Captain America: Brave New World (2025, PG-13)

*Premise spoilers.*

Despite all the discourse and hand-wringing and dunking, I’m still—for the most part—positive toward Marvel. There have been a few post-Endgame projects that really fumbled for me, like Multiverse of Madness and Secret Invasion, and I’ve acknowledged flaws in plenty of others. But even if I’m not necessarily at the heights of my Marvel days anymore, I go into each new project wanting to enjoy it. Brave New World has its issues, and Sam Wilson/Anthony Mackie deserved a stronger script for his first big-screen showing as Cap, but there’s still plenty to like in this movie.

What’s It About?

Sam navigates his new status as Captain America, coupled with the uneasy circumstances of one Thaddeus Ross being the newly elected president. When friend and former Cap Isaiah Bradley is implicated in a shocking assassination attempt, Sam sets out to clear Isaiah’s name and uncover the true culprit behind the attack. In between blocking Sam’s efforts, Ross desperately tries to cement his legacy by salvaging a treaty over adamantium rights.

Who’s In It?

Obviously, Anthony Mackie is front and center as Sam Wilson. He’s always played this character so well, and now that he’s Cap, some of Sam’s best qualities are brought to the forefront. For other familiar faces, we’ve got some returning folks from Falcon and the Winter Soldier, namely Danny Ramirez as Joaquin Torres and the always reliable Carl Lumbly as Isaiah Bradley. We also reach alllllll the way back to The Incredible Hulk to bring back Tim Blake Nelson as Samuel Sterns. Harrison Ford steps in for the late William Hurt to play Ross. It’s interesting—Ford’s performance, coupled with the writing, doesn’t really say “Ross” to me, and it softens the character’s edges in ways that don’t really jibe with his history in the franchise, but I can’t deny that Ford plays the hell out of what could’ve easily been a phoned-in paycheck role. For new characters, we get Shira Haas as Ruth Bat-Seraph, the only prominent female character in the film, Giancarlo Esposito is wasted as the minor villain Sidewinder, and I enjoy seeing a small appearance from Xosha Roquemore (who I remember as Tamra from The Mindy Project.) There are also a couple nice MCU cameos that I won’t spoil here.

What Do I Love About It?

·        You can see the ways that Brave New World wants to be The Winter Soldier, and it isn’t, but one aspect that resonates nicely between the two films is how in both, Cap cultivates a larger network of allies and associates through his relationships. Sam and Joaquin and a good back-and-forth, with Joaquin eager to run before he can walk and Sam balancing the contrasting requirements of mentoring him, pumping the brakes when needed, and leaning on his skills as shit hits the fan. I really like Sam’s burgeoning friendship with Isaiah, and the scenes of Sam, Joaquin, and Isaiah hyped about being invited to the White House are an absolute delight. Beyond that, Sam is friendly and personal with the other military guys he liaises with, and he has a friend in Ross’s administration who helps him navigate the political stuff. Like Steve before him, Sam encourages and inspires others to step up and find the hero in themselves, knowing that he may be the one with the shield but it takes a village to defeat the bad guys.

·        While Falcon and the Winter Soldier dealt a lot with whether the U.S. would accept a Black man as Captain America, along with Sam’s thoughts about repping the stars and stripes for a country that marginalizes him/his community, Brave New World looks more at Sam being nonpowered. We see others questioning whether an “ordinary” human can step into Steve’s shoes, and Sam himself wonders if he has what it takes. To that end, there’s a strong emphasis in the action scenes on the hits Sam withstands, as well as the creative measures he has to take to get the job done. I’ve always liked how Sam’s wings get incorporated into the action, beyond just flying, and this is suped up even more now that Sam’s suit is Wakanda-made. There are scenes where he takes an absolute beating and has figure out how to win while protecting himself against further injury, and there are scenes where he needs to think tactically in order to get one over on an opponent who could easily crush him.

·        In true Sam Wilson fashion—yes, everything I like best about this movie directly involves Sam—he never fully gives up on Ross, despite spending much of the film at odds with the president. Ross makes nice with Sam for the cameras when it’s to his advantage, but the moment they clash, he instantly starts throwing his weight around and outright refuses to see any nuance or work with Sam in a way that isn’t 100% on his own terms. And Sam is definitely willing to go against Ross when their goals are too misaligned, but he continually tries to get the president to see sense and come to a peaceful resolution. That right there is a huge part of the reason Sam is the one Steve trusted with the shield.

Warnings

Comic book violence, language, drinking, and thematic elements (including suicide through mind control.)

