“Captain America: Brave New World” was a huge piece of Marvel’s massive Hall H presentation at San Diego Comic-Con this year, and an even more massive reveal: Red Hulk.
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. As the segment began, from onstage Kevin Feige set the tone: “There was a movie called ‘Captain America: Winter Soldier that was grounded, relatively grounded.” He effectively added that the studio has returned to that “level of grounded action movie” within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Speaking of grounded, the flying Captain America himself, Anthony Mackie (onstage with the rest of the cast) described Sam as being a “cerebral character,” linking his character to his first introduction in “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” when he was a counselor.
Also revealed on stage: Giancarlo Esposito will be playing Sidewinder, the king of the Serpent Society, a comic book villain first introduced in 1980. (Incredibly, the character was added entirely during the film’s extensive reshoots.)
The movie, set to release in February, follows Sam Wilson (Mackie) as he fully embraces his role as the new Captain America. He struggled with the idea of taking the mantle from Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) in “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” but after John Walker (Wyatt Russell) took the super soldier serum and, well, became unhinged in the job, Sam finally embraced what his friend wanted for him.
Now the struggle is, President Thunderbolt Ross (Harrison Ford, taking over the role from the late William Hurt) wants to make Captain America an official military position. As the first trailer for the movie made clear, the two clash on this idea.
Of course, Thunderbolt Ross has superpowers of his own — in the comics he’s also the Red Hulk. And so it is that the footage shown at SDCC was a slow-burn of increasing tension that seemed designed to foreshadow the anxiety and rising anger that triggers a hulk-out.
It begins with a ceremony of sorts in the White House. Ford’s President Ross has invited a group of unidentified bigwigs for “a historic event” — something he refers to as a “cellestial” thing has landed over the ocean and whatever it is has introduced, at long last, adamantium to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. (That’s the fictional metal Wolverine’s claws are traditionally made of, for those keeping track.)
Ross insists this valuable metal doesn’t just belong to a single country — which seems like a dig against Wakanda’s monopoly on Vibranium — but “to all of us.”
In the next scene, Ford’s Thunderbolt Ross asks Captain America to “rebuild the Avengers,” explaining that his change of heart — remember he’s the guy who pushed the Sokovia Accords — came after the events of “Avengers: Engame.”
“The threats show no signs of slowing down,” Ross says.
This is followed by a mixture of new footage and footage from the trailer, showing the attack on the White House, during which we see Ross, freaked out, being shielded by Secret Service agents who, apparently, actually did their jobs. More scenes of action follow, with Cap and the new Falcon flying around, Sidewinder (Giancarlo Esposito) being pretty angry and things looking generally uncertain.
And then near the end we finally see Red Hulk. President Ross is giving a press conference, which for reasons left unspoiled is stressing him out greatly. He leans down behind his podium, which starts shaking and as he rises up we see he’s transformed into Red Hulk, which looks as much like Harrison Ford as Green Hulk looks like Mark Ruffalo.
As the footage wrapped up, Ford, who is notoriously averse to San Diego Comic-Con, showed up on stage.
“This is a character that’s based on a lot of history, developed with Bill [William Hurt] who played the character previously, but now I am Thaddeus and I am delighted and proud to become a member of the Marvel Universe,” Ford told the delighted crowd.
The film also stars Danny Ramirez, Shira Haas, Xosha Roquemore, Carl Lumbly, Giancarlo Esposito, Liv Tyler and Tim Blake Nelson. “Captain America: Brave New World” is produced by Kevin Feige and Nate Moore. Louis D’Esposito and Charles Newirth serve as executive producers.
“Captain America: Brave New World” hits theaters on February 14, 2025.
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