Captain America: Brave New World (2025)

The full story of Captain America: Brave New World runs from a mission in Mexico to a Red Hulk rampage at the White House, and for most of its length it plays as a political thriller. Ross, now president, is pushing a treaty meant to settle the dispute over the new adamantium supply. He sends Sam and Joaquin to Mexico, where they take on Sidewinder and his group, the Serpent Society.

At a White House event, a song triggers a hidden mind control program and Isaiah Bradley, a former super soldier, attacks the gathered leaders. Isaiah is arrested, and Sam sets out to prove that he was manipulated rather than acting on his own.

Sam's trail leads to Samuel Sterns, a scientist Ross had locked up after Sterns gained new intelligence from exposure to Bruce Banner's blood. Sterns uses his technology and the trigger song to control people, which makes him the film's hidden villain.

Ross is secretly dying and has been taking pills that fill his body with gamma radiation. When Sterns exposes Ross's links to him in public, Ross turns into the Red Hulk and wrecks part of the White House. Sam talks him down by reminding him of the cherry blossom visits he used to make with his daughter Betty, and Ross changes back to human form.

Sterns is arrested and Isaiah is cleared. Ross resigns and is imprisoned, the treaty is ratified, and Joaquin is invited to join the Avengers.

The ending of Captain America: Brave New World closes the political plot and opens the door to a bigger team: Ross is sent to the Raft prison, Isaiah Bradley is cleared, the treaty goes through, and Sam and Joaquin are invited to join the Avengers.

Is Red Hulk Harrison Ford? Yes. Ford plays Thaddeus Ross, and the Red Hulk is Ross, who has been taking pills that fill his body with gamma radiation. In my opinion, the choice to make the president the monster is the film's strongest idea, because it turns a speech about trust into a fight that Sam cannot win with a shield.

Who is the villain? It could be argued that there are two. Samuel Sterns, played by Tim Blake Nelson, is the manipulator who uses the trigger song to control people. Ross is the tragic antagonist, a man whose fear of losing control makes him lose it in public.

What was the point of Captain America: Brave New World? Perhaps the clearest answer is that it asks what Captain America means without Steve Rogers. Sam wins by talking Ross down with a memory of cherry blossoms and Betty, not by beating him, which is a very different answer from the one Captain America: Civil War (2016) gave when the Avengers split over oversight. The film also closes a loop with The Incredible Hulk (2008), because Ross, Betty and Sterns all come from that film, and Sterns's exposure to Banner's blood is what makes him dangerous here.

Finally, the invitation to the Avengers suggests a new team forming. Whether that team appears in Avengers: Doomsday is not something the film confirms, so treat any link as speculation.

Captain America: Brave New World has one end credits scene, in which Sam visits the imprisoned Samuel Sterns. Sterns warns him that threats from other worlds are coming.

The scene points toward the multiverse storyline that runs through the later films. The next large scale team up on the release calendar is Avengers: Doomsday, which Disney lists for theaters on December 18, 2026, and the Avengers: Doomsday trailer page tracks the footage released so far.