Character Highlight: Baron Helmut Zemo (Captain America)

*Spoilers for Civil War and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.*

The Marvels and the Loki season 2 finale aren’t quite out yet, so I figured I might as well continue my informal tour through some of the most memorable MCU villains. When Zemo first shows up in Civil War, he really does something different than a lot of Marvel baddies, and it’s interesting to see how his plot comes together.

In many Marvel films, the villain has roughly similar powers/tech as the main hero. Iron suit against iron suit. Super soldier against super soldier. Sorcerer against sorcerer. But Zemo doesn’t have equivalent abilities to Cap, let alone all the other Avengers populating Civil War. In fact, he doesn’t have any enhanced abilities at all. So instead of mirroring the hero’s powers, Zemo ends up mirroring the theme of the movie. In a film that’s all about superhero collateral damage, in which the UN creates the Sokovia Accords to put a leash on enhanced individuals and the Avengers clash over the merits of that idea, it’s only fitting that the main villain is someone who lost everything during a previous movie’s climactic third act battle.

Zemo doesn’t have anything to do with the UN or the writing of the Accords, but he is from Sokovia, and during Age of Ultron, his family was killed. Not shot by Ultron robots—killed entirely by accident, amid the havoc caused by superpowered battles. This turns him against all enhanced folks, and if anything, I’d say he hates the heroes even more than the villains. Villains may be the ones actively trying to hurt/kill civilians, but I imagine Zemo finds it more despicable when the “good guys” inadvertently get people killed over the course of trying to help.

But again, Zemo has no powers himself. He knows that there’s no way he could defeat Captain America, Iron Man, or the Scarlet Witch. However, he has patience, resources, and meticulous planning. So he crafts a scheme that will lead the Avengers to destroy themselves. Yeah, it’s the sort of grand villain plan that requires an astounding number of things to go exactly as he predicts, anticipating every reaction every step of the way, and I’ll admit that it strains credulity—especially considering that I can’t imagine he knew about the Black Panther, a major wildcard who’s added to the mixed almost from the opening salvo.

As it shakes out, though, everything aligns according to Zemo’s plan. Disagreements over the Accords, combined with Steve’s drive to help Bucky at a time when he’s public enemy number one, brings the Avengers to blows, and Zemo’s orchestrated reveal that the Winter Soldier assassinated Tony’s parents destroys any chance at a peaceful resolution. None of the heroes kill one another, but their team is left fractured. Half of them are imprisoned on the Raft, and later sent on the run, and with the extreme fissure between Tony and Steve, the team’s de facto leaders have been driven apart.

Even as you can feel for Zemo in his grief over his anger, and even as his anger is understandable, there’s unsettling about the cold, methodical way he goes about enacting his scheme. He moves through the world like a man who’s lost his soul and has nothing left of himself, only this plan. I’m reminded of other stories about people who lose themselves to their quest for vengeance, like Sweeney Todd. Because achieving everything he sets out to do doesn’t bring Zemo any peace or satisfaction. Were it not for T’Challa stopping him (that wildcard again,) he would have died by suicide after seeing his goal come to fruition.

After seeing him in Civil War as a solitary figure, draped in a sort of mournful blankness, it’s a little jarring to see a very different Zemo in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. When Bucky breaks him out of prison to help track down and stop the Flag Smashers, Zemo moves with more swagger and sass. We get more ostentatious displays of his wealth, and while he’s still dedicated to his anti-superpower stance, he’s much snarkier and more needling as he alternately helps Sam and Bucky and acts as a thorn in their side.

It’s never really explained why Zemo’s manner is so different here, other than the meta presumption of providing The Falcon and the Winter Soldier with an entertaining baddie. I find him a lot more interesting in Civil War, though, and I think he feels more cohesive as a character there.

Top Five Badass Scenes: Bucky Barnes (The Avengers)

*Spoilers.*

While Top Five Big Damn Hero Moments posts focus on victories of all stripes, this new periodic feature I’m kicking off will be more specifically geared toward action. I’m looking here at the sort of moments that make me want to shout out loud in the theater. And who better for an inaugural post than Bucky Barnes? Captain America: The Winter Soldier still has some of my favorite MCU fight choreography to this day. This is especially appropriate for the Big Damn Hero Moments/Badass Scenes distinction, since some of these devastatingly badass moments are for a character who’s not yet a hero but a weapon used by others.

