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'Captain America: Brave New World' review: Red Hulk steals the movie

Article (news)

Fred Hawson

<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/173986341584820250218070220_captain america.jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/>A scene from &#x27;Captain America: Brave New World&#x27; </div>The new Captain America Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) and the new Falcon Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez) were able to thwart Sidewinder (Giancarlo Esposito) from selling a metal sample to an unknown buyer. They were invited to the White House by new US President Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford) to be recognized. Sam asked his friend Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly) to come along. An assassination attempt just happened from out of nowhere.This is the first Captain America film not starring Chris Evans as Captain America. Casual viewers may be surprised to see Anthony Mackie as Captain America here. &quot;Avengers: End Game&quot; (2019) ended with a scene of an elderly Steve Rogers passing on his shield to Sam Wilson. Wilson&#x27;s transition from Falcon into Captain America was further detailed in a six-episode series on Disney+ series called &quot;Falcon and the Winter Soldier&quot; (2021).This latest Marvel film brings back characters from &quot;The Incredible Hulk&quot; (2008). Thaddeus Ross (then played by William Hurt) was a US Army general who wanted to weaponize the Hulk, the gamma-radiation induced form of Dr. Bruce Banner (then played by Edward Norton), the boyfriend of Ross&#x27;s daughter Betty (Liv Tyler). Dr. Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson) was a cell biologist contaminated by Banner&#x27;s blood, mutating him into a deformed genius.We met Ross again in &quot;Captain America: Civil War&quot; (2016) when he was the US Secretary of State who was then pushing for the signing of the Sokovia Accords, an issue about superhero regulation that divided the Avengers. Sam Wilson was then the Falcon, who allied himself behind Captain America Steve Rogers, who was against regulation. Ross was the one who incarcerated team Cap in the Raft, a prison that also makes an appearance in this sequel. Now Ross is the new president of the United States and his first priority was to push for the approval of a treaty between Japan, India and France about a special newly-discovered metal. Since original actor William Hurt passed away in 2022, Harrison Ford has taken over the role of Ross for this latest film that brought the arc of this character in full circle. The general who once hunted the Hulk has now become a Hulk himself, albeit a Red one.The first two acts of this film felt very much like a continuation of the &quot;Falcon and the Winter Soldier&quot; TV series because of its tone of political intrigue. A controversial US President faced scrutiny abroad, while Sam was trying to deduce who the mastermind was. Things only blew up to full cinematic scale in Act 3 when the Red Hulk made his appearance and threw a major destructive tantrum that destroyed landmarks of Washington D.C. Anthony Mackie may be adequate to star in a TV series, but on the big screen, he did not seem to have enough charisma to become Captain America following Chris Evans&#x27; iconic and beloved portrayal. Viewers not familiar of these secondary Marvel characters may not really find the story too interesting. There was no mid-credits scene, but there was a post-credit scene, but that felt disappointing as it had no explosive hints to drop.<div> </div>This review was originally published in the author&#x27;s blog, “<a href="https://said-fred.blogspot.com/2025/02/review-of-captain-america-brave-new.html">Fred Said</a>.”

This is the first Captain America film not starring Chris Evans as Captain America.

This is the first Captain America film not starring Chris Evans as Captain America.