Arts & Culture

 Captain America: Brave New World
Where: In theatres
What: Movie, 118 mins.
When: Fri., Feb. 14
Genre: MCU/Action/Sci-Fi
Rating: NNNNN (out of 5)
Why you should watch: Captain America: Brave New World establishes Sam Wilson firmly as his own man after taking on the mantle of Captain America, and while it tackles themes of race, loyalty, betrayal, and redemption, it remains a funny, stylish action romp that suspends your disbelief in things like…how physics works.

THEY SAY HISTORY doesn’t repeat itself, but that it does rhyme. They also say that art imitates life.

With Captain America: Brave New World starting with a post-election opening scene while coming out in 2025 in the wake of a deeply divisive real life US election, and with a February 14 release date that places it less than a month into a new American presidency that has already been unprecedented in all the wrong ways, it feels like these two aphorisms have come together in a mid-air collision.

Captain America: Brave New World opens, as mentioned, onto a stage in the aftermath of an election (the first real world parallel of many that echo throughout the film), where General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (ably played by Harrison Ford, stepping into the role after the sudden passing of William Hurt) — noted antagonist of the Avengers, and Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) in particular — is making his acceptance speech as the new president of the United States. With Sam Wilson as the new Captain America — Wilson having received the shield and the mantle of Captain from Old Man Steve Rogers at the end of Avengers: Endgame (2019), and worked through his uncertainties and doubts about becoming Captain America for a new era in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021) — the two of them are expected to work together for the good of all. In fact, “Together” is the campaign slogan Ross appears to have campaigned and won on, touting a new, less thunderous, more harmonious version of himself.

However, things quickly reveal themselves to be less than harmonious below the surface.

The second to last film in the MCU’s Phase 5 cycle of the Multiverse Saga — (Thunderbolts*, releasing on May 2, 2025, will round out the phase 5 cycle that began with Antman: Quantumania in 2023) — Brave New World picks up approximately three years after the events of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier limited series on Disney Plus. If you haven’t watched that yet, please put this down and go binge it for eight hours and then come back because, come on…spoilers.

From the events of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, where at the start Wilson can’t even get a bank loan to save his family’s business, despite saving the world twice over as an Avenger, through now to Captain America: Brave New World, Wilson continues to reckon with a government that remains all too fickle in their loyalty towards a Black man as their emblematic national hero, while he also bears the weight and responsibility of being a role model to all the people who have never known heroes who look like him…or like them. This film continues to ask what it means to love, be patriotic towards, and be a hero for an America that does not always love you back.

Mackie’s Wilson is aware of all of this. But despite a hyper awareness of his own human flaws and his insecurity over a lack of super serum enhancements, in a refreshing adherence to character growth making the jump from limited series to movie (a personal gripe I had with the Scarlet Witch of WandaVision versus the Scarlet Witch of Multiverse of Madness), Wilson comes out of the gate swinging with all the confidence due him.

Like Steve Rogers before him, Wilson commands admiration and respect from his fellow soldiers. But his version of Cap is uniquely his, and the film makes this clear, from the perfectly apt music choices, to his new super suit of vibranium-winged armour, to his fight choreography — a fluid, acrobatic combat style with a dancer’s impeccable timing, which contrasts with Steve Rogers’ patented Brooklyn beatdown fighting style. Wilson keeps the dynamic shield throws perfected by Steve Rogers’ Cap, but also takes full advantage of his vibranium wingspan to disarm attackers.

We get to see this new fight choreo in action fairly early on, during a mission that also introduces the (unofficial) new Falcon, Wilson’s protégé and fellow soldier / “man in the chair”, Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez).

This mission introduces viewers to the central premise of the film: a group of global leaders, headed by the United States, coming together to form a treaty to decide on the fate of the newly emerged, “Celestial Island” in the middle of the Indian Ocean. This island, of course, is the ossified remains of the Celestial whose impending birth (and subsequent inevitable destruction of the Earth) was thwarted in the final showdown battle of 2021’s Eternals.

Led by the new American president — and noted non-diplomat — Ross, this global consortium is in tentative talks to form a treaty to collaborate peacefully on the extraction and usage of the advanced resources they have discovered in the process of examining the Celestial.

As a sign of good faith and proof that he is a changed man, Ross invites the new Captain America, Sam Wilson, as well as Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly), the former super soldier introduced in Falcon, to the White House for a PR photo op at a treaty conference.

However, things quickly go very wrong when Bradley uncharacteristically attempts an assassination of Ross, and a revelation appears to show the US government orchestrating some underhanded dealings with regards to the treaty. This sets off all their former allies and threatens to destroy their tentative steps towards global cooperation.

Ross, aka, “the Hulk Hunter”, immediately reverts to his prior paranoid suspicion against any and all “enhanced individuals” (a phrase which he imbues with the same sort of tone that certain types use with the terms, “DEI” or “woke”), a stance initially echoed by his presidential security expert and ex-Black Widow, Ruth Bat-Seraph (Shira Hass).

He also immediately revokes his offer of mutual cooperation with Wilson, leaving the latter to take the investigation into his own hands. Wilson discovers disturbing truths about the new president he has committed to working with as Captain America, as well as evidence of unknown interference puppeting the strings from a distance. Along the way, he begins to question his own worthiness once again, especially in the absence of the Avengers around him, but then he develops some unexpected new allies in the fight.

Similar to the Black Panther series, which focuses compellingly on Wakanda and explores what it means to be African and powerful in a world historically antagonistic to Africans, while telling a story of love, loyalty, and family, Wilson’s narrative journey in becoming Captain America is an equally compelling exploration into what it means to be Black in America, particularly a Black man with all the specificity of baggage that comes with.

A solid entry into the MCU’s ongoing Phase 5 Multiverse Saga, Captain America: Brave New World establishes Sam Wilson firmly as his own man after taking on the mantle of Captain America, while also tackling themes of race, loyalty, betrayal, and redemption.

And it does all this while still being a fun, stylish, and funny action romp that further builds on the steadily expanding lore that has characterized the latest phase of MCU storytelling. It also features a couple of really great cameos, but I’ll leave you to discover those because…spoilers.