(Updated 04/12/2024)
With the release of THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER, Thor became the first MCU hero to reach a four-film milestone. But he won’t be the last. Depending on how you reckon the CAPTAIN AMERICA series, that is.
What does that mean? Well, it goes like this. CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD will be the fourth MCU film title that starts with the words CAPTAIN AMERICA. But this won't be a new adventure starring Chris Evans as Steve Rogers, because Evans exited the Marvel stage after AVENGERS: ENDGAME.
This movie is about the new Captain America, Sam Wilson. If you watched "The Falcon And The Winter Soldier," which chronicled Wilson's journey to accepting the Captain America title, this is old news to you. But there's a lot of Wilson's story that is yet to come. And it will also be the doorway for one of our favorite actors to enter the MCU.
So is this the fourth CAPTAIN AMERICA movie or the first NEW CAPTAIN AMERICA movie? It’s all a matter of perspective. Here's everything you need to know.
What's the Captain America: Brave New World Release Date?
CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD will open exclusively in movie theaters on February 14, 2025.
Is There a Trailer for Captain America: Brave New World?
There is no trailer for CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD at this point. Footage was shown at CinemaCon 2024 in Las Vegas, but has not been released to the public. The movie wrapped production in the summer of 2023, but the writer and actor's strikes of last year forced a lot of schedule shuffling at studios, with Marvel particularly affected.
All of which means that we're still waiting to see a BRAVE NEW WORLD trailer. With DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE set to open in July, we expect to see a new CAPTAIN AMERICA trailer around that event.
What Is Captain America: Brave New World About?
We don’t know many key plot details about BRAVE NEW WORLD at this point. One assumes it will detail Sam Wilson’s new life as Captain America. After that, we mostly have to speculate, though one of our assumptions about the story has recently been confirmed.
The idea that has long made sense, however, is that the film might advance Sam’s story by having him put together a new version of The Avengers. After all, post-ENDGAME, it’s hard to say who is an Avenger at this point.
Indeed, that seems to be the overall idea in the movie, at least at the beginning. In the footage screened at CinemaCon, Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross — now the newly-elected President of the United States of America — asks Wilson to reform the Avengers. But he'll have to contend with several forms of resistance, some of which comes from other super-soldiers.
Who Is In Captain America: Brave New World?
Anthony Mackie returns as Sam Wilson. When it comes to recognizable heroes, he won’t be the last. For instance, it’s very difficult to imagine this movie without Wilson’s best frenemy Bucky Barnes. Since Bucky will be in Marvel's THUNDERBOLTS*, we hope he shows up here as well.
Many of Sam Wilson's other "Falcon and the Winter Soldier" pals will also show up in THUNDERBOLTS*, so we might not see them here. But Danny Ramirez and Carl Lumbly reprise their respective roles of Joaquin Torres and Isaiah Bradley from the series, and Tim Blake Nelson will turn up as Samuel Sterns, aka the Leader. He was originally seen in one of the very first MCU movies, 2008's THE INCREDIBLE HULK. There's another returning actor from that movie, too: Liv Tyler will be back as Betty Ross.
And then there's one more new addition…
Harrison Ford Joins the MCU
The character Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross has been set for BRAVE NEW WORLD since the movie's original conception. He was last seen in BLACK WIDOW, played by William Hurt, who first played the part in THE INCREDIBLE HULK. But Hurt passed away in March 2022.
Now Harrison Ford has stepped into the role of Ross for BRAVE NEW WORLD — and he will appear in THUNDERBOLTS as well. We don't like the reason for this recasting, and we're also curious to see Ford's superstar presence in Marvel's lineup.
Who Is Making Captain America: Brave New World?
BRAVE NEW WORLD is directed by Julius Onah, who has been best known for directing THE CLOVERFIELD PARADOX. He also directed the popular Sundance indie, LUCE.
And while we know we've mentioned "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier" often, there's a good reason: Marvel is using that series as a jumping-off point for this movie, from a staffing standpoint as well as a creative one. Malcolm Spellman and Dalan Musson, who wrote on the series, are writing BRAVE NEW WORLD, too.
Read more about Marvel's upcoming movies!
All images courtesy of Marvel Studios.