Captain America: Brave New World is receiving mixed reviews from fans and critics, with criticism of how overstuffed with Easter eggs it is, its lack of packing any notable political punch, and how it doesn’t significantly move the Marvel Cinematic Universe forward as a franchise. However, another major criticism is how, like many other MCU movies in recent years, Marvel Studios hasn’t made much effort to connect it to its various Disney Plus television series (and the Netflix shows that came before them, which can now be streamed on Disney Plus). While watching MCU films, it’s starting to feel like the shows don’t exist, and that’s a shame because Captain America: Brave New World had countless opportunities to bridge that gap.
The film is performing okay at the global box office — it’s already made a significant profit on its $180 million budget and is projected to earn around $500 million by the time its cinematic run ends — but “okay” isn’t good enough for a Marvel Cinematic Universe offering. A little extra connectivity to the broader MCU — especially to those previously mentioned (and primarily critically acclaimed) TV series — could have elevated it to another level critically and commercially. It’s time to look at some of the ways Captain America: Brave New World could and should have been more deeply connected to the MCU’s Disney Plus shows.
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Truthfully, with some imagination, any of the MCU’s television series could have been connected to Captain America: Brave New World, but nobody wants to see anything being forced (having the ghost of Agatha Harkness from Agatha All Along randomly appear to give Thaddeus Ross some advice wouldn’t work, as it would feel far too on the nose and go against the movie’s grounded tone, for example), but there are many ways connections to other shows could realistically have been made.
She-Hulk: Attorney At Law
Samuel Sterns and Thaddeus Ross directly linked Captain America: Brave New World to a She-Hulk: Attorney at Law character.
Tim Roth’s Emil Blonsky, aka the Abomination, recently reappeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2021’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and, more pertinently, 2022’s Disney Plus series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. He had previously only appeared in 2008’s The Incredible Hulk, which was the only previous appearance of Tim Blake Nelson’s Samuel Sterns and the MCU debut of Thaddeus Ross (then played by William Hurt).
Sterns and Ross were in Captain America: Brave New World and even interacted with each other, which provided the perfect opportunity to mention Blonsky’s current predicament (whereby he’d become a decent human being, unlike Sterns). Although references were made to the character’s past, with footage of his fight with Hulk in Harlem in the 2008 film shown in a news report, if Ross had said something to Sterns like, “You transformed Emil Blonsky into a monster, and he turned out okay — you can become a better man, too,” it would have linked the movie to She-Hulk so easily.
Hawkeye, Daredevil, and Echo
If the Serpent Society had ties to Kingpin (or were replaced by a different criminal group), they could have linked the movie to several shows.
Vincent D’Onofrio’s Wilson Fisk, aka the Kingpin, has appeared in three MCU television series: Daredevil, Hawkeye, and Echo. He’s also set to appear in Daredevil: Born Again. However, he hasn’t even been mentioned in an MCU movie. There are murmurings he’ll feature in an upcoming Spider-Man film, but they’re merely rumors. Captain America: Brave New World represented a tremendous opportunity to make this prominent villain more relevant and bridge the gap between the movies and television shows.
Something as simple as revealing the Serpent Society as working under Kingpin or having them replaced by the Tracksuit Mafia or the Hand could have connected the movie to the various television series in which he and they have appeared. Instead, a group unlikely to appear again was used instead, somewhat wasting the immensely talented Giancarlo Esposito.
Loki And WandaVision
Some simple cameos would have made the movie more interlinked with these two brilliant shows.
Much like the previously mentioned Agatha All Along, Captain America: Brave New World’s tone was far more grounded than Loki and WandaVision, so direct links between them were never likely. However, there were undoubtedly ways to link them subtly — or at least make it more obvious they take place in the same universe.
Granted, Samuel Sterns touched upon the concept of other worlds in the movie’s post-credits scene, which tediously connects it to multiversal projects like Loki, but something as simple as a cameo from an agent of S.W.O.R.D. or the Time Variance Authority (who could both easily have shown an interest in Celestial Island or Samuel Sterns) would have been a perfect bridge between the movie and two Disney Plus shows.
Ms. Marvel
Kamala Khan is on a recruiting mission in the MCU, and one Captain America: Brave New World character could have been on her radar.
There has, of course, now been a movie — 2023’s The Marvels — directly connecting Ms. Marvel to the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, Kamala Khan has yet to connect to the more grounded characters of the MCU. Captain America: Brave New World presented a fantastic (but sadly missed) opportunity to fix that while connecting it to Khan’s eponymous series.
At the climax of The Marvels, Khan began her quest to put together a team of young superheroes, starting with Hailee Steinfeld’s Kate Bishop (a brilliant example of when an MCU movie did connect with a Disney Plus television series). She could quite easily have done the same with Danny Ramirez’s Joaquin Torres, aka Falcon (or even the noticeably missing Eli Bradley). In Marvel’s comic books, Torres was a member of the Champions, a team of young superheroes, so there’s even a precedent for it happening in the source material.
The Falcon And The Winter Soldier
While there were obviously links between Captain America: Brave New World and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier to their shared cast members, the fallout from the series’ events could have been more explicitly referenced.
Given that two of Captain America: Brave New World’s main characters were Sam Wilson and Joaquin Torres, and given that Bucky Barnes made a cameo too, the movie did have some obvious links to The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. However, there could undoubtedly have been more.
For example, the fallout from the impact of the Flag Smashers promoting their ideology would be huge on MCU Earth, and mentioning it in Captain America: Brave New World would have formed a more explicit link between it and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. It’s hard to believe someone like Sam Wilson wouldn’t at least reference that in his discussions with people like Torres, Barnes, or Thaddeus Ross. Hearing something about what happened to Sharon Carter, aka the Power Broker, would also have worked.
There were countless other ways MCU shows could have been referenced in Captain America: Brave New World. Heck, given Japan’s involvement in the film, a subtle reference to Japanese mythology or folklore would have expanded on the concept of mythology and folklore seen in shows like Moon Knight (Egyptian), Loki (Norse), and Ms. Marvel (Islamic and South Asian), Daredevil (Christian), Iron Fist (East Asian), and The Defenders (Japanese). It really is a shame that more wasn’t done to make the movie feel like it was part of the same world as those shows.
Captain America: Brave New World
- Release Date
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February 14, 2025
- Director
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Julius Onah
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Anthony Mackie
Sam Wilson / Captain America
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Harrison Ford
Thaddeus ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross / Red Hulk
