Does the newest Captain America film live up to the quality of its predecessors within the Marvel Cinematic Universe?
As with any Marvel entertainment, this film does not exist on its own as there are numerous other films and tv series that are required viewing in order to fully understand the story of this film.
To fully understand the plot of the film you must have seen the following Films and TV series in the order that they are listed:
- The Incredible Hulk (2008)
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
- Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
- Ant-Man (2015)
- Captain America: Civil War (2016)
- Black Widow (2021)
- Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
- Avengers: Endgame (2019)
- The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021)
- Eternals (2021)
This lengthy list of required viewing certifies the fact that this film is not intended for a wide audience. Normal folk who are not engaged in the Marvel Cinematic Universe will likely be confused while watching this new film as it frequently directly references sequences and story beats from the films and shows listed.
In terms of the film’s quality, it is clear that Marvel Studios have lowered the bar with recent films. Brave New World goes through all the generic super hero movie tropes without actually presenting anything special.
Reviewers on Rotten Tomatoes echo this sentiment with one review stating, “the film as a whole struggles with moments of blandness” (Jhunjhunwala, 2025).
*Spoiler territory*
The plot of this film is essentially a direct sequel to 2008’s The Incredible Hulk despite the fact that it is a Captain America film, and Hulk does not even show up in the film.
The main villain of the film, Samuel Sterns aka The Leader was first introduced in the 2008 Hulk film and within the comic book source material is primarily a Hulk villain.
Additionally, Thunderbolt Ross returns to the MCU, also having been introduced in the 2008 Hulk film. Furthermore, Ross transforms into the Red Hulk towards the end of the film, further cementing the unusual fact that Hulk does nota appear in the film.
Ultimately this film feels like a Frankenstein’s monster of a superhero film. A Captain America film that serves as a sequel to The Incredible Hulk without an appearance of the Hulk himself. The film is also a sequel to the 2021 TV miniseries The Falcon and the Winter Soldier which unfortunately, the average audience has not seen as it is exclusively available through the Disney+ subscription service.
Many of the characters in this film are wasted potential.
Red Hulk, while being part of the best action sequence in the film, only appears for about five minutes before being thrown in The Raft, a supervillain prison.
Samuel Sterns the leader is grossly underutilized and does not at all resemble his character from the comic books. In the film, Samuel Sterns has a grotesque brain-like scalp whereas in the comic books Samuel Sterns has an elongated forehead that resembles Yakub from the Nation of Islam.
The filmmakers managed to get Giancarlo Esposito to play the role of Sidewinder but once again, the character is only in about three scenes. This role was actually initially portrayed by Seth Rollins who, “got repurposed for Giancarlo Esposito, who is a hell of an actor,” (Tessier, 2025).
Finally, the Israeli superhero Sabra appears in the film but her origins are changed due to the controversial nature of the middle eastern country she originates from.
Is the film a monetary success?
During the films opening weekend, Brave New World earned $180.90M globally (Comscore Movies, 2025). Throughout the production of this film, “reshoots drove the ‘Brave New World’ budget to $380M” (Ruimy, 2025). Ultimately as it stands currently, the film has been a financial failure. In order to be successful, the film must earn twice the budget, that being 760 million dollars.
