- Releasing worldwide next February
- Will be the second-to-last Marvel Phase 5 film
- Trailers released in July and November
- Anthony Mackie's Sam Wilson/Captain America is the movie's protagonist
- Harrison Ford among its supporting cast
- Story synopsis unveiled in July
- Other plot details leaked online
- Unclear how it'll set up future MCU movies, including the next two Avengers flicks
Captain America: Brave New World feels like an apt description for the superhero's next tentpole movie adventure. Anthony Mackie's Sam Wilson first stepped into the shoes vacated by previous incumbent Steve Rogers in the TV series Falcon and the Winter Soldier (FATWS), and now it's time for the former Falcon and Cap's sidekick to take flight as the so-called Star Spangled Man With a Plan in his own right.
Before the penultimate Marvel Phase 5 film arrives in theaters, we'll break down everything we know about Captain America 4. In this guide, you'll find official details on its release date, confirmed cast, story specifics, trailers, and more. Potential cast and plot spoilers follow, so proceed at your own risk.
Captain America: Brave New World release date
Marvel Studios' #CaptainAmericaBraveNewWorld. Only in theaters February 14, 2025. pic.twitter.com/7quDHgwnIKJuly 12, 2024
Captain America: Brave New World will be released in theaters worldwide on February 14, 2025.
The Marvel Phase 5 movie was originally scheduled for release on May 3, 2024, but the 2023 Hollywood strikes meant several Marvel films were delayed by many months. Unsurprisingly, that contingent included Wilson's first silver screen outing as the titular shield-wielding superhero, initially pushed to July 26, 2024. However, in November 2023, it was given its third launch date slot, which it's subsequently held onto despite numerous recent reshoots.
Captain America: Brave New World trailer
With just over three months to go until its release in cinemas, Captain America: Brave New World's official trailer was posted online in early November. Alongside a new Thunderbolts movie teaser, Captain America 4's latest trailer suggested Marvel Phase 5 would go out with a bang rather than a whimper, too.
This trailer arrived four months after Captain America: Brave New World's first trailer, which premiered online in mid-July. That was the first time the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) flick revealed it was returning to the film series' political thriller vibes. Oh, and that legendary actor Harrison Ford was not only playing Thaddeus 'Thunderbolt' Ross in the movie but he'd also be hulk-ing out as Ross' iconic Red Hulk alter-ego, too.
Captain America: Brave New World confirmed cast
Potential spoilers follow for Captain America: Brave New World.
Here's the confirmed cast for the next MCU movie so far:
- Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson/Captain America
- Danny Ramirez as Joaquin Torres/Falcon
- Harrison Ford as Thaddeus 'Thunderbolt' Ross/Red Hulk
- Tim Blake Nelson as Samuel Sterns/The Leader
- Shira Haas as Rut Bat-Seraph
- Carl Lumbly as Isaiah Bradley
- Giancarlo Esposito as Seth Voelker/Sidewinder
- Liv Tyler as Betty Ross
- Takehiro Hira as Ozaki
- Xosha Roquemore as TBC
- Rosa Salazar as TBC
- Seth Rollins as TBC
Some of the above actors and their Marvel characters will be familiar to MCU fans. Wilson has been ever-present since 2014's Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Ramirez and Lumbly made their debuts in FATWS, while Nelson and Tyler played supporting roles in 2010's The Incredible Hulk – a flick some viewers may have forgotten is an MCU movie. Indeed, it was the second Marvel Studios film to land in theaters after 2008's Iron Man. You can learn more about this duo and other MCU films in our Marvel movies in order guide.
On the newcomer front, veteran actor Harrison Ford was hired to play Ross following William Hurt's passing in March 2022. As mentioned, Ford will also portray Red Hulk, a much angrier and seemingly unstoppable version of Bruce Banner's gamma-irradiated superpowered alias.
As for the rest of the confirmed cast: Haas is playing Bat-Seraph, a Marvel character whose backstory has been significantly altered from her comic book counterpart. In the source material, Bat-Seraph is an Israeli superhero known as Sabra – another of Marvel's many mutants who possesses numerous superhuman abilities, including being able to withstand high-caliber rounds. Per Marvel.com, though, her MCU adaptation has been retooled to turn her into a former Black Widow and one of Ross' closest confidantes.
Meanwhile, Hira will play Japanese Prime Minister Ozaki, who's expecting to have a small role in the proceedings. The same is expected of Esposito's Sidewinder, who'll be a secondary antagonist in Captain America 4 and is the leader of a villainous group known as the Serpent Society.
Speaking of the Serpent Society, Salazar and Rollins' roles haven't been confirmed by Marvel, but the pair are rumored to be playing two members of this team, Diamondback and Cutthroat. Lastly, Roquemore is involved as an unnamed secret agent.
There are other characters rumored to appear in Captain America 4, but we won't spoil them ahead of time. Two individuals who aren't expected to make cameos, though, are Sebastien Stan's James 'Bucky' Barnes, aka the Winter Soldier, and Mark Ruffalo's Bruce Banner/The Hulk.
Where 'Bucky' is concerned, he's one of the major players in Thunderbolts, which arrives in theaters next May, so it wouldn't make sense for him to be involved in this film if he's caught up in events elsewhere. As for Banner, despite Ruffalo appearing to suggest (during a chat at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival) that he'll appear in Brave New World, Variety reports that he misspoke about his involvement.
Captain America: Brave New World plot synopsis and speculation
Potential spoilers follow for Captain America: Brave New World.
Here's the movie's official plot synopsis: "Captain America: Brave New World follows Sam Wilson who, after meeting with newly elected U.S. President Thaddeus Ross, 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."
