‘Captain America: Brave New World’ Will Save the Flailing Marvel Universe

Over the past five years, Marvel Cinematic Universe movies have—with a couple of notable exceptions (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Deadpool and Wolverine)—been depressingly slight and subpar. Thus, it’s a relief to discover that Captain America: Brave New World, which hits theaters Feb. 14, feels as big, propulsive and vital as its most successful predecessors, including Captain America: The Winter Soldier, with which it shares a focus on a government conspiracy involving a leader played by a legendary movie star.

That luminary in question is Harrison Ford, giving a forcefully charismatic performance amidst all manner of convoluted superhero mayhem, and his presence—along with a winning turn from Anthony Mackie as the patriotic title character—makes this adventure a sturdy return to franchise form.

The biggest shortcoming of Captain America: Brave New World (no relationship to Aldous Huxley’s classic novel, alas) has nothing to do with the film itself; rather, it’s that Marvel’s marketing campaign has given away the bombshell to which its entire tale builds: namely, that General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (Ford, taking over for the late William Hurt) is destined to transform into a roaring, rampaging Red Hulk and square off against Mackie’s Captain America.

Spoiling this secret to entice viewers to take a chance on Mackie’s maiden solo outing as the comic-book icon may very well be good business, but from a storytelling standpoint, it’s akin to cutting the endeavor off at the knees. Ross’ mutation into the very sort of creature he most loathes—his nickname is “Hulk Hunter” because of his long-standing enmity for Bruce Banner’s green meanie—should be a stunner worth keeping under wraps, and the fact that the studio has already let the goliath out of the bag neuters a good bit of the proceedings’ surprise.

Setting aside this not-inconsiderable faux pas, Captain America: Brave New World proceeds nicely from 2021’s Disney+ series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which properly introduced Mackie’s Sam Wilson as the heir apparent to Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers. Having assumed the Captain America mantle, Wilson interrupts a criminal deal for an enigmatic package being sold by Sidewinder (Giancarlo Esposito).

This mission gives director Julius Onah the opportunity to firmly establish that Wilson is up to his position’s challenge, wielding his spiffy mechanized wings and armor (gifts from Wakanda), his trusty drones, his acrobatic military skills, and his trademark stars-and-stripes shield to take down a collection of enemies, including a behemoth who learns the hard way that, though he isn’t enhanced by the super soldier serum (and consequently has no extraordinary powers), Wilson isn’t an also-ran.

Because Wilson must rely on creativity to fell his adversaries, Captain America: Brave New World’s set pieces are more intriguing and inventive than most likeminded MCU sequences, save for an occasionally shaky green-screen effect and a somewhat TV-grade sheen.

Mackie continues to be an ideal Captain America, his stoutness matched by his goodness and his self-doubt (about being worthy of filling Rogers’ shoes), the last of which is a clear sign that he’s the man for the job. Frequently paired with Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez), his upstart Falcon sidekick, Wilson is an excellent center of attention. After foiling Sidewinder’s plot, he’s invited to the White House to meet with the country’s newly elected President Ross, who wants to let bygones be bygones (since the two clashed in Captain America: Civil War) and work with Captain America—and, moreover, to have him rebuild the Avengers.

Wilson hears this proposal at a gala summit where Ross is promoting a treaty to deal with the Celestial Island that’s been sitting in the Indian Ocean since the conclusion of The Eternals (hey, it only took them four years to address that!) and is now coveted by every nation due to its wealth of a marvelous new element: adamantium.

This is Captain America: Brave New World laying the groundwork for the eventual MCU arrival of the X-Men. At present, however, it’s just a MacGuffin designed to create international tension that Ross wants to quell peacefully—therefore implying that the famously hostile general has changed his tune. Unfortunately, he’s soon reverting to his old ways when Wilson’s buddy Isiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly), a discarded super soldier whom the government experimented on for decades, tries to assassinate him. Wilson can’t explain this, and neither can Bradley, but the former deduces that it has something to do with a secret military facility and a shadowy figure from Ross’ past.

To say more would be to spoil whatever’s still unknown about Captain America: Brave New World, but suffice it to say, the film’s mystery is related to 2008’s The Incredible Hulk, which is now fully integrated into the MCU (complete with cameos from familiar faces).

There’s nothing novel about the franchise attempting to tell a current story while setting up future narrative threads, and despite working from a script credited to five writers (which is rarely a good sign), Onah capably balances his multiple obligations, be it spotlighting previously unknown characters (in this case, Shira Haas’ Black Widow-ish badass Ruth Bat-Seraph), shouting out to big-screen ancestors, or devising ways to let Wilson strut his stuff, the finest of which is an aerial dogfight that threatens to kickstart a global crisis.

Predictably, Captain America: Brave New World merely hints at its story’s underlying racial dynamics, whether that’s with regards to Bradley’s mistreatment by the powers-that-be or Wilson’s anxiety over having to be an inspirational beacon for all Americans. Suggesting rather than preaching is a shrewd means of lending the material heft without overburdening it with import, and that additionally goes for a coda which—in celebrating a commander who accepts responsibility for his actions and puts the country first—seems to take a subtle swipe at President Donald Trump. For the most part, it walks a fine line, all while keeping the primary focus on Wilson’s world-saving task at hand.

Though its inevitability weakens its punch, the film’s climactic showdown between Captain America and Ross’ Red Hulk is suitably concussive and proves that Wilson has the mettle to wear the red, white and blue. More heartening, however, is that Mackie and Ford provide a (relative) measure of gravity and stature that’s been largely missing from the MCU since Avengers: Endgame, indicating that perhaps the entertainment industry juggernaut is, following a handful of topsy-turvy years, on the cusp of a full-scale revival.