NOTE: Spoilers ahead for “Captain America: Brave New World”
“Captain America: Brave New World,” like nearly every Marvel movie before it, does indeed have a surprise cameo that seemingly tees up another part of the MCU. The question is, did it tee up “Thunderbolts*?” Possibly!
First, let’s get this out of the way. No, Chris Evans does not show up in the movie. His character Steve Rogers is mentioned, naturally, but the man himself does not appear (not even in the photos Sam keeps at his work station, which is a bit weird, right?).
The connective MCU cameo of this film actually goes to Sebastian Stan, who returns briefly as Bucky Barnes. He appears at Sam Wilson’s (Anthony Mackie) side at the hospital, as they watch over Joaquin’s (Danny Ramirez) surgery.
Bucky offers comfort to Sam, both in regards to Joaquin and about becoming Captain America in general. But, the scene also comes with a bit of news, which you might pick up on before they actually say it.
The former Winter Soldier is looking awfully clean cut, wearing a suit with a flag pin. And when he finishes his pep talk, Sam asks if Bucky’s speech writers helped him prepare that. Bucky then casually drops that he has a campaign event to get to, before he just…walks out with no explanation.
Fortunately, Ruth is walking in as Bucky exits, and marvels at “Future Congressman James Buchanan Barnes.” Yes, it appears our man is headed into politics. And that might just set up the basis for “Thunderbolts*.”
Now, thus far, it’s been Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s Valentina Allegra de Fontaine — boy, that’s a lot of names — who has been the apparent mastermind behind setting up the misfit Marvel team. In the latest trailer, we see her advocating for the creation of the team before the government, as she herself is just an intelligence official.
Presumably, she’d need a politician’s backing to create the team. Assuming he wins his election, could that politician be Bucky Barnes? Could he be assembling his own team in the Avengers’ stead?
After all, elsewhere in the trailer, Val concedes to Geraldine Viswanathan’s character that “I can’t think of a worse group of people trying to work together.” So maybe, just maybe, the new team is an idea borne from an actual former Avenger, and he’s making the roster selections.
It’s hard to say for sure, but it’s unlikely that Bucky’s career pivot will be irrelevant to “Thunderbolts*.” We’ll just have to wait and see how it factors in, come May.
“Captain America: Brave New World” is now in theaters.
