Captain America: Brave New Worldis receiving mixed reviews from fans and critics, with criticism of how overstuffed with Easter eggs it is, its lack of packing any notable political punch, and how it doesn’t significantly move the Marvel Cinematic Universe forward as a franchise. However, another major criticism is how, like many other MCU movies in recent years, Marvel Studios hasn’t made much effort to connect it to its various Disney Plus television series (and the Netflix shows that came before them, which can now be streamed on Disney Plus). While watching MCU films, it’s starting to feel like the shows don’t exist, and that’s a shame becauseCaptain America: Brave NewWorld had countless opportunities to bridge that gap.
The film is performing okay at the global box office — it’s already made a significant profit on its $180 million budget and is projected to earn around $500 million by the time its cinematic run ends — but “okay” isn’t good enough for aMarvel Cinematic Universeoffering. A little extra connectivity to the broaderMCU— especially to those previously mentioned (and primarily critically acclaimed) TV series — could have elevated it to another level critically and commercially. It’s time to look at some of the waysCaptain America: Brave New Worldcould and should have been more deeply connected to the MCU’sDisney Plusshows.
Truthfully, with some imagination, any of the MCU’s television series could have been connected toCaptain America: Brave New World, but nobody wants to see anything being forced (having the ghost of Agatha Harkness fromAgatha All Alongrandomly appear to give Thaddeus Ross some advice wouldn’t work, as it would feel far too on the nose and go against the movie’s grounded tone, for example), but there are many ways connections to other shows could realistically have been made.
She-Hulk: Attorney At Law
Samuel Sterns and Thaddeus Ross directly linkedCaptain America: Brave New Worldto aShe-Hulk: Attorney at Lawcharacter.
Tim Roth’s Emil Blonsky, aka the Abomination, recently reappeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2021’sShang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Ringsand, more pertinently, 2022’s Disney Plus seriesShe-Hulk: Attorney at Law. He had previously only appeared in 2008’sThe Incredible Hulk, which was the only previous appearance of Tim Blake Nelson’s Samuel Sterns and the MCU debut of Thaddeus Ross (then played by William Hurt).
Sterns and Ross were inCaptain America: Brave New Worldand even interacted with each other, which provided the perfect opportunity to mention Blonsky’s current predicament (whereby he’d become a decent human being, unlike Sterns). Although references were made to the character’s past, with footage of his fight with Hulk in Harlem in the 2008 film shown in a news report, if Ross had said something to Sterns like, “You transformed Emil Blonsky into a monster, and he turned out okay — you can become a better man, too,” it would have linked the movie to She-Hulkso easily.
Hawkeye,Daredevil, andEcho
Vincent D’Onofrio’s Wilson Fisk, aka the Kingpin, has appeared in three MCU television series:Daredevil,Hawkeye, andEcho. He’s also set to appear inDaredevil: Born Again.However, he hasn’t even been mentioned in an MCU movie. There are murmurings he’ll feature in an upcomingSpider-Manfilm, but they’re merely rumors. Captain America: Brave New World represented a tremendous opportunity to make this prominent villain more relevant and bridge the gap between the movies and television shows.
Something as simple as revealing the Serpent Society as working under Kingpin or having them replaced by the Tracksuit Mafia or the Hand could have connected the movie to the various television series in which he and they have appeared. Instead, a group unlikely to appear again was used instead, somewhat wasting the immensely talented Giancarlo Esposito.
LokiAndWandaVision
Some simple cameos would have made the movie more interlinked with these two brilliant shows.
Much like the previously mentionedAgatha All Along,Captain America: Brave New World’stone was far more grounded thanLokiandWandaVision, so direct links between them were never likely. However, there were undoubtedly ways to link them subtly — or at least make it more obvious they take place in the same universe.
Granted, Samuel Sterns touched upon the concept of other worlds inthe movie’s post-credits scene, which tediously connects it to multiversal projects likeLoki, but something as simple as a cameo from an agent of S.W.O.R.D. or the Time Variance Authority (who could both easily have shown an interest in Celestial Island or Samuel Sterns) would have been a perfect bridge between the movie and two Disney Plus shows.
Ms. Marvel
Kamala Khan is on a recruiting mission in the MCU, and oneCaptain America: Brave New Worldcharacter could have been on her radar.
There has, of course, now been a movie — 2023’sThe Marvels— directly connectingMs. Marvelto the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, Kamala Khan has yet to connect to the more grounded characters of the MCU.Captain America: Brave New Worldpresented a fantastic (but sadly missed) opportunity to fix that while connecting it to Khan’s eponymous series.
At the climax ofThe Marvels, Khan began her quest to put together a team of young superheroes, starting with Hailee Steinfeld’s Kate Bishop (a brilliant example of when an MCU moviedidconnect with a Disney Plus television series). She could quite easily have done the same with Danny Ramirez’s Joaquin Torres, aka Falcon (or eventhe noticeably missing Eli Bradley). In Marvel’s comic books, Torres was a member of the Champions, a team of young superheroes, so there’s even a precedent for it happening in the source material.
The Falcon And The Winter Soldier
While there were obviously links betweenCaptain America: Brave New WorldandThe Falcon and the Winter Soldierto their shared cast members, the fallout from the series' events could have been more explicitly referenced.
Given that two ofCaptain America: Brave New World’smain characters were Sam Wilson and Joaquin Torres, and given that Bucky Barnes made a cameo too, the movie did have some obvious links toThe Falcon and the Winter Soldier. However, there could undoubtedly have been more.
For example, the fallout from the impact of the Flag Smashers promoting their ideology would be huge on MCU Earth, and mentioning it inCaptain America: Brave New Worldwould have formed a more explicit link between it andThe Falcon and the Winter Soldier. It’s hard to believe someone like Sam Wilson wouldn’t at least reference that in his discussions with people like Torres, Barnes, or Thaddeus Ross. Hearing something about what happened to Sharon Carter, aka the Power Broker, would also have worked.
There were countless other ways MCU shows could have been referenced inCaptain America: Brave New World. Heck, given Japan’s involvement in the film, a subtle reference to Japanese mythology or folklore would have expanded on the concept of mythology and folklore seen in shows likeMoon Knight(Egyptian),Loki(Norse), andMs. Marvel(Islamic and South Asian),Daredevil(Christian),Iron Fist(East Asian), andThe Defenders(Japanese). It really is a shame that more wasn’t done to make the movie feel like it was part of the same world as those shows.
