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Sam Wilson is ready to pick up the shield, and not a moment too soon.
The first trailer for Captain America: Brave New World has dropped. Anthony Mackie’s feature debut as Cap feels more like a thriller from the 1990s, and not just because it has Harrison Ford in a presidential role. Directed by Julius Onah and co-written by The Falcon and the Winter Soldier showrunner Malcolm Spellman, Brave New World deals with a conspiracy within the White House, which means a lot of folks in nice clothes pulling guns and looking concerned in boardrooms.
But as Captain America: The Winter Soldier taught us, even a paranoid thriller is still an MCU movie, so lets look at the superhero goodness promised by the Brave New World trailer.
Photo: Marvel Studios.
Harrison Ford as Thaddeus Ross
In the proud tradition of Don Cheadle’s Rhodey saying, “Look it’s me, I’m here, deal with it,” after replacing Terrence Howard in Iron Man 2, Marvel isn’t going to let a major recasting go unnoticed. William Hurt played General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross in the first MCU Hulk movie The Incredible Hulk. Hurt reprised the role several times after that, most notably in Captain America: Civil War, but the actor passed in 2022.
A shockingly game Harrison Ford has taken Hurt’s place, sans the character’s famous push broom mustache. And it’s a good thing too, because the missing soup strainer gives the characters a wry way of addressing the casting change.
“They said to lose the mustache or lose the presidency,” growls Ross when Sam comments upon the new look, which points to the character’s role in the story. Ross plans to move from Secretary of State to President in this film, just in time to get caught in an attack on the White House.
Photo: Marvel Studios.
Isaiah Bradley Returns
In the trailer, the most obvious sign of the White House attack involves Isaiah Bradley attacking Ross. MCU fans met Bradley, played by the great Carl Lumbly, in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Bradley is the sole survivor of American experiments on Black citizens to replicate Steve Rogers’ supersoldier serum. The storyline came from the excellent 2003 comic miniseries Truth: Red, White, and Black by Robert Morales and Kyle Baker.
Although justifiably angry at the government, Bradley didn’t seem like the type of guy to return to violence. At the end of the The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, he just wanted to live in peace in his home, tending to his plants and raising his grandson Eli (who may very well become Patriot of the Young Avengers).
Which means something or someone is likely controlling Isaiah, and that these evil forces probably have their eye on supersoldiers.
Photo: Marvel Studios.
Ruth aka Sabra and a Mystery Agent
Throughout the trailer, we see shots of a brunette woman looking stern and pulling a gun. That is Ruth Bat-Seraph (Shira Haas), known in the comics as the mutant superhero Sabra. Sabra has always been a controversial character, as she is an agent in Israel’s covert intelligence organization Mossad.
The movie version seems to be downplaying that aspect, both by removing her codename Sabra and by making her a former Black Widow. However, it remains to be seen how they’ll handle her mutant status. Even thought the X-Men have not made their debut, mutants such as Namor, Ms. Marvel, and El-Aguila have appeared in the MCU already.
In most of her scenes, Ruth can be seen with actor Xosha Roquemore, who appears to be a secret service agent on Ross’s detail. As of right now, Roquemore’s character has not been revtealed. She might be Leila Taylor, Sam’s usual love interest in the comics, but there’s no official word on that yet.
Photo: Marvel Studios.
The Leader
Throughout The Incredible Hulk, Bruce Banner (then played by Ed Norton) communicates with a man identified only as Mr. Blue. We later learn that Mr. Blue is scientist Samuel Sterns, played by Tim Blake Nelson, who wants to use Banner’s gamma radiated blood for his own gain. In his last scene of the film, Sterns gets knocked aside by the Hulk, getting a cut on his head. As a vial of Banner’s green gamma blood leaks into the cut, Sterns looks at the camera with a wry grin.
That tease set up the Leader, one of Hulk’s most common foes. The Leader has a gamma-radiated brain that give him a big ol’ green noggin and super-smarts.
For years, it seemed like Marvel would ignore The Incedible Hulk. But then it started to bring back the characters, first Hurt as Thunderbolt Ross and then Tim Roth as Abomination in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. Now Nelson has returned as the Leader, who will certainly play a key role in this conspiracy.
Photo: Marvel Studios.
Giancarlo Esposito as G.W. Bridge?
Even though he joined the cast very recently, Breaking Bad star Giancarlo Esposito gets heavy attention in the trailer. Esposito had been rumored as a potential choice for the MCU’s Professor X, but he debunked that, claiming that he’s playing someone very surprising.
