Was "Captain America: Brave New World" a hit or a miss?

BY BRENNA DEMPSEY

Executive Producer

“Captain America: Brave New World” made its way to theaters Feb. 14, 2025, and has some fans feeling let down. 

At the time this article was written, the Rotten Tomato review sat at a dizzying 49%, so let's break it down and find out why. 

Warning: Very minor spoilers ahead.

The movie showed off some great visuals and a strong cast, but the story itself felt lacking. It felt like a very long episode in the middle of a TV show where you don’t quite get the full story in one go.

I had seen all the relevant movies leading up to this one but not “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” TV series, which takes place two years before the content of the movie, so maybe that would have removed some of the confusion.

“Captain America: Brave New World” and an upcoming movie “Thunderbolts*” are essentially building up for “Avengers: Doomsday.”

This left the movie unable to properly stand on its own.

In an interview with The Movie Report, Nate Moore, the producer for “Captain America: Brave New World,” elaborated on the connection.

“Yeah, I mean look, we’re starting to build, it’s no secret, we’re starting to build towards Avengers 5, and I think there’s never been an Avengers movie where there’s not a Captain America at the center of it,” Moore said. “So, this is about Sam Wilson showing the world how much, showing the world that he is deserving of the mantle and showing the world why he’s both Captain America but not Steve Rogers.”

I think because the creators working in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) were looking too far ahead, they lost sight of what was right in front of them and what this film should have been. 

It could have fully lived up to expectations if it had been given more time.

The casting was strong with Anthony Mackie, Harrison Ford, Tim Blake Nelson, Giancarlo Esposito and a brief, but still appreciated, appearance from Sebastian Stan.

These actors bring a lot to the table with their skills and dedication which can be seen through their accomplishments over the years in the film industry.

The main plot was uncovering political conspiracies and schemes to overthrow the newly elected president, but the themes were not strong enough to stand out, and that is why the MCU brought Giancarlo Esposito on set at the last minute. 

Esposito played Sidewinder, the leader of the Serpent Society. He does a fantastic job portraying the hardened mercenary. 

Esposito’s role was added late into filming because, according to an interview Moore had with The National, there were inconsistencies with the tone. 

“I think one of the challenges of making these sorts of movies is making sure your tone is consistent,” Moore said. “As we were making the film, we were really trying to find the perfect political thriller tone. And sometimes that means some of the stuff you shoot doesn’t quite work out in the way you intended.”

The creation of character Giancarlo is one MCU thought would bridge that gap between the film falling flat or being too over the top. 

“We knew we needed somebody like Giancarlo to help ground the tone even further into the world of the political thriller without it getting too heightened,” Moore said. “The great thing about Giancarlo is that he can do stuff that is heightened, but you buy it. His character in 'The Mandalorian' accomplished that. And I think he helped ground the tone of this movie in a way that really helped the movie writ large.”

Esposito’s position in the MCU should have been given more time to perfect given what a hot commodity his acting is currently.

He should have been given a bigger role or cast for an entirely different movie because he absolutely fits into the MCU.

There are high expectations for Marvel movies. 

“Avengers: Endgame” is a hard act to follow, especially since the MCU is the current highest-grossing franchise worldwide according to Statista, a global data and business intelligence platform. 

"As of January 2025, the Marvel Cinematic Universe series was the highest-grossing film franchise with total worldwide box office revenue of 31.06 billion U.S. dollars. ‘Avengers: Endgame’ (2019) was Marvel's highest-grossing movie with 2.8 billion dollars in global revenue,’” Statista shared on their website.

All this being said, the movie ended up being better than I expected. 

I think there was a lot of potential, I just wish they had taken more time to make the fans excited for the MCU again. 

Captain America’s position was always meant to be passed down to the next person, and Sam Wilson has the ability to live up to that legacy.

Sam Wilson never took a serum to make himself superhuman, so his outstanding achievements are all his own, and that makes him even stronger when put into perspective.