Captain America 4 will introduce several big changes to the Captain America series and the MCU, including one tweak that hasn’t been done in decades.

Captain America: Brave New World is set to be Sam Wilson’s big-screen debut as Captain America, and it’s revisiting a plot point that hasn’t been done in movies for well over half a century. With the release of Captain America: Brave New World, the titular hero will join rare company as one of only two MCU heroes with four solo movies (the other being Thor). However, the passing of the shield makes this a different sort of sequel, and time will tell how well the brand performs without the iconic Steve Rogers.

Sam Wilson was famously given the Captain America title at the end of Avengers: Endgame, but his only MCU appearance since has been in the Disney+ streaming series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Even with that, it’ll have been over 25 MCU releases between Captain America appearances. Hopefully, Anthony Mackie can lead the Captain America: Brave New World cast in a new direction, following in the footsteps of his forebearer from the mid-20th century.

1944’s Captain America Was The Last Captain America Movie Not About Steve Rogers

The 1944 Captain America movie by Republic Pictures Corporation was a serial, meaning it was released in separate chapters. The movie featured a very different Captain America from the comic book and MCU versions, and not just because he wasn’t Steve Rogers. This movie’s Cap was a man named Grant Gardner, and he seemingly did not go through any super-soldier transformation. Instead, Gardner is just a District Attorney who also fights crimes dressed as Captain America. This Cap’s new identity actually makes the 1944 version a little closer to Daredevil than Captain America.

Funnily enough, Marvel would go on to later turn this Captain America into Steve Rogers, sort of. In Captain America #219 (1978) by Don Glut, Sal Buscema, Joe Sinnott, and George Roussos, Cap and Bucky are sent to protect the production of the Captain America serial. Partway through, the actor playing Captain America is shot, so Steve Rogers steps in to finish filming. This means that, while the character in the serial is still Grant Gardner, in the universe of Marvel Comics, Gardner is played by Steve Rogers.

Why The MCU Needed To Replace Steve Rogers As Captain America

The 1944 Captain America movie replacing Steve Rogers in the lead was a strange choice, but it is the right choice for Captain America: Brave New World. Many of the original Avengers were nearing the end of their contracts with Marvel, and Avengers: Endgame served as the perfect time to retire Steve Rogers as Captain America. This was the right call, allowing Steve Rogers to go out on a high note. It also set the stage for how heroes in the MCU could pass on their mantles.

Steve Rogers is the first MCU hero to hand off his title to someone else. This introduces the idea of legacy heroes, which has been around in the comics for a while. Legacy heroes are even more useful to the MCU since the movies require real actors, whereas the comics can keep drawing the same characters indefinitely. Cap’s example has since been followed by Clint Barton, who seemingly passed his title to Kate Bishop at the end of Hawkeye. Sam Wilson will be the first legacy hero to headline an MCU film with the release of Captain America: Brave New World.