Brave New World Merch Spoils Red Hulk’s Origin

Captain America: Brave New World has revealed a lot about its plot and characters, but one detail that was still up for speculation has been confirmed by an increasingly frequent but humorous source of insider information on superhero projects in general.

Captain America: Brave New World is the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s next big move and the first step in what seems to be a planned new wave of more grounded projects that projects like Thunderbolts* and the upcoming Daredevil: Born Again will follow up on. Brave New World has one big uphill battle to overcome as it is tasked with establishing Anthony Mackie as the MCU’s new Captain America and the de facto leader of the next slate of heroes set to face off against Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom. Thanks to these factors, the project has been closely watched by eagle-eyed fans eager to see how things will play out for the film, Mackie’s Cap, and the MCU going forward.

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While some plot details for Captain America: Brave New World leaked through more traditional channels like Reddit threads discussing test screenings, one important detail about a pivotal character in the film has been revealed to fans in a far less intentional manner. Thanks to a post on Instagram by user itsdanwho, fans on social media got to see the Captain America: Brave New World Marvel Legends Series action figures debuted at MCM ComicCon, showcasing Sam Wilson’s Captain America, the new Falcon, and Harrison Ford’s debuting Red Hulk. While the figures themselves are fairly interesting, what’s really worth a look is the character description for Red Hulk given on the back of the packaging for his figure, which reads, “A monster of Samuel Sterns’ making. Red Hulk is an incredibly strong and formidable foe. His skin radiates intense heat, burning everything he touches.“ While otherwise entirely appropriate as a description for a figure, this little writeup is the first-ever confirmation of the character’s MCU origin.

Due to the prevalence and importance of merchandising in modern multimedia franchises, this sort of spoiler has become more and more prevalent with Marvel projects. This isn’t even the first spoiler via toy merch for Captain America: Brave New World, and with so much packed into one film, there’s likely still more to be discovered. However, confirming the origins of Ford’s Red Hulk powers could be a major plot point, as Ford’s Thunderbolt Ross is now President of the United States. This could hint that The Leader, Sterns’ villainous identity in the comics and one that fans have long suspected would debut properly in Brave New World, could have his manipulative machinations in the White House. As it’s a political thriller, the importance of details like where a major political figure gets their powers could have serious implications in-universe.

The hilarity of multimullion dollar projects having their plot points revealed by retail merch is only made more hilarious by how often it seems to happen. It’s unlikely that Disney is going to stop letting things slip via merchandising anytime soon, and the problem doesn’t seem to be contained, either. The competition isn’t much better off, as even James Gunn’s upcoming Superman reboot recently suffered a leak via toy despite being DC’s most important project ever. Fortunately, these sorts of spoilers don’t harm fan enjoyment of the project any more than advance trailers do, so everyone can sit back and pre-order their odds and ends worry-free.

Captain America: Brave New World is set for theatrical release on February 14, 2025.

Captain America: Brave New World (formerly titled New World Order) marks Sam Wilson’s first MCU big-screen appearance as Steve Rogers’ successor after receiving the suit and shield in Phase 4’s The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Anthony Mackie returns as the titular Avenger alongside Danny Ramirez as Joaquin Torres, Carl Lumby as Isaiah Bradley, and Tim Blake Nelson as The Incredible Hulk’s former ally Samuel Sterns. Harrison Ford makes his MCU debut replacing the late William Hurt as Thaddeus Ross.

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Source: itsdanwho/Instagram