 

Attack on the Highway (Captain America: The Winter Soldier)

Oh my god, so incredibly cool. The Winter Soldier is just this inexorable force who never stops coming. He lands on the roof of Sam’s car, smashes the window and yanks Sitwell out, is thrown off and uses his metal arm to slow his momentum, flips back onto the roof of car, and rips the steering wheel out! So intense, so brutal. I love those moments in the midst of the attack when he just goes still—patient, unconcerned, waiting for his moment to strike again. Hands down one of my favorite scenes in one of my favorite MCU movies.

 

Fighting Steve and Natasha on the Street (Captain America: The Winter Soldier)

That’s right: this sequence is so epic, I had to split it into two separate entries. While the highway attack gives us that scary-cool relentless brutality, the street fight shows off the Winter Soldier’s skills up close and personal. I love the clang of the Winter Soldier’s metal arm punching the shield, as well as the move where he uses the shield to flip Steve to the ground, taking it for himself, and I live for all the knife-fighting. Also, it’s a little moment amid the larger fight, but I like that quick beat after Natasha uses a device to temporarily disable the electronics in his arm, just that careful curl of the fingers as the arm comes back online and the decisive way he rotates it in its socket before he dives back into the fight.

 

The Apartment Fight (Captain America: Civil War)

A quasi-tag-team with Steve. When Bucky is framed for a terrorist attack and the police come banging down his door, he displays all kinds of cool-as-hell ingenuity to evade them. He uses everything from a mattress to his metal arm to absorb the bullets, and he roughs up the police with cement blocks and their own battering ram. My favorite moments are when he leaps down the middle of the stairwell, grabbing the railing to slow his momentum—it sounds dumb when you describe it, but it looks so cool in action!

Escape from Custody (Captain America: Civil War)

When Zemo reactivates the Winter Soldier, let’s just say the Avengers are lucky that his orders are evidently to escape, not attack. Because at the very least, the Winter Soldier would’ve left some dead CIA folks in his wake. The Winter Soldier is a machine as he methodically fights his way through agents and Avengers, getting past Sam, Steve, Tony, Sharon, Natasha, T’Challa, and (nearly) Steve a second time, with an assist from a helicopter. I especially love his face-offs with Tony and T’Challa, both of whom are somewhat hampered by not having their suits (T’Challa’s still got his enhanced abilities, but the lack of panther claws trips him up at a crucial moment.) I really like how dispassionate the Winter Soldier is throughout the whole thing. No matter what they throw at him, he only has eyes for his objective and simply isn’t going to stop until he fulfills his orders.

Fight with the Flag Smashers (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier: Season 1, Episode 5)

One thing about Bucky is that, by and large, the Winter Soldier’s fighting is undeniably cooler than his own. The Winter Soldier is just devastatingly relentless and lethal, and it’s so effing cool. When Bucky has his own agency, there’s always a level to which he’s holding back, precisely because he doesn’t want to kill people. But at his best, he’s still got the moves. It’s a small moment within a larger fight, where Bucky joins both Sam and Walker in going after the Flag Smashers, but I do love this bit. After kicking a dude through a brick wall (fighting other super soldiers allows Bucky to let loose a little more,) he shows off his lightning-fast reflexes in going hand-to-hand against another guy, catches a knife in mid-air, and then throws it with impeccable precision just inches from the guy’s head after laying him out. 

T’Challa Character Comparison: Civil War and Black Panther

I just rewatched Captain America:  Civil War for the first time since seeing Black Panther (several times.)  It was good to go back and revisit the introduction we had to T’Challa, along with the tiny hints we got of Wakanda.  I remember how much I flat-out adored T’Challa when I first saw Civil War, and how the film got me even more pumped for Black Panther than I already was.  But watching it again, I was really struck by how, while T’Challa is still pretty great in that movie, I love him so much more in Black Panther (some spoilers for both movies.)

We’ll start out with the fact that trying to kill Bucky in a misinformed attempt to avenge his father – while the ink on the signatures of the Accords is still drying, no less – isn’t particularly in character for the T’Challa we know in Black Panther.  There, the young king shows himself to be bold but also measured; he frequently takes time to ponder his next move, to worry over whether he’s doing the right thing, and even his mission style often takes a more covert approach.  I don’t really fault Civil War T’Challa for that, though.  After all, no one is exactly doing the reasonable thing throughout basically the whole of Civil War – it’d be hard to end up with the superhero-on-superhero battles if the characters weighed their decisions more.  So, it’s a product of the narrative, not to mention tying into the movie’s overall theme of the corrosive effect of vengeance, leading to the great scene of T’Challa’s literal mountaintop epiphany when he confronts Zemo.

