Anthony Mackie’s been playing Sam Wilson since Captain America: The Winter Soldier, where he started out fighting the forces of evil as Falcon. But after inheriting Steve Rogers’ shield at the end of Avengers: Endgame and embracing the legacy that was left to him in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, he made his official debut as the new Captain America in Captain America: Brave New World earlier this year. Following its theatrical run on the 2025 movies schedule, Brave New World arrives on Digital tomorrow, and ahead of the release, CinemaBlend has the above exclusive video to share about the enemies that Sam fights in this movie.
While Sam was no stranger to fighting extraordinary threats prior to stepping into Steve Rogers’ shoes, Captain America: Brave New World certainly through him into the deep end of the pool, so to speak. As producer Nate Moore explains in this snippet from the “Old Scores, New Scars” special feature attached to the latest Marvel movie, it was important to put Mackie’s character “through the paces to show that he is Captain America.” This resulted in the three threats being “bigger” compared to the previous Captain America movies: Sidewinder, The Leader and Red Hulk.
Now to be frank, Sidewinder, played by Giancarlo Esposito, feels like he would’ve fit seamlessly into The Winter Soldier, Civil War or The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, as this version of the character is the leader of a special ops team who doesn’t wear a snake-themed costume or have special abilities. Still, he managed to put up a good fight against Sam Wilson, and we’ll see him again in a yet-to-be-revealed upcoming Marvel TV show.
And then there was Tim Blake Nelson’s Samuel Sterns, who hadn’t been seen since The Incredible Hulk. Nearly two decades after his cranium started enlarging when his head wound was exposed to Bruce Banner’s blood, he’d been held captive by Harrison Ford’s Thaddeus Ross, who agreed to release him if he help the former Secretary of State to become president. Ross reneged on that deal out of fear Sterns would stop making the pills warding off his heart failure, so the now-superintelligent scientist orchestrated the events of Brave New World, That included forcing Ross to turn into Red Hulk via the very pills he was ingesting.
So yeah, that was a lot for Sam Wilson to deal with in Captain America: Brave New World , and unlike Steve Rogers, he doesn’t have Super Soldier Serum coursing through his veins. But Sam emerged victorious in the end, and starting tomorrow, you can learn more about how his first movie as the lead character was put together. Following its Digital rollout, Brave New World will be available to purchase on Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray and DVD starting May 13. After that, it’ll become streamable with a Disney+ subscription at a date to be determined.
Looking further ahead into the future, Anthony Mackie will reprise Captain America next year in Avengers: Doomsday. In fact, Brave New World’s end credits scene teased the wider threats in the multiverse that are coming, so Sam Wilson will need to get ready to fight outside his weight class again.
