen all the previous movies (like me). What is “Celestial Island” – you should watch the Marvel movie “Eternals” (2021). Why is “adamantium” so important – it’s arguably the strongest steel in the world – check out any of the Wolverine movies (or the comic books) for more information. Who are Sam Wilson and his friends – see the Disney+ series “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier”. Who are those other characters – some of them are from “The Incredible Hulk” (2008).
Overall, this movie is a fairly simple plot that is (hopefully) one piece of bigger and better movies in the MCU. If it wasn’t for the Red Hulk, I may have skipped this movie. If you’re a comic book fan you may like it more than I did because you know more about the characters and the backstory than I do. If you’re not a comic book fan – there’s still the scene with the Red Hulk.
Overall: 7 out of 10
LOS ANGELES FILM REVIEW 