It’s been six years since Steve Rodgers handed over Captain America reigns to Sam Wilson, Aka The Falcon, in “Avengers: Endgame.” Wilson (Anthony Mackie) will be the lead of Julius Onah’s “Captain America: Brave New World.” A trailer was released in the summer.

Two different cuts of the film test screened last week, and plot details for one of the cuts have leaked online. The person who attended didn’t seem to like the movie all that much.

Based on the folks I’ve spoken to, those who attended were either given a red or green bracelet and were split up into two different theaters. The reactions I’ve heard have not been very kind to this movie, which is being described as “inessential” and “flat.”

…

Reshoots on ‘Brave New World’ happened in August. This could explain why two different cuts were shown. Last year, after receiving negative test scores in another screening, and Marvel themselves underwhelmed by an early cut they saw of the film, ‘Brave New World’ was delayed to February 2025. Extensive reshoots were called, with “three major action sequences” having been filmed, between May and August 2024 in Atlanta.

‘Brave New World’ had originally wrapped filming in June 2023, and was set for a July 2024 release date, but it’s now turned into this monstrous mess for Marvel. You just don’t push a movie this big out of your calendar, and then decide to dump it in February, unless major trouble is brewing.

Last December, Matthew Orton was hired by Marvel to pen “additional scenes and material”. Orton’s work was shot during this summer’s reshoots. They’ve also added new characters to the story. Will audiences even show up to a Captain America movie that doesn’t star Chris Evans?

  • Kwakigra ( Kwakigra@beehaw.org ) 
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    2 years ago

    They’re trying to do the impossible with this character. He is critical of the actions of the in-world corrupt establishment but also unquestioningly loyal to it. The climax of his last story was asking a bunch of senators who canonically caused a human rights emergency to try harder. He literally just asked them to try harder. That was the resolution. Also the people who were fighting for the victims of the human rights emergency that the MCU American senate canonically caused were all killed because boot-licking is framed as the “correct” way to address systemic issues. More than any other IP, I think this one is the US military’s favorite for recruiting purposes.

    • It’s pretty hard to pitch the Flag Smashers as victims or the “good guys”.

      The real problem with the aftermath of The Snap is that it basically became an in-universe analogue for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but there’s still no easy answer in the MCU counterpart so it’s just frustrating because it can’t be resolved without hurting someone.

      • Kwakigra ( Kwakigra@beehaw.org ) 
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        2 years ago

        Yeah, like most MCU villains they started committing random acts of violence as their leader “goes bad.” The in-universe MCU Senate canonically already went bad. The solution proposed by the story was to kill the flag smashers and ask the people who (I keep repeating this) are canonically responsible for the problem due to their negligence, are asked to “do better.”

        • like most MCU villains they started committing random acts of violence as their leader “goes bad.”

          IDK I got the idea that a lot of people in the Flag Smasher’s inner circle were beginning to question their leaders’ violent decisions, I feel like the show was definitely portraying the leader as worse that the members, even though they were all in the wrong here

          ask the people who (I keep repeating this) are canonically responsible for the problem due to their negligence

          lol the only person canonically responsible is Thanos

  • li10 ( li10@feddit.uk ) 
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    2 years ago

    I remember watching the passing the torch moment and just thinking “really? why? Just say captain America is retired”

    It is literally an irreplaceable character… especially doesn’t help that the replacement was previously “just some guy” in the other movies.

    • lobut ( lobut@lemmy.ca ) 
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      2 years ago

      Reality is often disappointing.

      Sorry I couldn’t help myself. I saw every MCU movie from Shang Chi to Iron Man. I stopped afterwards.

      I can’t describe why? I think I have such a fond memory of Endgame and beforehand that when I hear these movies do poorly I don’t want to soil my memory of it.

      • ihatetheworld ( ihatetheworld@lemmy.ml ) 
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        2 years ago

        We can all agree End Game was peak MCU.

        Spider-Man No Way Home is the only MCU movie that I really enjoyed watching in phrase 4-5.

        Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was the last MCU I cared enough to watch in the theatre.

        Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was good? but I can hardly recall what happened in that movie.

        Most of the mini-series on Disney+ are forgettable. Loki season 2 was chef kiss and I want to see more of Moon Knight.

