The following post contains SPOILERS for Captain America: Brave New World. If you are not brave about spoilers, stop reading now.
Once upon a time, the Marvel Cinematic Universe ticked along like clockwork. Characters were teased, teams were introduced, and storylines were paid off in grand fashion.
For a Marvel fan, those days are starting to feel like a long time ago.
The films of Phase 5 of the MCU have been marked by scheduling delays, reshoots, and several notable firings and hirings. Some of these issues, like the Hollywood labor strikes of 2023, were out of Marvel’s control. Still, audiences don’t want excuses when they pay $15 or $20 for a ticket; they want a satisfying, coherent movie. And those have been in short supply from Marvel in recent years. For every Deadpool & Wolverine (which wasn’t exactly The Avengers to begin with) there’s been an Eternals or The Marvels or now a Captain America: Brave New World.
Marvel’s latest effort has a few things going for it, namely a very winning performance from Anthony Mackie as the new Captain America, along with a few decent action scenes. The story and the script, on the other hand, are a total mess of rambling subplots, bizarre villain plans, and confusing cameos. Below, you’ll find 11 of the most distracting and frustrating examples. (The 12th would be “Why did Marvel make the Red Hulk the focal point of every teaser, trailer, and poster for the movie if Brave New World was going to treat it like a shocking twist?” but that’s not a mystery we can adequately solve.)
