I Dug Captain America: Brave New World, But I Wish These 2 Characters Had Been Handled Better

SPOILER WARNING: The following article gives away a few crucial details from Captain America: Brave New World. If you have not yet seen the new 2025 movie, I recommend you proceed with caution before you get all red in the face over having the story ruined for you.

At this point, I am convinced that no new Marvel movie is safe from any divisive or outright damning reactions, based on the critical reception for Captain America: Brave New World. I will actually proudly call myself one of the few who believes that Sam Wilson’s (Anthony Mackie) big screen debut in the eponymous moniker is a solidly entertaining, albeit quite cheesy, political action thriller.

That being said, I completely understand where the new superhero movie’s toughest critics (including our own Eric Eisenberg in CinemaBlend’s Captain America: Brave New World review) are coming from as I certainly had my issues with it. I was especially disappointed with how the story used two important characters, which likely had something to do with the many reshoots and rewrites the film underwent. Nonetheless, I have a few ideas for how better handling of these roles could have largely improved this movie.

Giancarlo Esposito's Sidewinder Should Have Been The Main Villain

These days, I believe that no actor understands how to play a villain better than Giancarlo Esposito, based on his multiple Emmy nominations as Gus Fring in the Breaking Bad cast, his chilling Star Wars saga induction as The Mandalorian’s Moff Gideon, and plenty more. Thus, I cannot understand, for the life of me, why his portrayal of Sidewinder was not the big bad in Captain America: Brave New World instead of showing up in just a few scenes which, in my opinion, are some of the film’s strongest.

Apparently, the reason is that the role of the Serpent Society leader was added to the story late in production after Samuel “The Leader” Sterns had already been established as the central antagonist. Honestly, if it were up to me (and with all due respect to Tim Blake Nelson), I would have used those reshoots as an opportunity to show less of Sterns and his laughable green makeup job and make Sam’s match with Sidewinder the main event. Esposito teased that we may see more of the terrorist leader in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and I certainly hope so, as that would make up for his unjust lack of screen time.

We Should Have Seen More Of Red Hulk

Speaking of an unjust lack of screen time, let’s talk about Red Hulk. President Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross’ (Harrison Ford) big, mean, irradiated alter ego was a major selling point in the marketing for Captain America: Brave New World, which I, honestly, think was a mistake, as the transformation should have been a surprise (despite prior theories of Red Hulk’s involvement). Regardless, even though there was a clear build-up to Ross hulking out throughout the story, seeing it occur in only the final act still felt a bit tacked on.

There was a moment when it seemed like Ross was about to succumb to Sterns’ influence and let the big guy out on a PT boat in the middle of the ocean while a violent aerial conflict was taking place overhead. I think that letting the transformation take effect right then and there, creating another wild mess for Cap to clean up amid the chaos outside, would have been so much more satisfying and given way for even more exciting opportunities to see him and Red Hulk duke it out. All I can hope for now is that we have not seen the last of Ford and, especially, Red Hulk, in the MCU, either.

Despite these issues I had with the movie – in addition to the largely unnatural dialogue – I still balk at people who believe Captain America: Brave New World is the worst Marvel movie yet, which one reviewer from The Rice Thresher called it. There are other poorly reviewed MCU movies that I believe are not nearly as entertaining as this one. Still, I am admittedly hoping for a better future for one of my favorite franchises.