Marvel Entertainment / YouTube:

Enter a brave new world.

Marvel Studios' #CaptainAmericaBraveNewWorld, only in theaters February 14, 2025.

A bit earlier than I expected, the first trailer for the 4th Captain America has hit the web. I expected it to be attached to, say Twisters or, of course, Deadpool & Wolverine, but instead, its on the web a smidge early.

Let’s ignore that the movie has a crazy budget, tons of reshoots, has had its release date moved multiple times (shout out COVID and two strikes), and got somewhat spoiled by a McDonald’s Happy Meal in May…this looks…or looked… promising.

Honestly, it’s until the end of the trailer that I was totally in. This felt like a gritty return to the comic-book-movie-as-political-thriller vibes which made Captain America: The Winter Soldier arguably the best MCU movie.

And then there’s the stinger at the end. With Red Hulk.

Marvel isn’t hiding Red Hulk by any means, see the attached poster image, but the usage of the character feels so out-of-left field in this trailer, I can only imagine how it feels in the movie proper.

With the movies since Avengers: Endgame being such a mixed bag, while watching this trailer, I was hyped to see a lower stakes, focused movie, less about “The Universe” and more a story which could stand alone.

Instead, here comes CG Punching.

As I’ve discussed recently with friends, the promise of the MCU as a long time comic book fan has become somewhat of a curse. They were giving me amazing, well told interpretations of characters and arcs I loved. And somehow, the entire world was loving it to. But now, like comic books themselves, even the best runs get snuffed out by crossovers and a need to have read it all.

Perhaps I will eat these words come February 2025, but right now, I’m already bothered by the lack of Marvel’s convictions when it comes to this story.