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Warning: The article contains spoilers for Captain America: Brave New World.

Marvel Studios’ Captain America: Brave New World only has a single post-credits scene, but it contains important setup for an unexpected future MCU movie, so we break down what it means. The fourth Captain America movie is a departure from Marvel standard, having only one post-credits scene instead of what has become typical, which is two. It’s located at the very end of the credits, and is important to an upcoming Marvel movie, so it’s worth sticking around to watch for those invested in seeing where the MCU is headed.

In terms of what happens in the Captain America: Brave New World credits scene, it’s a rather simple scene. Samuel Sterns aka the Leader (Tim Blake Nelson) is imprisoned on the Raft after the ending of Captain America: Brave New World, in which he turns himself in as part of his plot for revenge against President Thaddeaus “Thunderbolt” Ross (Harrison Ford). There, he’s visited by Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) and he has some ominous warnings to deliver, all based on the Marvel villain’s gamma-enhanced intellect.

The scene begins with Sam taunting the Leader about losing the bet they made earlier in the movie, and then accusing the villain of killing “good men” in his effort to get vengeance against Ross. But the Leader soon turns the conversation toward a greater threat, using the multiverse as a taunt and foretelling of an evil force that’s coming to destroy the world Sam so badly wants to protect. The Leader’s full speech reads as follows:

We share the same world, don’t we? This world you would die to save. It’s coming. I’ve seen it in the probabilities, seen it plain as day. All you heroes protecting this world, do you think you’re the only ones? Do you think this is the only world? We’ll see what happens when you have to protect this place from the others.

The Leader’s warning to Captain America is vague, but based on what we know of the MCU’s upcoming slate, it’s clear that this post-credits scene isn’t teasing any Marvel movie releasing in 2025, but next year instead. Now, let’s break down who the “others” are that the Leader is talking about and what movie the Captain America: Brave New World post-credits scene is setting up. It has major ramifications for the MCU’s future.

Captain America: Brave New World’s Credits Scene Is Setting Up Avengers: Doomsday

Avengers: Doomsday Is Set To Release In May 2026

Audiences watching Captain America: Brave New World might expect the post-credits scene to tee up the next movie on Marvel’s slate, Thunderbolts*, or even the other 2025 MCU movie, The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Instead, the Captain America: Brave New World credits scene is setting up Avengers: Doomsday by previewing the oncoming threat. The Leader doesn’t mention Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom by name, but he doesn’t have to. Marvel Studios announced Doom as the main threat of the upcoming Avengers movies, so we know he’s the villain being teased.

The allusion to the multiverse is also a dead giveaway that the credits scene is setting up Avengers: Doomsday. While the first three phases of the MCU were referred to as the Infinity Saga, phases 4-6 have been titled the Multiverse Saga, and Marvel’s movies and shows have explored the creation and the stabilization of the multiverse. Since the Multiverse Saga is expected to end with Avengers: Secret Wars in 2027, it’s been known for a while that both Doomsday and Secret Wars would somehow conclude Marvel’s multiverse storyline. So, Captain America: Brave New World is setting up Avengers: Doomsday, and potentially Avengers: Secret Wars.

Who Are “The Others” And How Do They Connect To Doctor Doom

They Could Be Villains – Or Heroes – Who Threaten The MCU’s World

There are two major possibilities for who the Leader is referring to when he says “the others” in the Captain America: Brave New World post-credits scenes. This is not a known group of characters from Marvel Comics, so it’s clearly a reference to another group. Based on what’s known about the cast for Avengers: Doomsday, namely that Downey is playing Doctor Doom and Chris Evans has been reported to return, though his character hasn’t been specified, it’s possible the others are a group of Dark Avengers.

The way this would work is that Marvel could bring back original Avengers actors, like Downey, Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner and Mark Ruffalo, and have them play evil variants from the multiverse. We know Downey is playing Doom, and it’s been widely speculated that Evans could play an evil version of Captain America who works for Hydra, or another villain entirely. Since different actors can play the same characters across the multiverse, and actors can play different characters, it’s been established in canon that the Avengers stars could play new or evil characters.

Doctor Doom assembling a team of Dark Avengers seems like the most likely possibility for who “the others” are that the Leader is warning about, especially considering what’s known about Marvel’s upcoming movies. However, there’s also a possibility that the Leader could be warning Sam about having to fight other, non-evil heroes from the multiverse in order to save his world from being destroyed. This could be set up for Secret Wars, which is likely to take place on Battleworld, a world set up as a location for heroes from across the multiverse to fight for their worlds.

The exact plot of Avengers: Secret Wars isn’t known yet, though there are two Marvel Comics events that share the name and can serve as the inspiration for the movie. We’ve already seen Marvel start to set up Secret Wars through the introduction of incursions in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Incursions lead to the destruction of universes within the multiverse, and are a major part of Marvel’s 2015 Secret Wars comics event. So it’s possible that Captain America: Brave New World is continuing to set up a potential brawl featuring Marvel heroes from across the multiverse in 2027’s Secret Wars movie.

When Captain America Will Return Explained

Sam Wilson Is An Important Character In The MCU’s Future

One of the throughlines for Sam Wilson in Captain America: Brave New World is the question of whether he’ll agree to rebuild the Avengers at President Ross’s behest. By the end of the movie, he tells Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez) that the world needs the Avengers, and it seems Captain America has made his decision to rebuild the team. Because of this, when the Marvel movie puts up a text screen that reads “Captain America Will Return,” the obvious place for that to happen is Avengers: Doomsday. Presumably, when RDJ’s Doctor Doom arrives on Earth in the MCU, he’ll be met by Sam’s new Avengers.

Of course, it’s possible that Captain America shows up in the MCU before Avengers: Doomsday, perhaps in a cameo or post-credits for Thunderbolts* – after all, Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) did show up in Brave New World – or The Fantastic Four: First Steps. The latter movie takes place in a different universe, but since Marvel’s First Family have been confirmed to appear in Doomsday, it’s expected they’ll somehow travel from their universe to the main MCU before the conclusion of the film. This was teased in The Fantastic Four trailer, which showed a multiverse bridge on Reed Richards’ chalkboard.

Will Sam Wilson Reassemble The Avengers Before Doomsday?

But, the next time Captain America will truly return in the MCU will be in Avengers: Doomsday, and he’ll be the new official leader of the Avengers. The question then becomes whether the Avengers will be assembled off-screen or if Doomsday will follow in the footsteps of 2012’s The Avengers and spend a chunk of the runtime bringing the team together. Marvel could go either way, or do both. It makes sense for Sam to call on his known allies off-screen, like Thor, Hulk and Captain Marvel. But since The Fantastic Four will be unknown, they might join the team later.

Ultimately, it remains to be seen when and how Sam Wilson will reassemble the Avengers ahead of Doomsday, as well as who exactly will be on the team. But, after quite a few years of Marvel movies not having much of a cohesive storyline, the Captain America: Brave New World post-credits scene seems like the first real step toward the MCU’s next culminating event. While there are still plenty of questions to be answered, we now know the threat is coming, and it will require Captain America and the Avengers to return.