National Black History Month is finally here, and I couldn’t be more excited to talk about one of the latest additions to black comic book culture. On February 14th, Marvel Studios released Captain America: Brave New World, their latest addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Captain America has been the hero representing our country since 1941. While he was created as political propaganda to represent our nation during World War II, he has found his way into our hearts as a beloved superhero over the past century. While he hasn’t gotten a lot of recent adaptations, Marvel Studios decided to bring the character back for a brand-new movie. However, the new captain isn’t going to be our usual Steve Rodgers. This movie marks a big change for the character, as someone of African American descent is now representing him.
The Film’s Background
Popular actor Anthony Mackie takes up the mantle of Captain America in Marvel Studios’ new movie, Captain America: Brave New World. Before the movie’s release, Mackie was known for the role of the Falcon (Sam Wilson) in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The exclusive Disney+ show, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier oversaw Sam’s character journey from being the Falcon to becoming Captain America. This show displays what qualities it takes to hold the Captain America shield, and the new movie shows those qualities being used in full effect. Having an African American Captain America was groundbreaking when initially announced. It’s proof that anyone can represent our country, despite race, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, etc…
With Sam Wilson as the official Captain America, he is working with the President to try to avoid an arms race due to a new metal being discovered, adamantium. It’s no secret that President Thaddeus ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross is going to play a pivotal role in this movie as the villain known as the Red Hulk. Marvel fans have been eager for more ‘savage-like’ Hulk scenes for the past few years, and this movie delivers. When Ross has to deal with the public shame of trying to salvage his government treaty for the distribution of adamantium, he loses control of his emotions and transforms into the Red Hulk. Alongside other plot points, the movie follows a different structure than your typical MCU movie.
Some viewers enjoy the recent changes Marvel Studios has been making to the MCU. Nick Taveras, a junior at Wayne Hills High School says, “It was overall a pretty good movie, it’s paving the way for the future of the MCU innovatively. It introduces new characters for them to add, like from the X-Men series. Although it’s a different path than usual, I believe it’s a good one despite them taking risks.” Overall, the movie did a good job of pathing a pathway for the introduction of new characters and openings for new storylines. Unfortunately, the movie is not without its faults.
Mixed Reviews and Controversy
While the movie overall had solid plot points and characters, it didn’t receive the greatest reviews. Some don’t like the direction the movie was headed, and even feared that the movie might be too ‘woke.’ Other reviewers were even quick to assume the movie wasn’t going to be great before even watching it. Popular comic book film reviewer Matthew Ramos, also known as ‘Supes’, says, “At the end of the day I have to be honest, and this is a massive disappointment. This is one of those films where we hear about all the craziness that went on behind the scenes with multiple different reshoots. Changing so many things about this movie makes it feel like a film that’s been re-shot to death. It lacks the heart of a Captain America Film…I feel so empty watching this.” This is a harsh review from a commonly positive TikTok film reviewer.
Not all reviews were too harsh though. Junior Natiya Bennett at Wayne Hills High School says, “So as someone who doesn’t watch Marvel movies that much, I liked it. I enjoyed the humor and the comedic timing of everything. There wasn’t too much action to the point it got boring, it was just overall entertaining. I think it’s a good representation of African American and black culture, and I feel modern movies still lack that.” The movie has some pretty mixed reviews from all the viewers. Some say that the reviews are wrong, and it’s a ‘return to form’ for the future of Marvel movies. Captain America: Brave New World is currently sitting at 6.1/10 stars on IMDb, but there’s still hope those numbers will climb up in due time.
The Future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe
Something that we can all appreciate is Anthony Mackie’s vision of what it was like to portray an African American Captain America. Mackie says, “I want to do great roles, not because they’re Black, but because they are great roles…Captain America represents a lot of different things…It’s about a man who kept his word, who has honor, dignity, and integrity.” It’s comforting to know that Mackie understands exactly what it is to represent Captain America, and will have this ideology while portraying the character upcoming in MCU films. Speaking of the future of the MCU, how does this movie kick off the continuation of possible MCU projects? This movie seems to set up the plot for a future MCU film that will adapt The Thunderbolts storyline. In this film, viewers hope that it will exceed expectations and surpass Captain America: Brave New World. All of these future projects lead up to the highly anticipated film, Avengers: Doomsday, which will then lead into Avengers: Secret Wars. These will be the first Avengers films in almost 6 years and are movies that have kept fans waiting for a long time. Marvel Studios seems to have a lot on their plate. Plenty of fans are asking themselves if Marvel can handle all future projects and have them surpass expectations.
Overall, Captain America: Brave New World is a compelling comic book adaptation. It has developed a sort of ‘love-hate’ relationship with Marvel fans. Some people don’t appreciate the new direction Marvel Studios has been taking, while others enjoy it. Who knows, maybe a change in the MCU is what we need to bring back stability in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In all of this controversy, we lose sight of what this film represents, our first African American Captain America. This film’s comic-accurate portrayal of Sam Wilson taking up the mantle of Captain America is one of the greatest additions to black comic book culture. As I said before, despite what we may look like regardless of race, gender, sexuality, and more, this movie highlights the fact that anyone can represent our nation.
