Captain America: Brave New World’s The Leader Actor Reveals Key Reason He’s ‘Happy’ With The Villain, And Now I’m Even More Excited

Tim Blake Nelson in The Incredible Hulk

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is always expanding, both in theaters and through live-action shows available with a Disney+ subscription. One of the highly anticipated upcoming Marvel movies is Captain America: Brave New World, which will be the first installment of the franchise without Chris Evans. The cast of Captain America 4 includes a few returning faces from The Incredible Hulk, including Tim Blake Nelson's  Samuel Sterns / Leader. The actor/playwright revealed a key reason he’s 'happy’ with his villain, and now I’m even more excited.

What we know about Captain America: Brave New World is limited, as Marvel is known for keeping its cards close to the chest. But fans are hyped for its connections to The Incredible Hulk, including Nelson. He recently appeared on Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum, where he explained why he's so excited to return to the MCU. In his words:

[I’m] very happy about it. It’s a wonderfully directed movie by Julius Onah… I can tell you about my character that we did everything we could – and this was entirely supported by Marvel. And I’m so grateful to Kevin Feige and Nate Moore for supporting this. Because they were on board 100 percent to do the character of the Leader as practically as possible with an absence of digital stuff. So I really credit Marvel and also Julius in wanting to make a very much reality-based superhero movie – as oxymoronic as that sounds. In terms of our approach to the Leader, that’s really where we went, and I was really gratified to get to do it that way.

Well, there you have it. While massive creatures like Hulk and Abomination require extensive use of visual effects, it sounds like Captain America 4 won't rely on it. And Tim Blake Nelson was able to give a practical performance, even as the the character known as The Leader. Give me this movie, already!

Marvel security is notoriously tight, so there are countless questions and fan theories about what might go down when Captain America: Brave New World finally hits theaters. Unfortunately, some of these rumors seem to have been confirmed/spoiled months in advance, thanks to some merchandise via McDonald's. But we'll have to see if that helps or hurts its chances at box office success when the movie finally is released.

The pressure is on for Captain America 4 to deliver, as there have been a number of Marvel box office bombs recently. And with Anthony Mackie's Sam Wilson now taking on the mantle of Cap, it should be interesting to see how it ultimately performs at the box office. But one thing is clear: Tim Blake Nelson is happy with his character.

All will be revealed when Captain America: Brave New World hits theaters February 14th. in the meantime, check the 2024 movie release dates

Corey Chichizola
Movies Editor

Corey was born and raised in New Jersey. Graduated with degrees theater and literature from Ramapo College of New Jersey. After working in administrative theater for a year in New York, he started as the Weekend Editor at CinemaBlend. He's since been able to work himself up to reviews, phoners, and press junkets-- and is now able to appear on camera with some of his favorite actors... just not as he would have predicted as a kid. He's particularly proud of covering horror franchises like Scream and Halloween, as well as movie musicals like West Side Story. Favorite interviews include Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee, Jamie Lee Curtis, and more.