That's not much to go on, but Captain America 4's cast and crew have provided some additional details about its story – starting with the titular hero.
Speaking to Empire magazine, director Julius Onah spoke about the challenges that Mackie's Wilson will face in Brave New World. "Part of the challenge for Sam as Captain America, working within the government, is the way he’s going to make decisions,” Onah said. "The point of view he’s going to have will, at times, put him at odds with the president. Sam [also] finds himself almost standing between Samuel Sterns and what he thinks the government owes him, and how he wants to go about getting that.
"The action in this movie is incredibly exciting because this is a guy who can break, this is a guy who can bleed," Onah added. "We get to have a lot of fun pushing him to the limit."
It sounds like Wilson will be put through the wringer, then! Considering he'll be going up against Red Hulk at some point, that's to be expected, but how will Wilson, who isn't imbued with the super soldier serum, withstand an assault from a far more menacing Hulk who can melt matter with his radiated skin? Taking to the stage at Disney's APAC Content Showcase in Singapore, Mackie explained how his character would level the playing field.
"With Sam, him being a counselor, he uses more of his brains than brawn," Mackie said (via comicbookmovie.com). "When you don’t have the serum, you have to be smart and engineer different ways of defeating [enemies]. He uses more of his wit than his fist. He’s more of a friend to everyone.
Elaborating on Wilson's new superhero costume, Mackie added: "It’s a high-tech suit. I went to Wakanda, met with everybody in Wakanda, we had dinner. It was a great time. They threw me a welcome party. It was dope. But when I was leaving, they gave me a suit, right?" We're not sure if you're joking here, Anthony, but we'll take you at your word and believe that Wilson will travel to Wakanda to acquire a new, vibranium-infused suit to combat Red Hulk.
#CaptainAmericaBraveNewWorld details • It's a return to the grounded aspects of 'The Winter Soldier' • Giancarlo Esposito will play Sidewinder — King of the Serpent Society• Celestials are made out of Adamantium • Harrison Ford turns into Red Hulk while giving a… pic.twitter.com/EbVHVQ5AT3July 28, 2024
And what of the new Captain America-Falcon dynamic that was introduced in FATWS? In another Empire article, Onah teased: "There’s this incredible big brother/little brother dynamic between them [Wilson and Torres]. It’s going to be one of the key emotional centers of the film."
The pair will need to have each other's backs throughout the film, too, because of the geopolitical storm they become embroiled in. Indeed, as Captain America: Brave New World's trailers have teased, the world's biggest nations are after a brand-new material that's been discovered in the Indian Ocean. The substance in question? Adamantium – yep, the very same metal that iconic X-Men member Wolverine's bones are coated in.
Per numerous online rumors, the precious metal is found on the corpse of Tiamut, aka the Celestial that was set to emerge from Earth's core in the 2021 MCU movie Eternals. However, thanks to Sersi's matter transmutation abilities and the titular team using their shared Uni-Mind powers, the group manages to stop Tiamut's emergence (and Earth's subsequent destruction) by turning the Celestial to marble. It seems the group's combined efforts also created adamantium. Once it's discovered, and its unique properties are scientifically proven, the US, Japan, and other first-world countries will try to forcefully claim it as their own after a breakdown in diplomatic talks.
Marvel Studios’ #CaptainAmericaBraveNewWorld arrives in theaters February 14. pic.twitter.com/PkB3yCgPD6November 9, 2024
There are plenty of other questions – many of which were conceived by fans after Brave New World's trailers were released – that need answering.
Why does Ross want Wilson to reform the Avengers if he was previously at odds with the group's formation? What's Samuel Sterns/The Leader's role in proceedings? Who brainwashes Lumbly into trying to assassinate Ross? And how will Captain America 4 set up future MCU movies? We can't answer all those yet, but we'll deliver our best guesses about the last question in this guide's final section.
Where to watch the Captain America movies
Want to re-watch the other Captain America movies, or stream them for the first time, before Brave New World arrives? You can do so on Disney Plus.
The last three Captain America films, two of which are among the best Marvel movies ever made, are viewable on one of the world's best streaming services, but you'll need to sign up to the platform to watch them. Read our Disney Plus price guide for more details on how to purchase a subscription.
How will Captain America: Brave New World set up future Marvel movies?
The short answer is: we aren't sure, but we can speculate on how it'll set up some Marvel Phase 6 films.
Depending on how Captain America: Brave New World ends, we'd be surprised if Wilson doesn't try to reform the Avengers. There are plenty of new recruits who could replace the likes of Iron Man and Black Widow on the team, and veterans including Thor, Spider-Man, Captain Marvel, and Doctor Strange would answer the call if, well, they're called upon.
It'll be in the team's interests to regroup, too, ahead of the next two Avengers movies. Indeed, Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars will cap off the Marvel Multiverse Saga – and, with The Fantastic Four's legendary villain Doctor Doom (who'll be played by none other than ex-Iron Man superstar Robert Downey Jr) set to be the main villain of that duology, Earth's Mightiest Heroes will be required to defend our world once more.
Looking further ahead, the emergence of adamantium in the MCU continues the long-drawn-out arrival of the X-Men. Marvel President Kevin Feige has already stated that the post-Secret Wars era will "lead us into a new age of mutants", and the introduction of the malleable metal in Brave New World is further proof that the X-Men's MCU debut will be upon us in the next few years. Considering they've been teased in everything from Ms Marvel and Deadpool and Wolverine to The Marvels and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, it's high time they appeared, too.
