Captain America: Brave New World premieres in theaters this week, featuring the return of Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) and various other characters to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While the film was announced shortly after Sam took on the role of Captain America in the television series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, several factors have led to delays from previously planned release dates. It has now been nearly four years since Sam or other established members of the cast, such as Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford, taking over the role initially played by the deceased William Hurt), have appeared in live-action projects, with others returning after being last seen in the 2008 film The Incredible Hulk. So, what’s everyone been up to?
At the beginning of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Sam declines the mantle and shield of Captain America, which his friend Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) had bequeathed to him in Avengers: Endgame. While continuing to operate as the superhero the Falcon, he investigates the Flag Smashers, an international freedom-fighting group that escalates to terrorism. This mission leads Sam to learn more about the dark history of America’s super-soldier program, including the abuse of Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly, also returning in the new film). Isaiah, a Black super soldier who served in the Korean War, was unjustly incarcerated and subjected to horrific experimentation by both the U.S. government and the terrorist organization Hydra. Although this understandably increases Sam’s doubts about the Captain America mantle, he eventually takes it back after white special operations soldier John Walker’s (Wyatt Russell) time in the role ends with him publicly killing a defenseless, subdued opponent.
After debuting in the role in a final confrontation with the Flag Smashers, Sam shows Isaiah that he has had an exhibit focused on the latter’s service installed in the Smithsonian as part of an effort to increase public awareness of his heroic predecessor. The events of Brave New World are instigated by the election of Ross, who previously served as an Army general and Secretary of State, to the position of President of the United States. This will be followed by his transformation into the super-powered Red Hulk.
Some viewers have questioned why Ross and other characters related to The Incredible Hulk, such as Samuel Sterns/The Leader (Tim Blake Nelson), have been given such prominent roles in a Captain America film. However, the Hulk and Cap corners of the franchise have always been linked since before Steve first met Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), the original Hulk, in The Avengers. The Incredible Hulk established that, in the MCU, as in Marvel’s Ultimate Comics continuity, Banner’s experimentation with gamma radiation, which leads to his initial transformation into the Hulk, was part of the super-soldier program. This program famously succeeded in giving Steve his superpowers during World War II.
Sterns and all other gamma-powered characters in the MCU so far, such as Bruce’s cousin, Jennifer Walters/She-Hulk (Tatiana Maslany), receive their abilities by being exposed to Bruce’s genetic material, making them all indirect products of the program. It’s likely that the same will be true of Ross becoming Red Hulk. This connection makes encountering some of these characters a logical next step in Sam and Isaiah’s stories. Though, admittedly, it may still be somewhat strange if Banner himself does not appear in the film, which is most likely the case.
Ross’ persecution and incarceration of many of the Avengers, including Sam himself, as shown in Captain America: Civil War, will also add another layer of personal tension to their dynamic. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and The Incredible Hulk are clearly Brave New World’s most important predecessors, but it also has ties to several other Marvel properties. When Ross gives Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth) his first dose of super-soldier serum in The Incredible Hulk, the former is shown removing the drug from a container labeled as being part of a government program called “Weapons Plus.”
Introduced in the comic book series New X-Men, Weapons Plus is an umbrella term that retroactively links many of the disparate American super-soldier programs featured in different comics. Steve was designated Weapon I; Isaiah and his unit actually predate Steve in the comics, but their horrific experiences were kept particularly secretive, as in the MCU. The people enhanced by later programs are also designated by Roman numerals. Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars might affect the eerie ending seen in Spider-Man: No Way Home. The X-Man Logan/Wolverine is famously known as Weapon X, with the surgery that encased his skeleton in indestructible metal adamantium being the result of the tenth program, while other characters such as Luke Cage and Man-Thing are tied to earlier and later iterations.
Although the reference to Weapons Plus in The Incredible Hulk was likely intended as a simple, comic-accurate Easter egg for fans, adamantium plays a significant part in Brave New World, as the metal is obtained from the gigantic corpse of the alien Celestial Tiamut, which has been protruding from the ocean since the 2021 film Eternals. Brave New World director Julius Onah has confirmed this will eventually lead to an adaptation of the Weapon X storyline in the MCU’s main universe, though that may not necessarily be part of this film.
One of Brave New World’s new characters is Ruth Bat-Seraph (Shira Haas), an employee of Ross who is also a former Black Widow. This means she received espionage training from the abusive Russian organization known as the Red Room, just like MCU fan favorites Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) and Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) did. Hurt’s final appearance as Ross was in Black Widow, although that film actually takes place prior to others in which he appeared, in which it is implied that he helped neutralize the Red Room after Natasha publicly exposed it and freed the other Widows, despite wanting to apprehend her for violating the Sokovia Accords created to govern superheroes.
This may explain how he and Ruth joined forces. Rounding out the (confirmed) returning cast are Dr. Elizabeth “Betty” Ross (Liv Tyler) and Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez). Thaddeus’ daughter and a skilled scientist, Betty, like Sterns, was last seen in The Incredible Hulk, where she also served as Banner’s (then played by Edward Norton) love interest. Introduced in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Torres is a U.S. Air Force lieutenant who worked closely with Sam after the events of Endgame, including on the Flag Smashers investigation.
When Sam decided to take up the Captain America mantle, he left the winged jetpack he had used as Falcon with Torres, setting him up to serve as the next Falcon in Brave New World, much like his comic book counterpart does. The interconnections between Edward Norton’s portrayal of the Hulk and the evolving narrative surrounding Captain America reflect the intricate tapestry that Marvel weaves throughout its cinematic universe. This rich overlap of character stories, themes, and legacies enhances the viewer’s experience, creating a compelling narrative that continues to unfold as new films emerge.
