Captain America: Brave New World is a 2025 American superhero film based on Marvel Comics featuring the character Sam Wilson / Captain America. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is the fourth installment in the Captain America film series, a continuation of the television miniseries The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021), and the 35th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film was directed by Julius Onah from a screenplay by Rob Edwards and the writing teams of Malcolm Spellman & Dalan Musson and Onah & Peter Glanz. It stars Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson / Captain America alongside Danny Ramirez, Shira Haas, Carl Lumbly, Xosha Roquemore, Giancarlo Esposito, Liv Tyler, Tim Blake Nelson, and Harrison Ford. In the film, Wilson investigates a conspiracy involving President Thaddeus Ross (Ford).
Plot[]
Following the emergence of the Celestial Tiamut,[a] now dubbed "Celestial Island", an arms race begins for a new metal, adamantium, found in the island. Thaddeus Ross is elected President of the United States on a platform of negotiating equal trade of the metal with other countries. Five months later, Ross enlists Sam Wilson and the new Falcon, Joaquin Torres, to intercept an illegal sale of adamantium, which had been stolen from Japan, in Oaxaca by the Serpent Society and its leader Sidewinder. After completing the mission, Wilson introduces Torres to Isaiah Bradley for further training.
Wilson receives a call from Ross inviting him to the White House, bringing Torres and Bradley along. At the White House, Ross informs him of his plan to reform the Avengers under his leadership; Wilson is hesitant due to Ross' prior handling of superheroes.[b] While Ross addresses the international leaders, the song "Mr. Blue" plays, causing Bradley and four other men to become mind-controlled and attack Ross and the other dignitaries. After regaining their senses, they are apprehended by Ross' head of security, Israeli Black Widow Ruth Bat-Seraph, while Ross cuts Wilson out of the investigation.
Determined to save Bradley, Wilson and Torres begin investigating, with Wilson fighting and capturing Sidewinder in the process. They track a call signal to a hidden site, "Camp Echo One", in Virginia. Soon after, a prison guard murders all of Ross' assailants except Bradley. Ross, who continues to negotiate the treaty, eventually discovers that the mastermind is Samuel Sterns, the prisoner at Camp Echo One. After being exposed to Bruce Banner's blood,[c] Sterns gained advanced intellect but was captured by Ross and scapegoated for Abomination's rampage. Ross forced Sterns to create numerous pieces of technology for the U.S. military, as well as pills he is secretly taking, to engineer his path to the presidency, ensuring his freedom afterwards. Sterns' actions, including orchestrating the adamantium sale and mind-controlling Bradley and others with the song "Mr. Blue", are retaliation for Ross reneging his promise to release Sterns.
Wilson and Torres enter Camp Echo One and are confronted by Sterns. He unleashes troops on them, but they are recovered by Bat-Seraph. Meeting with Sidewinder, Wilson deduces that Sterns' plan is to destroy Ross' legacy by enabling a war between the United States and their allies under Ross' command; to that end, Sterns leaks falsified information to Japan, claiming the adamantium theft was a ruse by Ross. With the situation escalating, Ross and the Prime Minister of Japan send warships to claim Celestial Island. Wilson, Torres, and Bat-Seraph travel there to de-escalate the situation, but Sterns has American F-18 pilots mind-controlled to attack the Japanese fleet. Wilson and Torres intercept the planes and manage to convince Japan to stand down, though Torres is critically injured in the fight. Talking privately with Ross, Wilson learns from him that he is dying of heart failure, and had Sterns develop the pills filled with gamma radiation to prolong his life. He refused to release Sterns in fear that he would no longer develop the pills.
After Wilson is consoled by Bucky Barnes, who is himself running for office, Sterns surrenders himself to Wilson. However, before he is arrested, Sterns unleashes the gamma radiation within Ross while he is giving a press conference, causing Ross to change into Red Hulk and destroying the White House. Knowing he cannot overpower Ross, Wilson lures him to Washington's cherry blossoms in an attempt to use the president's memories there with his estranged daughter Betty Ross to stop his rampage. The two wear each other out in a fight, allowing Ross to revert to normal.
Following the incident, Bradley is exonerated, Torres regains consciousness, and Ross has himself incarcerated at the Raft, where Wilson and Betty pay him a visit. In a post-credits scene, an imprisoned Sterns warns Wilson of an incoming attack from other worlds.
Cast[]
- Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson/Captain America
- Danny Ramirez as Joaquín Torres/Falcon
- Shira Haas as Agent Ruth Bat-Seraph
- Xosha Roquemore as a to-be-confirmed character
- Carl Lumbly as Isaiah Bradley
- Giancarlo Esposito as a to-be-confirmed character
- Liv Tyler as Doctor Betty Ross
- Tim Blake Nelson as Samuel Sterns/Leader
- Harrison Ford as President Thaddeus Ross/Red Hulk
- Rosa Salazar as Rachel Leighton/Diamondback
- Takehiro Hira as Prime Minister Ozaki
- Seth Rollins as a to-be-confirmed character
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- This is the thirty fourth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe
- This is the fourth film in the Captain America series.
- Announced the same day The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021) finale premiered.
- This will be the first Captain America movie without Steve Rogers as the titular character.
- Anthony Mackie and Harrison Ford previously starred in Hollywood Homicide (2003) together.
- According to The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021) show-runner Malcolm Spellman, there are plans for Sam to receive a power which enables him to talk to birds which was part of the comics' mainstream universe.
- Harrison Ford will be replacing the late William Hurt as General Ross. This will be Ford's first appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This also marks the eighth time a role was recast in the MCU, after:
- Don Cheadle as War Machine in Iron Man 2 (2010) (replaced Terrence Howard)
- John Slattery as Howard Stark in Iron Man 2 (2010) (replaced Gerard Sanders); Dominic Cooper played a younger Stark in Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) and Agent Carter (2015)
- Mark Ruffalo as Hulk in The Avengers (2012) (replaced Edward Norton)
- Zachary Levi as Fandral in Thor: The Dark World (2013) (replaced Josh Dallas)
- Josh Brolin as Thanos in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) (replaced Damion Poitier)
- Ross Marquand as Red Skull in Avengers: Infinity War (2018) (replaced Hugo Weaving)
- Kathryn Newton as Cassie Lang in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023) (replaced Emma Fuhrmann); Abby Ryder Fortson played a younger Cassie in Ant-Man (2015) and Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)
- Several roles were also recast in What If...? (2021).
| Captain America |
|---|
| Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Captain America: New World Order (2024) |
| Phase Five |
|---|
| Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023), The Marvels (2023), Captain America: New World Order (2024), Thunderbolts (2024), Blade (2024) |