Falcon
Samuel Thomas Wilson
Movie · Phase 5
Captain America: Brave New World
2025 · 118 min
Thaddeus Ross is President of the United States and negotiating an international treaty over Celestial Island, the emerged corpse in the Indian Ocean that turns out to be the only adamantium source…
The Multiverse SagaDisney+47%Released
The story
Thaddeus Ross is President of the United States and negotiating an international treaty over Celestial Island, the emerged corpse in the Indian Ocean that turns out to be the only adamantium source on Earth. Sam Wilson, holding the shield without a serum in his blood, is invited to the White House and watches Isaiah Bradley open fire on the President.
Samuel Sterns has spent seventeen years in a cell doing Ross' thinking for him and has built a conspiracy out of resentment and gamma-tuned suggestion. The film wants to be a political thriller about legitimacy and mostly delivers a competent, oddly small procedural that ends with a president turning red.
Key facts
- Release date
- 14 Feb 2025
- Status
- Released
- Phase
- Phase 5
- Saga
- The Multiverse Saga
- Runtime
- 118 min
- Certificate
- PG-13
- Director
- Julius Onah
- Writers
- Rob Edwards, Malcolm Spellman, Dalan Musson, Julius Onah, Peter Glanz
- Streaming
- Disney+
- Timeline placement
- 2027 — roughly a year after The Marvels and Ms. Marvel
Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Anthony Mackie | Sam Wilson / Captain America |
| Harrison Ford | Thaddeus Ross / Red Hulk |
| Danny Ramirez | Joaquin Torres / Falcon |
| Tim Blake Nelson | Samuel Sterns / The Leader |
| Carl Lumbly | Isaiah Bradley |
| Giancarlo Esposito | Sidewinder |
| Shira Haas | Ruth Bat-Seraph |
Characters
Easter eggs
- Harrison Ford takes over Thaddeus Ross from the late William Hurt and becomes the Red Hulk, a Jeph Loeb creation from 2008.
- Tim Blake Nelson returns as Samuel Sterns seventeen years after The Incredible Hulk, finally realised as the Leader with an enlarged cranium.
- Carl Lumbly's Isaiah Bradley returns from The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and the film restates the Truth: Red, White & Black backstory.
- Celestial Island is the emerged body of Tiamut from Eternals, now the source of the MCU's adamantium.
- Adamantium enters the MCU's main timeline for the first time, a deliberate piece of X-Men groundwork.
- Giancarlo Esposito's Sidewinder leads the Serpent Society, one of Captain America's classic comic rogues galleries.
- Ruth Bat-Seraph is introduced as a Widow-programme graduate rather than the comics' Israeli Sabra, a change Marvel made after criticism.
- The post-credits scene has an imprisoned Sterns warning Sam about visitors from other worlds, pointing at Doomsday.
Trivia
- The film went through unusually heavy additional photography, with reporting suggesting roughly a third of it was reworked and the budget pushed toward $180 million.
- It was originally announced as Captain America: New World Order before the title was changed.
- Harrison Ford stepped into the role after William Hurt's death in March 2022, and has said he took it partly for his grandchildren.
- Anthony Mackie's Sam Wilson fights without super-soldier enhancement throughout, a choice the film foregrounds in every action sequence.
- Julius Onah came from the low-budget thriller Luce and has cited 1970s conspiracy films as the intended register.
- Shira Haas' character was renamed and rewritten from the comics' Sabra after significant criticism of the original announcement.
- A planned appearance by another major MCU character was cut in reshoots, which Onah has acknowledged without naming them.
Box office
- Budget
- $180 million
- Worldwide
- $413.6 million
- Domestic
- $200.5 million
Reviews
Critics
47%
Anthony Mackie steps capably into the star-spangled boots, but Brave New World is a muddled, over-processed thriller that never finds a compelling reason for its own existence.
The MarvelGossips verdict
The most anonymous Captain America film by a distance — a conspiracy thriller with no conspiracy and a Red Hulk finale that arrives like a contractual obligation. Mackie is genuinely good and deserves a film that lets Sam's lack of a serum mean something. Tim Blake Nelson's return should have been a coup and instead plays as housekeeping.
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Frequently asked
Is Sam Wilson a super-soldier?
No. He has no serum, and the film repeatedly stages his fights around that limitation, relying on the vibranium wing suit and shield. It is the clearest distinction between his Captain America and Steve Rogers'.
How does the film connect to Eternals?
Celestial Island is Tiamut, the Celestial Sersi halted in Eternals, and its body has become the only known source of adamantium on Earth. That resource conflict is the film's entire geopolitical engine.
Why did Harrison Ford replace William Hurt?
Hurt, who had played Thaddeus Ross since 2008, died in March 2022 before production. Ford was cast in the role and the character was elevated to President of the United States.
Does Brave New World set up Avengers: Doomsday?
Partly. Its post-credits scene has the Leader warning Sam about incursions from other worlds, and the adamantium reveal lays X-Men groundwork. Anthony Mackie is confirmed in the Doomsday cast.