Ron Does Stuff

Full disclosure: I haven’t watched a lot of the Marvel films in the theater, ever since the pandemic. Just like a lot of people around the world, I’d gotten used to just watching movies on the television screen. The fact that Marvel put a little pause on production also helped out with that. So when I was invited to watch the premiere of Captain America: Brave New World here in my country, I said yes because what better time to get into it than now?

I watched Deadpool & Wolverine but I still haven’t watched Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Eternals, Thor: Love and Thunder, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Deadpool & Wolverine didn’t require any knowledge from those previous films to make it enjoyable, but would it still be the same for this one, especially since events from Eternals are referenced in it? Let’s find out!

I don’t know where in the MCU timeline Captain America: Brave New World picks up but I do know that it’s after Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which I liked. Sam is now the unquestioned Captain America, and just like Steve Rogers in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, he’s sort of working with the United States government to keep the peace.

In fact, much of the early parts of the movie repeats some of the beats of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which is not a bad idea since that is still one of the best Marvel movies ever made in my opinion. There’s the recovery of a McGuffin, an impish sidekick that provides some levity, a (former) Black Widow, and a mind-controlled Super Soldier. Those beats still work since I was entertained while it was happening, but it wasn’t exactly making my jaw drop. And it’s not like I have a high standard! I’m as lowbrow as they come.

What did make it exciting for me was what the movie was doing with Thaddeus Ross, especially considering the current political climate we’re in now. Because he’s president of the United States, his decisions — or the decisions he’s forced to make — have far-reaching implications, and when the movie leans on that I couldn’t help but be engrossed. World powers amassing on an ocean because of the valuable resource in it? Warships and fighter planes from different countries in a tense standoff? Might as well have been the West Philippine Sea.

Seeing pushback against the United States’ global influence because of a temperamental president? A president who ends up destroying the White House, albeit physically and not symbolically like the way it’s happening now? I know they wrote and filmed this before Trump became president again but it sure fits pretty well to the times right now. That’s what had my jaw agape during most of the final fight of the movie because let’s admit it, we’ve seen enough superhero fights that it’s hard to really do anything new with it.

Another thing I liked were the two cameos in the film, which I won’t spoil here. Both of them made me squeal, with the first one revealing something about a character that we all know while the second one is the return of a character who I personally only care about because of the actor playing the role.

As for how this fits into the greater Marvel Universe moving forward, the movie sets up Thunderbolts* pretty subtly and I mean that as a compliment. The post-credits scene also sets up something, although I don’t know whether that alludes to plans before Jonathan Majors’ departure from his role as Kang.

All in all, I found Captain America: Brave New World to be an entertaining and exciting film that I definitely wouldn’t mind watching in the cinemas again. It may not reach the heights of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, but it reaches far enough heights that it makes me excited to watch Marvel movies in the cinemas again.

ETA: Take a look at the photos I took during the event celebrating the premiere!