It’s been a bit of rough sailing on the 2025 movie schedule so far, especially if you’re invested in the Disney/Marvel hit machine. With both Captain America: Brave New World and Snow White underperforming, most upcoming Disney movies of all stripes are going to probably be examined under the closer scrutiny of market forecasters and fans alike.
But if you’re someone like co-writer Rob Edwards, those views get a bit more complicated. That’s because while the number of critical takes may say one thing, the fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe have apparently sung a different tune on how Sam Wilson’s cinematic debut truly landed.
Rob Edwards Shared Some Very Real Thoughts About Captain America 4’s Critical Reaction
The writer recently spoke with The Direct at WonderCon, promoting his upcoming animated biblical epic King of Kings. As one of the team members who’ve undoubtedly encountered the not-so-welcoming feedback at hand, Edwards was asked if he had anticipated just how this project had landed.
With that starting point in mind, Rob Edwards opened up about the subject, by first tackling the critical reaction to Captain America 4 on these specific terms:
I kinda did, kinda didn't. I think similar things have happened... with a lot of different projects. It was weird to me, because some of my friends who are critics, I said, 'I think you guys missed it. I think you guys got it wrong.'
Leave it to a writer on both Treasure Planet and The Princess and the Frog to know his way around discussing what could become another underrated piece of the Marvel movies legacy, as well as Disney projects in general. In all honesty, the world of professional criticism tends to be harsher than that of the fans from the general public who show up for such movies in the theaters.
While Brave New World’s opening weekend did top the box office, its continued fortunes were less than what one would expect in the world of the MCU. And yet, when Rob Edwards turned the discussion to what the fans thought, what he had to share was pretty optimistic for the long view on the Anthony Mackie fronted picture. Which is exactly the sort of push Disney+ subscription holders who literally missed this film in theaters are probably looking to hear.
Audience Feedback Was Way Kinder To Captain America: Brave New World
Going into the release of the fourth Captain America stand-alone, there were a lot of factors that may have acted as spoilers for director Julius Onah’s Marvel Studios debut. Reports of everything from the allegedly massive Cap 4 reshoots, as well as those rumors of Harrison Ford’s behavior on set, added what could be perceived as a general souring on Marvel films in general.
At least, one could think that before reading the King of Kings screenwriter’s continued remarks, which included this encouraging sign:
When the audience's marks came in, everybody I saw said like, 'Not only did I love it, but I brought my family to the next week. I've seen it more than once. It's a thoroughly enjoyable film, and I don't know what everybody's talking about.' I mean, that's really what you want as opposed to the other thing.
Looking at Rotten Tomatoes’ Tomatometer and Popcornmeter at the time of writing this story, the respective 48% and 79% scores do say it all. While critics may not have been taken by Captain America: Brave New World’s charms, MCU fans don’t seem to have been as hard on the finished product in the long run.
As its run continues to stick around in the Top 10 of the domestic box office, this Marvel movie may be down, but it’s not out. So perhaps the full story of how Brave New World truly impressed is waiting to be written, as the picture will debut on Disney+ at some point in the near future.
So if you feel you may have "missed it" when watching the first time around, you'll have your shot to revisit this thriller soon enough. Meanwhile, Thunderbolts* is next at bat, with a May 2nd debut that could tell us more about how the Marvel cinematic audience are feeling on the march to Avengers: Doomsday.
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