Summary
- Captain America: Brave New World was not perfect, with mixed reviews and political focus.
- Marvel’s over-marketing of Red Hulk hurt the film’s reception by spoiling key moments.
- Watching the movie with fresh eyes over time will likely lead to a more positive reception and appreciation for Anthony Mackie’s portrayal.
Captain America: Brave New World served as a fresh start for the iconic character, with Anthony Mackie in the lead role and the legendary Harrison Ford entering the Marvel Cinematic Universe for the first time. However, despite the name value that the character provides, the movie ended up being mixed in terms of its success levels.
It hasn’t received overwhelmingly positive reviews, and it isn’t being seen as one of Marvel Studios’ best films. But that doesn’t mean that Captain America: Brave New World has hit its glass cylinder; in fact, that’s far from the case. Plenty of movies wind up becoming cult classics over time, and that is something that could happen for Captain America: Brave New World.
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Anthony Mackie has teased that Captain America has a big influence on the future of The Avengers.
Captain America: Brave New World Was Imperfect
There are certain MCU movies that audiences actively disliked and found to be tedious or problematic, but that wasn’t the case with Captain America: Brave New World. While the film arguably focused too much on politics for a superhero movie, the film had plenty of positives. It grossed $343 million on a budget of $180 million, making it a success to some degree, even though it wasn’t the biggest blockbuster ever in terms of Marvel Studios films. Plenty of people went out to see it, and Mackie’s performance deserved plenty of praise.
He did a great job of developing the character and taking it on to a new level in a bid to make his version feel fresh from what happened in the past. The film also brought in several fresh characters and developed the world that is going to be used for Captain America moving forward. However, the political focus was something that bored certain moviegoers and didn’t quite connect with fans in terms of seeing a blockbuster action movie from the MCU. The balance wasn’t quite right with the film, and there was a lack of cohesion with certain aspects of the film, which stopped it from becoming a classic within the franchise.
Marvel’s Marketing For Captain America: Brave New World Was A Problem
One of the big problems with Captain America: Brave New World was how Marvel Studios marketed it. Everything in the adverts and promotion, including the posters, was about Red Hulk. Marvel promoted the character massively to the point where audiences expected the character to be in the vast majority of the movie and be the main villain, but that wasn’t necessarily the case. There was very little Red Hulk to see outside of the main scene, which had been heavily teased during the trailers. That meant that people already knew what was coming from that, and the character they had been excited to see fight Captain America throughout the film wasn’t there.
It made sense for Marvel Studios to heavily promote Red Hulk because it’s a character that leaps off the screen is vibrant, powerful, and provides a tense fight scene, unlike anything anyone has ever seen before. Ultimately, it hurt the movie because it meant people had a level of anticipation and expectation that ultimately wasn’t met by how briefly Red Hulk was featured. It proved that even though marketing is crucial for building interest in a movie, giving away one of the biggest twists in the film is something that should never happen.
Fresh Eyes Will Benefit Captain America: Brave New World In Time
Captain America: Brave New World is likely going to be something that people enjoy more over time because they will be watching it without the marketing heading into it. Fans who watched it at the time will likely forget the focus that Marvel Studios placed on Red Hulk and will simply sit back and enjoy the film for what it is. Meanwhile, any new MCU fans will check it out and allow the story to unfold in front of them without knowing what to expect. They won’t know the big twist in regards to Red Hulk, and that should make the film even more enjoyable for people because Red Hulk’s arrival will have the genuine impact that it’s supposed to have, and sadly didn’t because it was spoiled in the trailer.
On top of that, Mackie’s version of Captain America will likely be a much more important character in the overall MCU and will have been made to feel on a similar level to others. Heading into this movie, some people struggled to see Mackie’s version on the same level as Chris Evans had done beforehand, which stopped many people from even bothering to watch it. Even when audiences headed to the cinema, they constantly judged it against previous Captain America films and what Evans had done. That’s a problem that Captain America: Brave New World wouldn’t face in a decade because the change in actor wouldn’t be so raw, and once again, that would benefit the quality of the movie to fresh eyes.
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
