Captain America 4’s Promo Art Exposes Main Villain Spoiler

Captain America: Brave New World is set to be the first big MCU project of 2025, and while a ton of promotion is already out in the open, one important first look from the film has made its way to fans in an unintentional, albeit all too common, manner.

Captain America: Brave New World has been an uphill battle for stars and fans alike, with the project going through numerous adjustments and reshoots in service of making it fit for release, while fans have grappled with gathering up interest in a project that seems destined to tank despite the best efforts of talented people. Left with the Herculean task of replacing Chris Evans’ now-iconic Captain America with former Falcon Anthony Mackie, the film also took on a lot of character and concept introductions, including at least one Marvel villain that fans expected back in the MCU much sooner. Worse yet, the franchise as a whole is still in traction from a massively disappointing 2023 that led to older stars being bought back, with a lot of talk suggesting that the list includes Evans himself.

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While Evans’s MCU return is certainly a terrible sign for Captain America: Brave New World, the film also has some more minor issues popping up as the world transitions into its release year. A recent official merchandise listing posted to Amazon for a Captain America: Brave New World t-shirt features a relatively standard offering with flat colors and centered printing of the character’s bust, name, and the title of the movie tastefully put together.

However, the image in question just so happens to be a fairly photorealistic first look ever at the Leader, the main antagonist of the film. As one of a few rare gamma-enhanced humans from Marvel Comics that doesn’t simply become a Hulk, the Leader’s appearance is quite unique and has been one aspect of the upcoming film that many fans have been curious about.

While fans already got a clue as to the Leader’s MCU appearance from a Funko Pop, that didn’t really do much for anyone. The main unique property of Funko Pops is that they all have large cuboid heads, irrespective of the character’s actual head size or shape relative to the rest of their body in regular adaptations. This made the Funko Pop featuring the Leader, a villain whose main unique characteristic is that he has a large, bulbous head, not particularly good at showing fans how the franchise was going to handle translating the odd anatomy into live action. The image, at least the quality provided, seems to do the original comic book character justice while also matching up to the more practical requirements of live-action.

The MCU is no stranger to leaks and inadvertent spoilers, with one of the most hilarious leaks happening recently concerning Avengers: Doomsday. As far as these situations go, a t-shirt giving fans a first look at a villain whose involvement in the project has been well-known is pretty much a non-issue. The real issues plaguing the film are the never-ending changes and negative reviews from test screenings, as well as these bits of bad news routinely getting to fans. The film already had a lot to prove, and the backstage issues that made it to the audience only made things worse. The film’s effects, however, have been almost quizzically adequate, and The Leader is no exception. This is little consolation in the face of apathy and even active disdain, though.

In the end, it might be prudent for fans to start looking past Captain America: Brave New World and on other projects down the pipeline. With so much investment and so little confidence to show for it, the hope really might be misplaced and could be better served by hyping up another project with less opposition set against it. Thunderbolts*, for better or worse, seems more likely to deliver the sort of grounded action that the MCU seems to crave so desperately, and the latter part of the year will also see the release of Daredevi: Born Again, which could be just the ticket. Fans won’t have to wait long to see how this all plays out, as Captain America 4 hits theaters on Valentine’s Day.

Captain America: Brave New World is currently 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.

Release Date

February 14, 2025

Director

Julius Onah

Cast

Harrison Ford
, Liv Tyler
, Giancarlo Esposito
, Rosa Salazar
, Takehiro Hira
, Anthony Mackie
, Tim Blake Nelson
, shira haas
, Carl Lumbly
, Danny Ramirez
, Rachael Markarian
, Jacqueline Loucks
, Tony Mareno
, Zo’Anne Mckinstry
, Phuong Kubacki
, Colby Lopez
, Xosha Roquemore

Main Genre

Superhero

Character(s)

Thaddeus ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross / Red Hulk
, Betty Ross
, Sidewinder
, Rachel Leighton / Diamondback
, Prime Minister Ozaki
, Sam Wilson / Captain America
, Samuel Sterns / The Leader
, Ruth Bat-Seraph / Sabra
, Isaiah Bradley
, Joaquin Torres / Falcon
, Presidential Aide
, Secret Service Agent #2
, Navy Seal
, White House Press

Writers

Dalan Musson
, Malcolm Spellman

Studio(s)

Marvel Studios

Distributor(s)

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Prequel(s)

Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, Captain America: The Winter Soldier

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