TheMarvel Cinematic Universe’s expansion on Disney+ includes a TV series that was not positively received, andCaptain America: Brave New Worldcomically undoes its only exciting part. TheMCU’s 2025 movie slatebegan with Anthony Mackie’s first film as Captain America. After it faced some negative reviews before release, the latest of theMCU’s Captain America filmsmanaged tofinish its first global weekend at the box office with a respectable $192 million. With an 80% audience score onRotten Tomatoes, the Captain America movie is being more positively received by fans than by critics.
Captain America: Brave New Worldis an interesting experiment for the MCU, with its box office likely to be closely monitored by Marvel. The reason for that is the movie is a direct follow-up to a TV show, 2021’sThe Falcon and the Winter Soldier.Captain America: Brave New World’s castpulls the key characters Isaiah Bradley and Joaquin Torres from the MCU series. The film’s story could also have connected with that of another MCU TV show, but instead ofusing the best part of the worst Marvel Studios seriesso far, it simply ignored the show’s events altogether.
Captain America: Brave New World Ignored Secret Invasion On Purpose
2014’sCaptain America: The Winter Soldierset up the grounded tone that an MCU thriller should have. In recent years,Marvel Studios has been trying to recapture the magic of the second Captain America movie. Sam Wilson actor Anthony Mackie made it clear during the press run forBrave New Worldthat the new MCU movie was gunning for the same darker, more serious tone as Chris Evans' second Captain America movie. Two years before the new Captain America movie, Marvel had already tried to achieve that through Disney+‘sSecret Invasion.
10 Biggest Captain America: Brave New World Spoilers
Captain America: Brave New World features quite a few shocking moments and reveals, and some of them provide teases for the MCU’s future events.
The MCU series followed Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury as he uncovered a Skrull invasion on Earth. Despite having an interesting setup and a darker, paranoia-heavy story,Secret Invasionfailed to be exciting and is now regarded as one of the worst MCU entries. That said, not all aspects of the show were bad, and there was one in particular that could have been followed byCaptain America: Brave New World. Speaking on thePhase Heropodcast, director Julius Onah explained thatSecret Invasionwas not used becausethey chose MCU beats that connected with Sam Wilson and Thaddeus Ross.
Secret Invasion’s Ending Set Up Something Genuinely Interesting
It Seems Like Marvel Will Never Continue That Story
The reason whyCaptain America: Brave New WorldandSecret Invasionare connected is due to their stories revolving around presidents. InSecret Invasion,President Ritson incites hate against all skrulls and other aliens found on Earth, with a final montage showing vigilantes, mercenaries, and more killing or attempting to kill those they thought were aliens all over the globe. With so many heroes and aliens on Earth, it seemed like that story would build up to a boiling point in a future project. However,Captain America: Brave New Worldignored it.
The film was perfect for continuingSecret Invasion’s ending, as itonce again gave a US President a prominent rolein the form of Harrison Ford’s Thunderbolt Ross. Despite following Ritson as the new man in charge of the USA, Thaddeus Ross never made comments about the events set in motion by his predecessor. For an MCU movie that references events from multiple films andThe Falcon and the Winter Soldier,Secret Invasion’s ending getting at least a nod would not have been too much. Instead, it seems like Marvel will move on from the series completely, forgetting that storyline.
Secret Invasion Now Has 2 Unresolved Cliffhangers
The MCU Seems To Have Cancelled The Movie That Could Pay Off One Of Them
Secret Invasionset up two major stories for the MCU to follow. With Ritson declaring that Earth would no longer welcome aliens and groups starting to hunt them down, it seemed like that story could have tied to a number of projects, perhaps even making Marvel Comics’ “Siege” event the plot forThor 5. However, given howSecret Invasionwas negatively received and howMarvel’s follow-up skrull project,The Marvels, became the lowest-grossing MCU movie of all time, it seems like any connections to the skrulls and that storyline are not on the cards anymore.
Marvel would have followed up on that reveal inArmor Wars, but since that project is no longer in active development, it is unlikely to ever be released.
Secret Invasionalso featured a shocking reveal related to Don Cheadle’s Marvel future. The series showed thatRhodey had been replaced by a skrull after getting injured inCaptain America: Civil War, so the real James Rhodes had been taken hostage by the invading skrulls years ago and was only freed by the end of the series. Marvel would have followed up on that reveal inArmor Wars, but since that project is no longer in active development, it is unlikely to ever be released. As such,Captain America: Brave New WorldendedSecret Invasion’s follow-up chances.
Captain America: Brave New World
Cast
Captain America: Brave New World (formerly titledNew World Order)marks Sam Wilson’s first MCU big-screen appearance as Steve Rogers' successor after receiving the suit and shield in Phase 4’s The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Anthony Mackie returns as the titular Avenger alongside Danny Ramirez as Joaquin Torres, Carl Lumby as Isaiah Bradley, and Tim Blake Nelson as The Incredible Hulk’s former ally Samuel Sterns. Harrison Ford makes his MCU debut replacing the late William Hurt as Thaddeus Ross.After meeting President Thaddeus Ross, Sam is caught in a global crisis. He must expose the mastermind behind a sinister plot before the world descends into turmoil. Captain America: Brave New World marks the big-screen debut of Sam Wilson as Captain America, and Harrison Ford makes his MCU debut, replacing the late William Hurt as Thaddeus Ross.
Secret Invasion
Based on the Marvel Comics event, Secret Invasion is a chapter in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that sees Nick Fury attempting to reckon with an alien invasion that has been occurring for years - without humanity even knowing. Fury discovers that the Skrulls have been infiltrating society for far longer than he realized, and danger arises as plans start into motion.
