Captain America: We Gave Away the Whole Plot in the Trailer

Photo by Marvel Studios/Courtesy of Marvel Studios - © 2024 MARVEL

As Sam Wilson's inaugural headlining MCU movie, Captain America: Brave New World had the potential to redefine the character's legacy with a powerful introduction to America's new man of the hour. Instead, Anthony Mackie's first minutes of screentime are spent beating up a few run-of-the-mill bad guy goons at a run-of-the-mill bad guy rendezvous point just to end up with the run-of-the-mill bad guy getting away at the last moment. Very run-of-the-mill Marvel.

Yes, the Captain's debut might've been underwhelming, but the film's score certainly wasn't. In some instances, actually most instances, it was overpowering to the point of detracting from the dialogue. Silence would've been considerably more striking in so many scenes.

But that's not to say the movie did nothing well. Lots of the cinematography was enjoyable, and the plot boasted an interesting premise with a generous helping of real-world parallels. Not to mention finally addressing the massive thing in the ocean from Eternals. The story would've been perfectly capable of being a captivating watch, if it wasn't for the trailers.

A marketing campaign where the main feature being pushed is a key plot detail only revealed right towards the end is a fascinating choice, and definitely not one that paid off. Whilst filling cinema seats is an integral component of turning a profit, doing so by spoiling what might've been a thrilling reveal is not the way to go about it. The best part of the movie is spent building up to the Ross is Red Hulk unveiling, time that feels wasted to anyone already privy to the fact.

Another fact much of the audience was privy to was the inclusion of controversial Israeli superhero 'Sabra', a dubious choice given how much source material the MCU writers are in possession of, and how many characters they find at their disposal. Why choose to adapt the one that would inevitably lead to protests and boycotting when that could've been easily avoidable? The decision becomes even more bizarre when the government operative in question serves little to the plot, she instead blandly hovers in the space of the main characters.

She's also short, which pisses me off.

Despite its flaws, Captain America: Brave New World dishes up plenty of thrills and action in an easy to digest manner paired nicely with a rounded out plot. Whilst I wish we saw more of Sam's wit, his buddy Joaquin managed to bridge that gap with humour of his own matched with a sizeable sprinkle of clichés, 'what the hell is this place?!' being an obvious offender. Giancarlo Esposito was wildly underutilised, but I'm sure he'll pop up again somewhere. Yes, it's slightly hard to look past the glaring spoilers in the trailer, but even harder to look past why on earth the president has his hair cut like a year 9 boy.