Captain America: Brave New World teaser introduces Red Hulk to the MCU

Marvel Studios has dropped the first teaser for Captain America: Brave New World, star Anthony Mackie’s first cinematic appearance as the new Captain America after the Phase Four 2021 TV miniseries, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. This is the fifth film in the MCU’s Phase Five, directed by Julius Onah (The Cloverfield Paradox) and building on events not just in F&WS but also the 2008 film The Incredible Hulk. The teaser feels like a half-superhero movie, half-political thriller, and with the tantalizing introduction of Red Hulk, it promises to be an entertaining ride.

(Spoilers for Avengers: Endgame and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier below.)

As previously reported, F&WS picked up in the wake of Avengers: End Game, when Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) handed his Captain America shield to Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson (The Falcon) and Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes (The Winter Soldier), having chosen to remain in the past and live out his life with Peggy Carter. Sam and Bucky had to grapple with losing Steve and the burden of his legacy. Meanwhile, the US government had named its own new Captain America, John Walker (Wyatt Russell), a decorated veteran and ultimate “good soldier” who thought he could better embody “American values” than Rogers.  

All three men found themselves battling a terrorist group known as the Flag Smashers, many of whom had been enhanced with the Super Soldier Serum. Where did they get it? From a mysterious person known only as the Power Broker. The Flag Smashers were targeting the Global Repatriation Council (GRC) set up to help those who disappeared in the Snappening (or the Blip) and then returned and had to re-acclimate to a very different world. (Apparently, the Flag Smashers liked it better before everyone came back.) Everything culminated in a knock-down fight between a serum-enhanced Walker, Sam, and Bucky, ending with Sam’s wingsuit destroyed. Walker escaped with a broken arm, sans shield, and we saw him in a post-credits scene melting down his military medals to make a new shield.

A new adventure

Frankly, I didn’t love F&WS as much as other Ars staffers and critics; mostly I thought it was “meh” and wasted a lot of potential in terms of character development. But Russell’s performance as Walker was excellent, and who could forget that priceless scene with the evil Baron Helmut Zemo (Daniel Brühl) dancing? So I’m down for another Captain America adventure with Mackie wielding the shield.

Per the official premise:

After meeting with newly elected US President Thaddeus Ross, played by Harrison Ford in his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut, Sam finds himself in the middle of an international incident. He must discover the reason behind a nefarious global plot before the true mastermind has the entire world seeing red.

In addition to Mackie and Ford, the cast includes Liv Tyler as the president’s daughter, Betty Ross, and Tim Blake Nelson as Samuel Sterns, both reprising their roles in 2008’s The Incredible Hulk. (Ford replaces the late William Hurt, who played Ross in that earlier film.) Carl Lumbley plays Isaiah Bradley, reprising his F&WS role as a Korean War veteran who had been secretly imprisoned and given the Super Soldier Serum against his will, enduring 30 years of experimentation. (He told Sam he couldn’t imagine how any black man could take up Captain America’s shield because of what it represented to people like him, and one could hardly blame him.)

Rosa Salazar plays Rachel Leighton, Danny Ramirez plays Joaquin Torres, and Shira Haas plays Ruth Bat-Seraph. Giancarlo Esposito will also appear in an as-yet-undisclosed role, but based on the brief glimpses we get in the teaser, it’s an antagonistic role.

The teaser opens with Wilson visiting the White House to meet with President Ross. “You and I haven’t always agreed in the past,” Ross tells him. “But I wanna make another run at making Captain America an official military position.” Wilson has well-justified doubts after the events of F&WS, asking what would happen “if we disagree on how to manage a situation.” Ross just reiterates his invitation to work with Sam: “We’ll show the world a better way forward.”

Then Bradley appears at a public event and tries (unsuccessfully) to assassinate the president. Wilson warns Ross that his inner circle has been compromised, but the president appears to be in denial—or there’s something more nefarious going on. “Global power is shifting,” we hear Sterns say in a voiceover. “You’re just a pawn.” Is it a warning or a threat? (Reminder: in the 2008 film, Sterns was a cellular biologist trying to find a cure for Bruce Banner, only to be accidentally exposed to Banner’s blood and begin mutating himself into Leader.)

Cue much explosive action and mayhem. And in true Marvel fashion, there is one final shot of Red Hulk, the alter ego of Thaddeus Ross, whose big red hand is also prominently featured in the official poster below. It should be quite the showdown.

Captain America: Brave New World hits theaters on February 14, 2025.

Listing image by YouTube/Marvel Studios