Anthony Mackie plays Captain America. Photo ©Marvel Studios
In 2008, Iron Man introduced the world to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). It seemed like such an exciting idea — a series of interconnected films featuring different superheroes like Spider-Man, Thor, Doctor Strange and The Incredible Hulk. Those were simpler times.
Fast forward to 2025 and I’ve developed symptoms of the condition known as Marvel fatigue. The concept of an interconnected world of stories used to be exciting but, 34 films, 20 television series and four specials later, the idea of having to have watched a year’s worth of content in order to understand the latest superhero movie is not appealing.
Into this milieu comes Captain America: Brave New World, the 35th film entry in the MCU. As you might recall, Steve Rogers, played by Chris Evans across 11 films, stepped down from his title as Captain America and passed it on to his sidekick Sam Wilson, played by Anthony Mackie, who up until that point had been the Falcon. This happened in Avengers: Endgame back in 2019. Then, in 2021, series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier explored Wilson’s gradual, uneasy adjustment to the role of Captain America.
Mind you, this is not the only background information that’s essential to understanding Brave New World. There are also key plot threads directly connected to Eternals, released in 2021, and The Incredible Hulk, released all the way back in 2008. At this point, you need a spreadsheet to keep up with all the machinations of the ever-unfolding MCU.
Yet all this could be forgiven if Brave New World wasn’t so damn boring. The film finds former US military general and relentless pursuer of Bruce Banner’s Hulk, Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (played by Harrison Ford), elected as the US president. Wilson is invited to the White House and Ross floats the idea of restarting the Avengers initiative.
Given Ross’s history, Wilson is understandably sceptical but then an assassination attempt on Ross throws matters into a tailspin and threatens a worldwide conflict. Wilson teams up with the new Falcon Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez) and Ross’s security advisor Ruth Bat-Seraph (Shira Haas), who is also a former Black Widow, to investigate.
In some ways the film feels like a joyless rehash of 2014’s Captain America: Winter Solider. It very much tries to channel the spirit established by that film of a tense political thriller disguised as a superhero movie. It even sets up the exact same team dynamic of Captain America, Falcon and Black Widow. But where Winter Soldier was compelling and enjoyable, Brave New World just feels dull and unnecessary.
Perhaps you can only watch the world get saved from world-ending threats so many times before it becomes almost impossible to make it feel like there are any real stakes involved. There’s a conflict in the film that comes close to starting a world war which, in real life, would have made international around-the-clock news. But while watching the film I couldn’t help thinking, “Who cares?”
Now, not to be completely negative about the film, there were some thrilling action sequences, especially one involving fighter jets and naval ships. Also, Mackie’s and Ford’s performances were generally good.
It’s just that the material they were given to work with was so flat. Ford’s character, in particular, suffers because there’s an important story thread about mending his relationship with his estranged daughter that doesn’t carry any emotional weight because the events that caused the strain took place in a film from over 15 years ago.
I also get the sense that Marvel doesn’t have much faith in Mackie’s ability to carry the role of Captain America, which would explain why Red Hulk is all over the promotional material for the film despite only appearing for about 10 minutes.
The confrontation between Captain America and Red Hulk is indeed thrilling but it’s over too quickly and doesn’t provide a satisfying payoff. I have a sneaking suspicion that Marvel will use the multiverse as an excuse to bring back Evans’s Captain America in the upcoming Avengers’ movies, sidelining Mackie.
With all this said, it’s entirely possible I’m just a curmudgeon who no longer understands the appeal of superhero movies. After all, Brave New World has already taken in over $180 million at the global box office since its release on Valentine’s Day, so clearly people are still watching.
The film isn’t entirely bad. It’s certainly nowhere near as terrible as the likes of Madame Web and Kraven the Hunter but it’s still painfully disappointing and remarkably forgettable. Outside of the fantastic Spider-Verse movies and Spider-Man: No Way Home, it’s been a long time since I had an unabashedly good time watching a Marvel superhero movie. But with 10 confirmed films and three television series already scheduled for release over the next four years, the MCU train shows no sign of slowing down. Any more films like Brave New World would make me want to stay off of it for good.