Captain America: Brave New World opened in theatres on Valentine’s Day and grossed $95 million in its opening weekend. Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson picks up the mantle as one of Marvel’s oldest and most revered comic book heroes. The TV series The Falcon & The Winter Soldier set the stage for Marvel’s opening 2025 film Brave New World. The last time we saw Captain America, he uncovered a plot about a super serum, made friends with Bucky Barnes and Isaiah Bradley, and fought off a radical group called The Flag Smashers.
Captain America: Brave New World Sets Up MCU Future
The movie introduces Harrison Ford President Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (previously played by the late William Hurt) and finds Sam caught in a foreign relations mess that nearly puts the entire world on the brink of war. Throughout the film, Sam eventually finds himself investigating a deeper, more sinister scheme. To those who still haven’t seen Brave New World, yes, there is one post-credits scene in the film. Marvel is notorious for dropping post-credit scenes, and you must wait till the credits are finished to see it.
Brave New World has no mid-credits scene; there is only one post-credits scene, and you have to wait until the very end to see it. After brainiac foe Samuel Sterns ignites President Ross’s inner Red Hulk, we don’t see him for the rest of the movie. Sam has a tense conversation with Sterns, and he tells him that he will stop his sinister plot. Afterward, Sam struts off while armed guards surround Sterns and arrest him. In the post-credits scene, Sam walks up to a cell and says, “Told you you were going to lose that bet,” and we see Sterns inside the cell.
They trade a few barbs, and then Sterns says, “We share the same world, don’t we? This world you would die to save.” He then warns Sam, “It’s coming. I’ve seen it in the probabilities.” Sterns says that the heroes who protect the Earth think they’re the only ones. With a sinister snark, he says that Sam must see what happens when he needs to protect everyone from “the others.” The Brave New World post-credits scene teased Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, involving different worlds colliding.
There were many rewrites, reshoots, and controversy surrounding a statement from Mackie during the movie’s production, which met a 6.1/10 score per IMDB. The Serpent Society and WWE star Seth Rollins were among those who did not make the final cut of Brave New World. Another team that was axed was the Illuminati, who appeared in early drafts of the movie. Director Julius Onah was asked to confirm whether the team would appear in Brave New World.
Julius Onah Addresses the Illuminati
Predictably, like anyone who has worked on Marvel projects, Onah remained quiet but did suggest that they were possibly referenced in the film’s closing moments. “I’m not going to say! I’m not going to say,” Onah said when speaking to The Wrap during questioning. “Let’s just say things are purposely vague in that post-credit for a reason.” Despite the cryptic threats from Sterns, he never reveals the “others” he was referring to. The Illuminati, consisting of members Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart), Reed Richards John Krasinski), Captain Carter (Hayley Atwell), Black Bolt (Anson Mount), Captain Marvel (Lashana Lynch), and Baron Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor), were last seen in Doctor Strange in The Multiverse of Madness.
Also, the team is from Earth-838 and not Earth-616, which is the universe of the main MCU timeline. They initially tried to stop Strange but were killed (except for Mordo) by Wanda Maximoff – The Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen). Could there be another version of the Illuminati, last seen being killed by Wanda, joining the fray, seeking some vengeance? Given Marvel’s history of having multiple teases in the end, having just one post-credit scene might seem unorthodox to the MCU, but Onah revealed that it was always part of the plan.
He said, “It was always the case that what felt organic for this movie was just leaning into a post-credits sequence that could tease what’s coming next. We wanted to tease it in a way that didn’t become too explicit. This is about introducing Sam as our new Captain America. That was the overarching focus of this movie.” He added, “To start throwing in too many post-credit sequences just felt like it was going to stray away from that. Even the tease we have is still very Sam-centric.”
Onah ensured the tease stayed true to Sam’s story rather than deviating from it. Marvel Studios is notorious for its approach to post-credits scenes, often working on them late in production. However, Onah confirmed that the final decision on the scene wasn’t until after the WGA strike concluded, allowing Marvel to work on their long-term plans to ensure things were done right. Onah said, “The scene was shot during our additional photography. That’s what I mean about all this; it was planned ahead of time. We didn’t know what our post-credit scene was going to be just yet.” The scene wasn’t shot until several other key MCU projects were back in development.
Final Thoughts
The portrayal of Sam Wilson as Captain America brings a fresh new take on the character and highlights the social issues we face today. Sam taking on the mantle as one of Marvel’s most beloved heroes brings a new perspective, emphasizing themes of legacy, representation, justice, character, honor, patriotism, and the responsibility of having power. The film did a nice job of staying committed to Sam and his character development rather than putting all its eggs in the multiverse shenanigans. Captain America: Brave New World is a grand example of the spirit of heroism and the active fight for justice. The next MCU film to hit the big screens is Thunderbolts*, which comes out on May 2.
