TAGGED AS: Action, Marvel, Superheroes
Despite a handful of television shows and films in the interim, Captain America: Brave New World stands as the first Marvel Cinematic Universe project to really dive into the state of play for its mainline Earth since 2022’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. It is understandable, though, as series like Echo and Agatha All Along were more concerned with the immediate fates of their characters than the state of MCU Earth. Deadpool & Wolverine, meanwhile, took place elsewhere in the Multiverse with its only scene on the “prime” Earth (labelled as Earth-616 per Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness) being a flashback. The films released prior to it, like The Marvels, centered on more cosmic (or microscopic) concerns.
So what is the state of play on Earth-616? Does the election of a new president change the dynamic of the world stage? What about the Celestial corpse in the Indian ocean left over from the end of Eternals? And are tensions with Wakanda still at an all-time high?
Let’s take a look at what Brave New World offers in terms of the state of play and what it might mean as Phase 5 of the MCU nears its conclusion.
Since Avengers: Endgame’s five-year time jump from 2018 to 2023, the MCU has been set several years ahead of our own. For instance, WandaVision, which occurs just weeks after Endgame, was still three years or so ahead of our timeline. Of course, various global events in our reality altered whatever plan the studio had for that time jump, but Brave New World’s stated timeframe — five months after Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross’s (Harrison Ford) election to the presidency — brings the temporal state of play to just mere months ahead of ours. Now, the MCU is in June of 2025.
Or at least, it seems that way.
Alternate accounting of the timeline via various reports and wikis suggests the film may be taking place as late as June 2027. But as that would mean the MCU presidential elections occur at the time of our world’s US midterm election cycle, we’re inclined to believe Marvel would rather go back to their stories taking place in a roughly contemporaneous timeframe to our own without saying it too loudly. But, then again, that’s how we got to the timeline problem in the first place! And as readers of Marvel Comics know, the dating of certain events is always being updated.
It remains to be seen how the timeline will impact some of the projects nearly-ready for release like Thunderbolts* and Daredevil: Born Again. Ironheart, in particular, may end up winding the clock backward as it was written and shot several years ago, before some of the behind-the-scenes creative upheavals changed Marvel Studio’s approach to television and, seemingly, kept events in the MCU several years in the future. And speaking of Marvel TV…
Those who watched Secret Invasion may recall the president in that series, James Ritson (Dermot Mulroney), ended the story by declaring all extraterrestrials unwelcome on US shores and getting an Anti-Alien Act through Congress. This seemingly has an echo via Ross’s campaign slogan, “Together”, in Brave New World, but the refusal to even name his opponent in the election suggests to us that Marvel is considering moving Secret Invasion to another reality within the Multiverse. We imagine a lot of people would be okay with that. Also, the signs are already there — consider how The Marvels presented a more energetic Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) than the one in Secret Invasion. Also note the complete absence of his wife in that film.
Within Brave New World, there is also an inference that the studio would rather move on from the implications of Secret Invasion by avoiding the anti-alien rhetoric and government policy set up at the series’ conclusion. Ross never mentions those issues even as a campaign plank. At the same time, though, no mention is made of New Asgard, which we imagine would have an interest in the stillborn Celestial as potent as the US, Japan, France, and India. So, it remains to be seen if any of the older geopolitical ideas set up in Phase 4 will carry on from this point forward. Or, if like Secret Invasion, they are being cast aside to another universe or irrelevancy.
One of those older concepts, the fallout from the Blip, is also seemingly settled via Ross’s one mention of it in his election night acceptance speech. Otherwise, it appears the remaining tensions from the Blip have been settled by 2025 in the MCU. This has a curious parallel with our own world as we continue to put the COVID-19 pandemic in the rearview. Then again, the synchronicity between the Blip and the pandemic was always accidental.
Of course, just as in our reality, that attempt to move forward leaves behind a number of lingering questions. For one: Is the Global Repatriation Council still active and trying to return displaced people to their countries of origin? The timetable for that plan was altered during the closing moments of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and beyond a handful of GRC posters popping up in Moon Knight and Eternals, the organization’s movements have had no impact on subsequent stories. Perhaps the appearance of the dead Celestial finally put an end to the GRC as world leaders had a new focus: claiming that new land for themselves. But as Brave New World reveals, even that is shifting to a new element.
In the mainline Marvel Comics reality, adamantium is a man-made alloy composed of Wakandan vibranium, steel, and other substances. But as Brave New World establishes for the MCU, it is an element mined from the Celestial’s corpse. Early in the film, Ross establishes that the goal of his first 100 days in office is getting a treaty signed among various countries to establish fair sharing of the Celestial and its adamantium resources. And while the literal canister of the material featured in the film is more of a MacGuffin to the designs of Ross and Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson), its discovery on Earth-616 is, indeed, a brave new world.
For one, this means there is no Wolverine in the mainline MCU yet. While She-Hulk: Attorney at Law made a sight-gag about a man with claws growing out of his hands, the amnesiac mutant with an adamantium skeleton has not yet undergone the procedure to make him either of those things. While most close-watchers of the MCU and Marvel Studios fully expect the Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) from Deadpool & Wolverine to make an appearance in the next few Avengers films, Earth-616 only has a century-plus-old Canadian named Jamie Howlett with mutant healing factor and bone claws running around its history. That has implications of its own. Has the Weapon X program been established yet? Has Jamie been working for General William Stryker since the 1980s? Will we have to watch events covered in X-Men Origins: Wolverine get rehashed in an MCU context?
