It’s been a rough couple of years for the Avengers in a post end game world, not only in the MCU itself but for the MCU. With the pandemic splitting the MCU up with films and mini-films on Disney+ we have not been lacking in content but we have had definitely less Avengers. Now with Captain America 4 hitting cinemas this week being the first in a BIG year for Marvel films is there that same buzz as we get closer to Secret Wars.
With the MCU being comprised of 34 films, 11 shows and 2 specials (roughly) there is quite a lot to try to cover if you need to catch up. While a complete rewatch might be a big ask let us try to give you the cliff notes to remind you of the important stuff that happened before.
In the 1940s a German scientist named Erskine created a serum that would transform an ordinary soldier into a superhuman soldier. After being forced to use an early version of the serum by Hydra (the Marvel offshoot of the Nazis) to create the Red Skull, Erskine was able to defect to the US and use the same but improved process to transform Steve Rogers into Captain America.
When Captain America was lost in a plane crash, and with Eriskine and his process lost during the transformation of Steve Rogers, the US Government set after recreating the serum. During the 1950s on only one successful experiment occurred with Isaiah Bradley who was kept in prison and subject to experimentation until later being released. This was the only attempt with Hydra (who had secretly infiltrated SHIELD) working on the process as well as the US Army who had a scientist named Bruce Banner working on it.
An accident of course left Bruce Banner with a green complication but the US Government, specifically General Thunderbolt Ross (aka Father to Betty Ross, Bruce Banner’s girlfriend) continued to hunt down Banner as a threat and to unlock the secrets that allowed him to transform into the Hulk. This leading to the creation of a mercenary named Emil Blonsky as the Abomination and a research scientist named Samuel Sterns being exposed to the Hulk’s blood causing mutations. While the Hulk broke Harlem others continued their work with only a former Hydra scientist in Madripoor cracking the code and leading to the creation of a handful of new Super Soldiers including a short lived Captain America aka John Walker – US Agent.
Is that all you need to know? Yes, no maybe, well. While the Avengers have been MIA the Avengers level threats have not been. The biggest threat being the potential emerging of a planet sized being known as an Celestial breaking out from planet earth like it was a chicken coming out of an egg. Without the Avengers this was stopped by a group of Synthetic beings (robots, like The Vision) known as Eternals with one killing the Eternal before it could emerge by transforming it into pure Adamantium, a material otherwise not known in the MCU 19999 Universe but known in the 616 for coating Wolverine’s skeleton.
Ok now you are good. There is over 74 hours worth of MCU content at this point with shows and movies, there is a bit of stuff going on!
The latest instalment and technically first part of the MCU Phase 5, Captain America: Brand New World picks up with Sam Wilson aka the Falcon who was given the title of Captain America by Steve Rogers at the end of End Game (ok that is a bit extra we couldn’t fit above) now being known as the current Captain America as reclaiming the title in the D+ series Falcon and the Winter Soldier (ok THAT is the last bit you might have wanted to know). Not alone in his arc with Thunderbolt Ross going from Army General to UN Liasson for enforcing the Sokovia accords (aka the Superhero Registration Act) to now President of the United States.
Set 3 years after The Falcon and Winter Soldier Disney+ series the film tries to follow in the footsteps of the previous Captain America films with a spy thriller angle but really is much more of a geopolitical thriller as Sam/Cap still acting as a military contractor is sent on a retrieval and hostage mission by the new president. After the success he and his new wingman, the new Falcon are invited to the Whitehouse as guests of honour, which is where things start to go sideways.
As a film it is easier to think of this as the film continuation of the Falcon/Winter Soldier tv series with it sharing at least one writer and continuing a lot of character development from there (another one of the writers was a writer on Treasure Planet, not relevant but still cool). But overall Brave New World could have easily been Captain America and Thunderbolt Ross: Brave New World as the film spends equal parts bouncing between the two.
The film while enjoyable does take a little bit to start cooking and definitely suffers from having too many moving parts taking from MCU lore. If you were new to the MCU this is absolutely not a film to join on if it wasn’t clear from our primer above. Originally announced as New World Order the film did undergo the normal amount of reshoots however in the end result there is definitely places where some of the texture seems off for a Marvel film and not having the same sheen.
One such section being the fight scenes where previous Marvel films you might have complained about the quick cut way action scenes are shot, switching cuts every 2 seconds. This new film does not follow in that same template and demonstrates a little bit of be careful what you wish for as the result in some areas ends up with a less fluid and more clunky action – meanwhile other sections are very much iconic Marvel with the big set piece action sequences and later half having that Marvel shine to them.
So should you go see it? Well, as mentioned this is not a good first MCU film to come in on unless you want to spend half the film asking ‘who is that?’ much to the annoyance of everyone around you in the cinema. There is a lot of moving pieces taking from a lot of MCU film lore and Disney+ series which does make this a lot more like what other recent MCU films have been accused of in requiring a lot more homework to enjoy.
BUT if you are a hardcore MCU’er and up on all the films and series you should be set even if there is a lot the film jams in to setup upcoming films like Thunderbolts later this year. While it might be doing too much trying to get all the MCU threads in order, at least we are one step closer to the X-Men in the MCU, Snikt.
Captain America: Brave New World hits cinemas across Australia from February 13