As discussed earlier at Den of Geek, there are several characters he could be, including Bushmaster of the Serpent Society or Jacob Fury, Nick’s duplicitous brother. A more recent suggestion has been G.W. Bridge, a high-ranking member of SHIELD introduced in Rob Liefeld’s X-Force. I’ll skip the obvious jokes about tiny feet and many pouches here to just point out that Bridge tends to be an antagonist for Cable or the Punisher, not Sam Wilson or any version of Captain America.
Still, it wouldn’t be the most ridiculous idea in the world. We’ll likely have to wait until the movie releases for confirmation, or at least until a merchandise leak.
Photo: Marvel Studios.
Tiamut and Seth Rollins… Maybe?
Esposito is a recent addition to Brave New World, one who joined the movie during its heavy reshoots. While fans are excited to see what Esposito will do, those reshoots may have have bumped out two other things that fans hoped to see in Brave New World: Seth Rollins and the hand of Tiamut.
WWE star Seth Rollins joined the initial cast of Brave New World, slated to play a member of the Serpent Society. However, recent rumors have suggested that the Serpent Society aspect of the movie has been downplayed in the reshoots and that Rollins has been cut entirely.
Likewise, early leaks about Brave New World stated that the Serpent Society’s plot would involve the hand of Tiamut. If you don’t remember that the Celestial Tiamut started to emerge from the planet Earth at the end of Eternals, complete with its giant fingers portruding from the ocean, then you may work for Marvel Studios, because this seismic, literally planet-changing event has been as ignored as thoroughly as Harry Styles’s post-credit appearance.
Some folks online claim that they see Tiamut’s hand in the background of ocean scenes, but… we’re not ready to say that’s it for sure. That rocky thing might indeed be a hand, but it’s clear that Tiamut isn’t getting full attention in the trailer.
Photo: Marvel Studios.
The New Falcon
Throughout the trailer, we see Sam with his new partner, Joaquin Torres. Played by Danny Rameriez, Torres was introduced in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier as a member of the U.S. military who worked with Sam on various missions. By the end of the series, Sam had given Torres his own pair of mechanical wings, pointing to his eventual identity as the second Falcon.
Some of the shots in the trailer may be of Torres as the Falcon, but its hard to say for certain. In the comics, Torres became the Falcon after the Serpent Society infused him with the blood of Sam’s pet falcon Redwing.
Given that Redwing is a drone and not an actual bird in the MCU and that the Serpent Society are secondary villains in Brave New World, it seems likely that he’ll take on his Falcon form in the movie.
Photo: Marvel Studios.
The Power Broker’s Secret Lab?
Then again, we do see a shady secret lab in the trailer. The design of the lab looks an awful lot like the labs of the Power Broker, at least the Marvel Comics version. In the comics, the Power Broker is a Captain America villain who, through the help of mad scientist Karl Malus, offers augments to the highest bidder.
The comic book version of the Power Broker tends to show up in USAgent stories, which is why a Power Broker storyline appeared in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. But in the MCU, the Power Broker is Sharon Carter, a one-time SHIELD agent and potential main squeeze for Steve Rogers, who has since become a mercenary.
With that in mind, the lab might be just a random baddie place for the Leader or the Serpent Society, which has nothing to do with the Power Broker. Then again, in the comics, Karl Malus was the one who the Serpent Society used to transform Torres into a human/falcon hybrid, so it isn’t a ridiculous theory.
Of course, the most obvious explanation is that the lab is where they created the Red Hulk.
Photo: Marvel Studios.
Red Hulk Smash
Oh, did I not mention Red Hulk? Because they have a Red Hulk.
Despite Ford saying he has no idea what the hell a Red Hulk is, the final shot of the trailer reveals that Brave New World will indeed see Captain America fight the Red Hulk.
Red Hulk is a fairly recent entry into the Hulk’s lore, as longtime adversary General Ross takes the ultimate gamble to thwart his enemy. As the Red Hulk, Ross has the same strength as his enemy, but retains all of his intelligence and tactical brilliance.
We only see a couple seconds of Red Hulk in the trailer, but he does look a bit more feral than the Smart Hulk seen in Avengers: Endgame. Furthermore, Cap has the stance of someone ready to fight, not talk the other guy down. So we might just be seeing Ross become another variation of the Hulk, not an intelligent Hulk who understands reason.
In short, the first trailer for Captain America: Brave New World promises ’90s thriller plotting and weird comic book goodness, and we can’t wait to see more.
Captain America: Brave New World releases in theaters on Feb. 14, 2025.
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