Back in the realm of MCU geopolitics, the discovery of adamantium also has implications for continuing relations between most of the world’s governments and the two sources of vibranium: Wakanda and Talokan. While the latter ended Black Panther: Wakanda Forever as an isolationist undersea kingdom uninterested in sharing its resources with anyone, Wakanda is on the world stage and its stores of the metal make it a superpower. But adamantium — and Ross’s treaty — threaten to change the country’s standing. Perhaps the rumored Black Panther 3 will pick up this thread. It is possible an adamantium-backed nation could launch an assault on Wakanda for no other reason than petty revenge.
Granted, Wakanda has been invaded in all of its on-screen appearances, so a conflict between the vibranium-producing nations and organizations using adamantium — perhaps even Sidewinder’s (Giancarlo Esposito) Serpent Society — may occur elsewhere in the world.
While the Phase 4 films and television series danced around this possibility, Brave New World makes it abundantly clear that there is no active Avengers team as of Ross’s presidency. We presume this has been the case since the conclusion of Endgame’s Battle of Earth destroyed the headquarters and the death of Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) — and Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson), for that matter — scattered the survivors across the galaxy. Indeed, one can even cite Eternals, set only a handful of months after Endgame, as evidence that no superhero group stands ready to face the unique threats Earth-616 encounters.
This will definitely be the next topic Marvel confronts as Thunderbolts* attempts to present a team to take the Avengers’ place — the culmination of Valentina Allegra de Fontaine’s (Julia Louis-Dreyfuss) scheming since The Falcon and the Winter Solider and the Black Widow post-credit scene. Meanwhile, we know Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani) is trying to establish a de facto Young Avengers with Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) and Cassie Lang (Kathryn Newton).
Considering Captain America Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) ultimately thought Ross was right about restarting the Avengers, it makes you wonder who he will pick for his eventual team besides Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez). Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) feels like a shoo-in — provided she survives Thunderbolts*, of course. Trying to see him wrangle Kamala, Kate, and Cassie also has an appeal. Additionally, Shang-Chi (Simu Liu) is out in San Francisco or hanging out with Wong (Benedict Wong) and stands ready to get called up to the majors, as it were. There are also three green Hulks on Earth who could lend their strength. Also, there are several Asgardians, a Moon Knight, and both an ex-Sorcerer Supreme and his successor who may offer assistance even if they never wear a stylized “A” on their chests.
And all of that is before we consider any characters out in space Sam could potentially ask to join. But if one thing is clear, Brave New World establishes that Captain America will once again lead the Avengers into battle whether he heeds Sterns’ warning about the Multiverse or not.
But will he ask his best pal to help too?
Perhaps the most surprising change to the MCU’s state of play is the current situation for one James Buchanan Barnes (Sebastian Stan). As his one scene in Brave New World reveals, he is on the road to becoming a member of the United States congress. That’s a huge change from his nearly-constant fugitive status during the Infinity Saga.
That said, it is easy to see how kingmakers in Washington DC could spin his story into something really appealing. Consider, for a moment, that Bucky is a World War II veteran who was, essentially, a prisoner of war for nearly a century. And though his return to the public eye was as a terrorist, he ultimately stood side-by-side with the Avengers at the Battle of Earth. And since nuance and rehabilitation are recurring themes in Brave New World, the public’s acceptance of a potential Congressman Barnes reflects both a good narrative to get him elected and a populace willing to embrace him as the hero he was always meant to be.
That said, Thunderbolts* could upend his political aspirations as he returns to Winter Soldier mode for at least a portion of the movie — some have noted he is wearing a proper congressional pin in the most recent trailer. No matter what transpires in that film, though, it is a remarkable evolution for one character in the MCU and indicative of just how much can change offscreen within its fictional reality.
While Brave New World is a more far-reaching film than it might seem initially, there is one curious omission: the identity of Ross’s vice president. And now that he’s resigned from office after his Red Hulk rampage, that unnamed person currently sits behind the Resolute Desk. Who is it?
In the immediate wake of Brave New World, not revealing the identity of the new president suggests that person will not matter through 2027’s Avengers: Secret Wars. Indeed, Ross’s predecessor only matters in the context of Secret Invasion. Before him, the only featured president was Iron Man 3’s Matthew Ellis (William Sadler) all the way back in 2013!
Yes, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. named Ellis’s successor, but that show’s connection to the MCU is tenuous.
Another option: the identity of the new president will be some sort of gag, like Everett K. Ross (Martin Freeman), who was last seen either being rescued by Wakandan agents or recovering from his Skrull abduction. Val is even a contender, even if we know she will speak before congress at some point during Thunderbolts*.
There is one other, very remote possibility, though. Depending on when Daredevil: Born Again is set, Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio) could end up in the center seat of power. But considering the near future of the MCU will revolve around the end of the Multiverse Saga and the arrival of Doctor Doom (also Downey), this seems the least likely answer. Nevertheless, the varying importance of the US president within the MCU underlies the sometimes uneasy relationship between its characters and geopolitics. And with the state of play altered in the wake of Brave New World, that next president could be an important ally or a serious foe.
Captain America: Brave New World is currently in theaters.
