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Captain America Soars to New Heights in Brave New World

by Miguel Fermin
February 20, 2025

Captain America: Brave New World brings in a new Captain America who finds himself filling in the shoes of an old friend.

Anthony Mackie debuted as Sam Wilson in Captain America: The Winter Soldier all the way back in 2014. His natural chemistry with Chris Evans, Sebastian Stan, and pretty much everyone else carried over into his role as Falcon, being a great friend to Steve and Bucky. After eleven years of being a great supporting character, Sam Wilson — Anthony Mackie — is finally and definitively the new Captain America. The latest movie, Captain America: Brave New World is a world that’s been in the making for a long, long time. I must say that it feels good to watch a Marvel movie that’s connected to its setting; it feels right watching Sam wield that mighty shield.

Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson in Captain America: Brave New World

Truly, A Brave New World

A lot of this movie feels like a course correction for the overall worldbuilding of the mainline MCU, and I’d say that overall it’s a net positive. Endgame ended with Steve passing the shield to Sam. That was six long years ago. As much as I enjoyed The Falcon and the Winter Soldier in 2021 on Disney+, I’ve always thought that it should have been on the big screen because the people needed to accept that the iconic mantle had been passed on. That actually was integral to the plot of the show, and while it had a satisfying conclusion, it was not capitalized on in any of the succeeding movies until now.

And so four years later, the first chunk of Captain America: Brave New World is spent catching up the audience to where old characters are now, who all these new characters are, and a whole bunch of events and places. The movie is forced to start slow, but when it finally gets going, it keeps going and never stops. The movie finally provides payoffs to years of character development, and it also does indeed set up the new kind of world that its heroes will have to navigate. It’s a world without the Avengers, where superpowers and global superpowers find themselves in an arms race because a dead god is stuck in the Indian Ocean. There are many moving pieces, and the movie quickly turns into an intense juggling act. By the end of it, I’m both satisfied and more excited for what’s next.

Red Hulk in Captain America: Brave New World

A New Captain America

It’s great to see Anthony Mackie completely own the spotlight that he’s been given. The MCU has always been good at casting charismatic leads, and Mackie is absolutely deserving of the lead role. What his portrayal of Sam Wilson has especially been good at is elevating those around him. Sam is a character who has both a snarky standoffishness and a keenness to always listen and say the right things. He lets moments breathe, and he also makes everything more fun.

He’s always had great chemistry with teammates, and that extends now to Joaquin Torres who is the new Falcon played by Danny Ramirez. For me, the best parts of the movie are everything with Harrison Ford as President Thaddeus ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross. It’s unfortunate that William Hurt who brilliantly brought this character to life in the previous MCU films passed away and was unable to continue this character here in this major role. That being said, Ford honors his memory by fulfilling years of background character development and bringing it all out to the forefront. Ford brings equal complexity and screen presence to his take on Ross, straddling between suave diplomat and mournful figure and, yes, raging monster. He owns every scene he’s in, and the recasting proves to be one of the best additions to the MCU.

Two Different Approaches

My favorite scenes in the movie were the stand-offs between Sam Wilson and President Ross. Watching them go head-to-head was the highlight, and this culminated in the final fight of the film. By now, everyone has seen Red Hulk, as he’s been a key part of the marketing for the movie. For those who have not seen much from the trailers, I recommend not watching too much of the promotional material and instead going straight to the cinema to not be spoiled.

The confrontation is so well built up throughout the movie, and the fight itself is pure mayhem. The rest of the action was also well done with interesting choreography. Steve Rogers was a super soldier who parkoured his fist, foot, and shield into his enemy’s faces. Sam Wilson is not super, but he has Wakandan tech and a lot of strategy. It’s fun watching him switch between the shield and the wings, and the combos get creative. Sam does constantly feel like the underdog, so it makes it all the more satisfying when he wins.

From Falcon to Captain America

Captain America was always the character who grounded the high stakes of the MCU in the personal and the contemporary. Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson carries this role wonderfully and in a way only he can. It’s fitting then that it’s likewise the Captain America entry that brings the MCU back to the foundations that turned casual moviegoers into fans. Captain America: Brave New World is a step in the right direction for the MCU. It really does feel like this movie should have come out right after Endgame.

Cast of Captain America: Brave New World

Is Captain America: Brave New World worth the watch?

While the spectacles and surprises of all the multiverse shenanigans have been delightfully entertaining, it’s this movie that follows up the best overall (so far) on the worldbuilding, themes, and relationships from the Infinity Saga. Captain America: Brave New World is all at once a proper sequel to Civil War, The Incredible Hulk, and even Eternals, and it all comes together as a new starting point for what comes next.

Of course, the movie is plenty entertaining on its own. While I and many others will miss Steve Rogers recklessly plowing through obstacles, Captain America doing flight acrobatics is a cool evolution for what the character can do. Fighting Red Hulk is the flaming cherry on top. I hope it won’t be too long until the next time he takes to the skies, but until then, I’m very happy to see Captain America captivating the cinema once more. (And I’m crazy excited to see more Bucky in Thunderbolts later this year!)