        The recent Deadpool & Wolverine was dumb but it was lots of fun to watch.

        I feel like those pre End Game characters are doing all the heavy lifting in current MCU. I don’t find myself caring for most of the new characters that they are bringing in to set-up for the next big stage.

    • DJDarren ( DJDarren@thelemmy.club ) 
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      2 years ago

      I’ve had essentially 0 interest in the MCU since Endgame. They wrapped up that story quite nicely, but even by that point I was starting to get fatigued by the whole thing.

      Watched the recent Deadpool movie last week and enjoyed it, but it offers something different to every other superhero movie.

      • Prehensile_cloaca  ( Flocklesscrow@lemm.ee ) 
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        2 years ago

        Falcon and the Winter Soldier was a decent series, carried by Anthony Mackie and the chemistry between the leads.

        The problem is that Falcon is already a great character. No super serum Cap’n America is already boring.

  • ᴇᴍᴘᴇʀᴏʀ 帝 ( Emperor@feddit.uk ) OP
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    2 years ago

    I failed to see what the point of this (and the TV series that set it up) was and it seems like their isn’t one.

    With the development hell and such bad word of mouth this far out, it is lining up to be their biggest box office bomb so far.

    • jagermo ( jagermo@feddit.org ) 
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      2 years ago

      I liked the series, but mostly because of Bucky and more backstory for Zemos.

      Captain A is a hard character to play or write because he is so one dimensional - he is good, no what ifs or buts. Chrias Evan did a great job, but you also need a good villain that carries the story. And without great writers, its hard to make something fun and entertaining.

    • DJDarren ( DJDarren@thelemmy.club ) 
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      2 years ago

      (and the TV series that set it up)

      And here’s my problem with everything Disney is splooging out these days; the interconnectedness has very rapidly gone from being a fun feature to an obnoxious ask on our time.

      The last season of The Mandalorian actively annoyed me when I realised that a bunch of the action between it and the previous season had taken place during the Boba Fett show. I didn’t bother with that because it looked dull, meaning I had to go away and find out what I’d missed.

      You watch any of the movies now and there’s some element of them that you’ll miss if you haven’t watched a selection of attached series and three previous movies.

      Mate, I’m not doing fucking homework just so I can give you ten more hours of my life.

    • The point really is “it’s another movie”. Same point of Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Thor: The Dark World. Having these types of movies makes sense. “Good guy fights bad guy!” isn’t a bad comic book movie premise, and I think sometimes people assume superhero films have to be bigger than that to be good.

    • Teils13 ( Teils13@lemmy.eco.br ) 
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      2 years ago

      They became split after 2019, with a roller-coaster track of (some) highs and (more) lows, specially if we are counting the marvel disney tv series too (since they are inter-connected now, we should). No genre or franchise ever died suddenly, even DC had successes years after BvS ‘Martha is our mother’s name’ event (which also did make money itself, the loss of goodwill only shows up in later entries).

      My analysis is that most of the successes are prologues of pre-2019 stories and characters, redoubling the appeal to nostalgia and giving an ending where Marvel lets (guardians 3, deadpool for fox marvel, spider man with the 3 spiders and ending current peter’s arc). The actually new stories and characters, that should be the ones being widely seen cause they are supposed to star and steer the MCU now, have been duds (and lots of old timers are also having hard times, like Nick Fury). This is a strong indicator of decline, and the fact they threw money bags at Robert D. Junior to appeal again is another.

  • “why can’t they just make it good”

    well, as it turns out, good, truly good and griping, is hard.

    when you have the stars who can carry just about anything, quality can slip a bit, but when you don’t, and it’s been proven the stars you’re using, aren’t compelling personalities, for whatever reason, and don’t have the draw themselves, good becomes paramount. and because the mcu is built around intertwined narratives which are almost completely dependent on characters, when the characters themselves aren’t working (mackie, larson, et all) and the narrative itself is far past being played out, you’re sorta up a creek.

  • Imagine shooting this movie twice just for it to do this badly.

    It was the one thing I figured would be better after reshoots, but I guess it’s still bad!

    This also explains why they marketed Thunderbolts* far heavier than Captain America: Brave New World last month.