O Brave New World, That Has Such Characters In It!
Captain America II: “You want me?! COME AND GET ME!”
Captain America: Brave New World
Captain America: Brave New World is a busy movie. It continues the story from The Falcon and The Winter Soldier as Sam Wilson becomes the new Captain America and tries to live up to Steve Rogers’ legacy.
This movie is a pseudo-crossover with The Hulk, featuring a pair of villains our not-so-jolly-green-giant has faced and a hero from his comics. But Captain America’s characters aren’t being ignored as two heroes reappear alongside a new villain. So who makes up this New World Order? Let’s find out.
Scene Select
Falcon II: Birdman Boogaloo
Played By: Danny Ramirez
Falcon II: “I’m an Arizona boy. I see a lot of hopefuls on the Mexican border struggling to get into the U.S.. America means opportunity to them. It means freedom from tyranny. I have a very big place in my heart for freedom”
Champions #11 (2017)
Sam Wilson spent a lot of time as Captain America’s sidekick. The Winter Soldier was willing to play the role in their show, but he’s busy getting ready for Thunderbolts*. It’s time for a supporting character to take flight as a superhero.
Joaquin Torres was a Mexican immigrant living in America. He hid supplies for illegal border crossings until he was caught by racist supervillain team The Sons of the Serpent. Torres was experimented on and spliced with DNA from Sam Wilson’s pet bird Redwing. Captain America saved Torres, who had developed a healing factor and grown wings.
Torres fought alongside Captain America to save other prisoners. Unfortunately, the cure didn’t work on him. Redwing was a carrier for vampirism of all things and that mutated Torres further than the others. The half-bird man became a new Falcon and joined The Champions.
Joaquin Torres was Falcon’s man on the ground in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. No vampire birds or biological wings here, but he was given the Falcon wingsuit when Sam became the new Captain America. Every Cap needs a Falcon and Torres will fill those wings in Brave New World.
Isaiah Bradley: The Black Captain America
Played By: Carl Lumbly
Isaiah Bradley: “They were worried the story would get out, so they erased me. My history. But then, they’ve been doing that for 500 years. Pledge allegiance to that, my brother.”
The Falcon and The Winter Soldier “Truth” (Season 1, Episode 5)
Governments are fallible. It’s a bitter lesson that too many have learned and a lot more will in the future. Captain America: Brave New World brings back a testament to one of Marvel America’s worst war crimes.
Isaiah Bradley was one of three hundred Black soldiers kidnapped by the U.S. during World War II. The soldiers were experimented on to recreate the Super Soldier Serum. Isaiah and a handful of others survived and gained superpowers, though everyone suffered side effects.
The super soldiers were treated as a penal battalion and sent on secret, high-risk missions. Isaiah was the last survivor and ordered to perform a suicide mission. He stole Captain America’s spare suit and shield as a screw-you to his handlers and survived the mission. Isaiah was court-martialed and imprisoned for decades. His story was buried, but became a legend among Black superheroes.
The knockoff Super Soldier Serum gave Isaiah the standard superpowers and slowed his aging. Unfortunately, it also sterilized him and regressed his mind to childhood over time. On the bright side, a blood transfusion from Isaiah was able to empower his grandson Patriot without the side effects. Three guesses what Captain America 4’s post-credit scene will be; the first two don’t count.
Sabra: Israel’s Champion
Played By: Shira Haas
Sabra: I suspect your presence was a carefully-planned diversion devised by the terrorists to draw our military away from the scene of the crime. I charge you with complicity for their barbaric act of terrorism and the murder of that boy!
The Incredible Hulk #256
Hulk: LIAR! Boy was Hulk’s friend! […] Boy died because of two old books that say his people and yours must fight and die for land! Now boy is dead, BUT BOY DIDN’T EVEN READ BOOKS! ARRGH!”
Hoo-boy. Authors love using stories to examine current events. In the 1980s, Marvel threw their hat into the Arab-Israeli Conflict with one of the most controversial characters they’ve ever made. Forty years later, she returns in Captain America: Brave New World.
Ruth-Bat Seraph was a Mutant raised by the Israeli government and trained from childhood to join the Mossad. While working as a police officer, she witnessed a terror attack and believed that Hulk was assisting them. Ruth-Bat became the superhero Sabra and battled Hulk until discovering that he was avenging an Arab child killed in the bombing.
The encounter shook Sabra, who had only seen Arabs as enemies. She slowly shed her bigotry towards them and redirected her hatred towards all terrorists. Sabra also began exploring her Mutant heritage and joined an X-Men spinoff called X-Corp.
Sabra has the usual superpowers, flight, speed, durability, and a healing factor. She can also transfer life energy to heal people and give them a random, temporary power. Sabra uses a pair of wrist launchers that fire paralyzing energy quills. Beyond superpowers and equipment, Ruth-Bat has police, IDF, and anti-terror training.
