“Captain America: Brave New World:” A Hulking Indifference

Posters of "Captain America: Brave New World" with Red Hulk featured in all of them. Photo by Andrew Breen '25

Saying that Marvel is a mess right now is an understatement. The multibillion-dollar franchise is at a clear low point, as its myriad of endless Disney+ series, alongside major critical and commercial blunders of “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” and “The Marvels” have put it in a tough spot. 

After the mindless but fun “Deadpool & Wolverine” was the only MCU film released last year, it was finally a bit refreshing to have a break from the constant release cycle. However, this year Marvel is running a gauntlet of releases with “Captain America: Brave New World” in February, “Thunderbolts*” in May and “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” in July. 

This is all leading up to the fifth Avengers film, “Avengers: Doomsday,” set for release next May. 

Controversially, Robert Downey Jr. will return in this installment, but not as Iron Man. He is now playing Doctor Doom – only a few years after being fried by the Infinity Stones in “Avengers: Endgame.” 

Outside of the poor release reception over the past years, Marvel has been struggling with the inherent directionlessness of its overarching story. While past films have failed to correct the MCU's continual rudderlessness, “Captain America: Brave New World” is the first MCU movie in a while not to be in space, an alternate reality or have incessant shoehorned cameos. “Brave New World” is meant to get back to basics. 

Sam Wilson – our newest Captain America, played by Anthony Mackie – must uncover a mystery concerning the new president of the United States, Thaddeus Ross, played by Harrison Ford. As numerous reviews have said, these two central performances are great; Mackie steps up to the plate and delivers a strong performance, while a legend like Ford brings much more emotional depth than needed for the film. 

Objectively, “Brave New World” is not a really great film. It has a muddled, ridiculous plot, obviously not helped by its whopping five – yes, five – writers. Moreover, at points, it has PNG plug-in-looking special effects and lackluster attempts to come out politically inoffensive. On the other hand, this is a very dumb action movie, where the plot is so absurd that it loops back into being entertaining. 

While the action never reaches the technical heights of “John Wick” or “Fury Road,” it is still an improvement over recent MCU projects. Despite a clunky, poorly edited opening, the film finds its footing with more grounded action sequences – one particularly fun duel between Mackie and Giancarlo Esposito in the middle of the film is a highlight – to a more grand-scale sequence involving fighter jets in the back half, showing that the MCU still can craft some fun action. 

Despite the film being marketed as a mystery and structured as one, its marketing spoils the “twist” – that Ross is a Hulk (but red). The entire film is structured around “What is happening to the president?” Yet, every poster, trailer and marketing push emphasizes Captain America fighting Red Hulk.

While the film mostly acts as an MCU-level spy thriller, it completely loses its mind to have a giant red Harrison Ford destroy the White House. Ironically, Ross, despite being a rampaging Red Hulk, comes across as a more reasonable leader than the actual current U.S. president. The only form of political commentary in the entire film is when Ross admits his wrongdoings and faces punishment for his actions. This ends up feeling even more fantastical than him being a literal monster a scene prior.

Bizarrely, “Brave New World” acts as more of a sequel to 2008’s “The Incredible Hulk” and the largely forgotten “Eternals” from 2021. With this, the film comes off as a Frankenstein of MCU ideals mashed together, making it feel more like a Sunday morning cartoon, rather than an ultra-serious set-up movie. 

The only thing that isn’t spoiled in the marketing is the mastermind behind the film’s plot. The writers basically pulled an MCU character from “The Incredible Hulk,” a film that most Marvel fans barely remember. Once revealed, it's a head-scratcher.

I believe Marvel wanted this film to re-engage audiences with the looming Avengers threat—though it’s still unclear what exactly that threat is supposed to be. I think this film works for the opposite reason. “Brave New World’s” plot felt so trivial, goofy and strangely apolitical for our time, that I could actually enjoy it. 

Making Captain America apolitical is a bit preposterous considering the character was originally built as a Nazi-punching anti-fascist propaganda machine. However, I understand that in the hands of a company like Disney, profit always takes precedence over artistic risk. For example, Disney is now slowly fading out their DEI programs to show servitude to a new political administration. 

While a more biting political thriller following Captain America in our current times could have been engaging in the hands of a more accomplished filmmaker, it's a bit absurd that Mackie’s Captain America has to be strongly political while Chris Evans was never called on for that task. 

The politics, production and business of “Brave New World” ends up being more fascinating than the film itself. Nowadays, MCU outings are more interesting pre and post-viewing rather than sitting in the theater. Before walking into “Brave New World” I was interested in its numerous reshoots and controversies. After viewing, discussing the film has become more interesting than the film itself. 

Marvel films are among the last blockbusters keeping American movie theaters filled, as they won’t be dumped on streaming within three weeks after the theatrical release like many independent films. Even though their quality is much more haphazard, they still inhabit a space in film discourse that the majority of people can connect over. 

Marvel has an important role in the film ecosystem; it keeps the movie theater industry alive with its frequent releases. Without Marvel, many movie theaters wouldn’t be around currently. After the pandemic “Spider-Man: No Way Home” raked in billions and reinvigorated theaters. 

With this, there is both a parasitic and mutualistic relationship at play. Both theaters and Disney benefit from the business, but Disney is tightening its grip on theaters, forcing long endless screenings for weeks, essentially monopolizing screens.

As audience reactions have been more favorable than critics, and the box office return was strong in its opening week, “Brave New World” shows that the MCU still has some lasting power in our culture. We are past the heydays of “Infinity War” in cultural relevance, but there is still an audience for these films. 

While the epic multi-year buildups are still around – and barely functioning – I found myself enjoying the schlocky, cartoonish early 2000s-esque superhero qualities of the film; sometimes there are really bad, stupid ideas, and this movie is full of them, but having Harrison Ford be a giant evil red president is big, dumb fun and maybe that's what the MCU is now. And honestly, that’s okay.