The new Captain America is back, and this time for his first cinematic outing. Marvel Studios released the first trailer for ‘Captain America: Brave New World,’ showing Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) wielding the red, white and blue vibranium shield against several new threats, from inside the White House to the skies above the Pacific.
It’s just an initial teaser for the film, out in February and directed by Julius Onah (‘Luce’), but ‘Brave New World’ lays out plenty of intriguing threads. It wastes no time getting to two big plot points: New president and former Army general “Thunderbolt” Ross (Harrison Ford, taking over for the late William Hurt) telling Sam outright that he wants to make the role of Captain America “an official military position.” It’s a testy offer — Sam was last seen as a kind of independent contractor for the military before fully becoming Captain America in ‘The Falcon and Winter Soldier.’
Any immediate thoughts are out the window when Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly), the Black supersoldier whose exploits during the Korean War were covered up by the government, suddenly takes a shot at President Ross. Why he did and who’s behind the plot looks like the central mystery, with Captain America uncovering security breaches inside the White House and some very sinister looking labs.
It’s a superhero movie full of costumes and CGI spectacle, but given the characters involved, there’s a strong chance the military will be heavily involved. Whereas original Captain America Steve Rogers was in the U.S. Army in World War II, Sam Wilson is a retired Air Force pararescueman who fought in the wars of the 21st century before becoming the Falcon and then Captain America following Avengers: Endgame. And Ross used his time as an Army general to fling everything from special operations forces to tanks at the Hulk before he got into politics.
The ‘Brave New World’ trailer shows the film definitely will involve other military aspects, including the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet as well as some shots of an unspecified aircraft carrier at risk. There’s also plenty of glimpses of the recently added villain played by ‘Better Call Saul’’s Giancarlo Esposito, and ‘Top Gun: Maverick’’s Danny Ramirez is back from ‘The Falcon and Winter Soldier’ as Air Force Lt. Joaquin Torres, the new Falcon.
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If the trailer is giving viewers familiar vibes of 2014’s ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’, that’s apparently intentional on the studio’s part, as the crew and cast wanted to recapture the more grounded, conspiracy thriller tone of that film. Of course, as this trailer also shows, it has the Red Hulk at the end. In the comics that’s Ross, which could be the case here unless Marvel is going for another misdirection. Either way, expect some destruction from the Red Hulk. Captain America might be in trouble.
‘Captain America: Brave New World’ hits theaters Feb. 14, 2025.