Not So Fun Fact: Controversy about Sabra reignited when the character was announced for Captain America: Brave New World. Many Palestinians were offended by the Mossad-aligned superhero while some Israelis disliked her heritage being downplayed to make Sabra a Black Widow attached to the U.S. government.
The Israel-Hamas War came at the worst time imaginable for Marvel, making Sabra one of the most unpalatable characters they could promote.
Thunderbolt Ross: The Red Hulk
Played By: William Hurt, Harrison Ford
Ross: “The line in the sand between man and beast gets very blurry during war. You don’t get to hold your moral ground when ‘thou shalt not kill’ is no longer an option. That doesn’t make me uncomfortable. Never has.”
Fall of the Hulks
One prominent Captain America character doesn’t fit the binary hero or villain mode. So who is this anti-hero?
General Thaddeus Thunderbolt Ross was assigned to the top secret Gamma Bomb project. He loathed the weapon’s progress being slowed by lead scientist Bruce Banner. A test went wrong and Banner became The Hulk. Ross spent years hunting him with every weapon he could get his hands on.
Ross’ crusade ruined his life. He was dishonorably discharged, his daughter died in a battle’s crossfire, and the Hulk just wouldn’t die. Ross approached a team of mad scientists to help him finally kill The Hulk and was transformed into his own monstrous form: The Red Hulk.
Was Red Hulk able to beat his green White Whale? Find out in our Red Hulk Backstory.
Fun Fact: Harrison Ford takes over for the late William Hurt. Since Ross is the POTUS and half of the cast can fly, I suspect there will be an action scene on Air Force One. It writes itself.
Sidewinder: Leader of the Serpent Society
Played By: Giancarlo Esposito
Sidewinder: “Our enemies have long recognized the benefits of banding together. That left me to ponder, if The Avengers or the Fantastic Four can organize for mutual self-interests, why can’t those of us outside the law?“
Captain America #310 (1985)
Tyrants and monsters aren’t the scariest villains, but a streetwise gangster’s rackets and blue-collar crimes can do more damage than any laser cannon fired from an ivory tower. This savvy serpent was Captain America’s bane in the 80s.
Dr. Seth Voelker was an economic analyst for a corrupt corporation called Roxxon. He discovered that several supervillains worked for his bosses and asked to join them. Seth was given a teleportation cloak and became Sidewinder. He performed missions for Roxxon before going solo.
Sidewinder assembled several snake-themed villains to create a supervillain labor union, with each member under his command following a code of conduct and sharing equally in the loot. In return, the villains would get better tech, insurance, pension plans, backup, and Sidewinder’s teleportation as a Get-Out-Of-Jail-Free card. The villains turned newly corporate formed The Serpent Society.
The Serpent Society ran Captain America ragged. He was outnumbered, outgunned and any Serpents he caught were rescued almost immediately. Sidewinder ran the most effective supervillain team in the world until he was usurped by Madame Hydra, who ran the team into the ground with a grandiose scheme. Sidewinder retired from villainy in exchange for Captain America funding a medical operation his daughter needed.
The Leader: The Smartest One There Is
Played By: Tim Blake Nelson, Jeffery Combs, Matt Frewer
The Leader: I imagined the army of superhumans scouring the planet had they known of the mental titans of this world convening, however sporadic. And this unparalleled brainpower could only have been brought together by a man with true vision. A Leader.”
Fall of the Hulks: Alpha
Captain America: Brave New World made a smart choice. Every trailer and poster frames Red Hulk as the main villain. The trailers show Sidewinder as a provocateur with some star power, but the real Big Bad has been hiding since 2008’s The Incredible Hulk. So who is The Leader?
Samuel Sterns was a janitor on a military base. Leaking containers of gamma waste mutated Sterns, giving him superhuman intelligence, processing speed, and psychic powers. He named himself The Leader and became a criminal mastermind.
The Leader swore revenge against The Hulk after the mindless monster foiled one of his schemes. None of his plans or inventions could defeat Hulk, but The Leader has done his best to ruin Bruce Banner’s life. Sterns was once depowered and noted that as The Leader, he’s too intelligent and egotistical to learn from his mistakes.
The Leader was killed and learned that all gamma monsters are powered by Hell and connected to The One Below All. He manipulated life, death, heroes, and villains to become The One Below All’s host. The Leader had unintentionally trained Hulk, making him strong enough to beat the devilish figure and stop The Leader. Sterns was last seen being taken into custody.
Who are you most interested in seeing appear in Captain America: Brave New World? Tell us in the comments below.
Image: Captain America/Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) in Marvel Studios’ CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2024 MARVEL.
Jared Bounacos has written for Movie Rewind since 2016.
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