However, I do have a couple complaints when it comes to T’Challa and Wakanda’s intros in Civil War, having now seen them as they ought to be in Black Panther.  First, on the matter of Wakanda itself, the pre-Black Panther hints we get of the kingdom are kind of all over the place.  It’s first brought up as an easter egg in Age of Ultron, where Bruce has seemingly never even heard of it and Tony and Cap know about it mainly through the connection of Cap’s Vibranium shield that was made by Tony’s dad.  Meanwhile, Civil War first shows us Wakandans on an outreach mission to Nigeria, and when some of their people are caught in the crossfire of an Avengers operation gone south, T’Challa’s father seems to emerge as one of the key voices behind the Accords.  At no point in that movie does anyone treat T’Challa like they think he’s from a third-world nation (not even unsympathetic characters like Thunderbolt Ross,) and no one questions Wakanda’s major role in pushing the Accords.

This doesn’t really gel with Black Panther, where Wakanda is known for being reclusive but incredibly “poor” (little does the rest of the world know.)  Where Everett Ross is polite-ish but fairly condescending to the Wakandans he meets, until he actually goes there and realizes the astounding advances they’ve been hiding.  I don’t think we can make an argument that Civil War didn’t have time to touch on this idea at all, since they took the time to make Wakanda a bigger player within the Accords than would make sense for the world’s perception of it at the time (given the recent incident in Nigeria, I could see T’Challa and T’Chaka being invited to the signing, but not T’Chaka giving a big speech and certainly not him talking about finally wanting to share Wakanda’s resources.)  I feel like this is the sort of oversight that comes from different perspectives – it’s far more likely that patronizing attitudes from unknowing Americans will occur to a Black director/screenwriter than a white production team.

Similarly, other than the Wakandan cryo-chamber in the credits scene, we don’t really get any sense of Wakanda’s technology (and even then, the same movie features a shot of Siberian cryo-chambers old enough to be in an abandoned, seemingly-forgotten facility.)  There’s T’Challa’s Vibranium suit, but as Shuri points out in Black Panther, this version is “functional,” without a fraction of the cool-ass technology she uses for his suped-up version in his own film.  It could be argued that Marvel was saving the awesome Wakandan technology for Black Panther, and that makes sense, because the technology in that movie is endlessly awesome.  Still, I would’ve liked to see at least a few veiled hints of it, or at least no scenes of T’Challa using low-tech western stuff.  Watching Civil War this time, I was really struck by the shot of T’Challa looking at a smartphone.  Given Wakanda’s stylish sand tables and holographic communicators powered by kimoyo beads, I have to think T’Challa’s thoughts about smartphones would be similar to Okoye’s about guns:  “so primitive.”

Finally, the Africanness of T’Challa (and Wakanda, obviously,) stand out so much more to me in Black Panther.  I love that Shuri’s lab is decorated with African designs, and I love the amazing costuming for everyone in the film.  Nothing about Wakanda or T’Challa apologize for their Africanness, and what’s more, they don’t have the barest sense of any reason that they should.  The confidence and self-assurance that comes from never having been colonized is palpable, and T’Challa’s well-tailored but very western clothes in Civil War don’t have nearly the same flair.  Again, this is maybe something that never occurred to the Russo brothers, or perhaps dressing T’Challa in suits was their way of showing that he’s sophisticated.  (Side note:  I also seemed to remember a scene where T’Challa dismisses Wakandan beliefs about the afterlife as something his father believed in, not him, but the scene is more ambiguous than I thought – it could be that T’Challa is only making the distinction in that his father thought the afterlife was peaceful, responding to Natasha’s remark on it.  Either way, the impression does distance T’Challa a little from Wakanda’s religion.)

But T’Challa – and Wakanda – has never needed western trappings to be sophisticated, to be “modern.”  That’s the whole point.  I love that T’Challa uses phrases like, “For Bast’s sake!”, and that Wakanda’s techonologically-advanced weapons are based on spears, not guns.  At the end of Black Panther, when T’Challa goes to the UN to open up Wakanda to the world, I love that the Dora Milaje who escort him still have neck rings to go with their inconspicuous dresses, and I love the glorious scarf T’Challa drapes over his chic black suit.  I don’t think that’s something that Civil War quite understands about T’Challa and Wakanda, and I’m not sure if it ever could have.  Now that T’Challa and Wakanda have made their proper debuts in the MCU, I hope Infinity War uses them (and the other Black Panther characters appearing in that movie) as they ought to be.