SDCC Brings Some News for Captain America: Brave New World and Thunderbolts*

Movies

As everyone expected, there was some Marvel news in Hall H at the San Diego Comic-Con tonight, and it ranged from “whatever” to abysmally bad and a sign that the “House of Ideas” has lost all creativity. Let’s start with the boring stuff nobody cares about. Captain America: Brave New World was the first on deck, and some new footage revealed that it will deal with the discovery of adamantium (just in case you didn’t think Wolverine would be coming back). Giancarlo Esposito was also on hand, and he announced that he would be playing Sidewinder in the film, whom he called “the king of the Serpent Society.” The panel also featured Tim Blake Nelson, confirming his return as the Leader after he originated the character in The Incredible Hulk. Surprisingly, Harrison Ford appeared as well (I always assume he’s not going to do these things unless it’s for Indiana Jones), and more footage of Red Hulk was shown.

Giancarlo Esposito reveals his #CaptainAmericaBraveNewWorld character #SDCC pic.twitter.com/cdACg0beMb

— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) July 28, 2024

Well, that’s something, I guess. Aside from the Sidewinder reveal, not much of this is new. I do wonder how these various threads will merge into one story. The Serpent Society are essentially villains for hire; that could explain how Sidewinder will pop up in other Marvel media, as Giancarlo Esposito said he would when he announced that he would be in Brave New World. If the Leader is the main villain, perhaps he hires the Serpent Society to be his muscle. Maybe the Leader is looking for adamantium to use for his own nefarious purposes. It’s nice to see they’re finally doing something with the Leader and that Tim Blake Nelson is back; it’s just unfortunate that it’s not in a Hulk movie, seeing as he’s the Hulk’s archenemy, along with Abomination and Thaddeus Ross. A part of me laughs that this new bunch of Marvel heroes is so lame they have to steal the villains from much better characters (Sam Wilson has the Leader and Red Hulk, Shang-Chi has Iron Man’s nemesis, the Mandarin), but I’m more annoyed at all the cool stuff we’ll never see because Marvel is desperate to get audiences to like the things they don’t want.

Harrison Ford in Hall H! #SDCC pic.twitter.com/S1k4qV7emE

— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) July 28, 2024

Elsewhere, Thunderbolts got a few tidbits about it revealed. First off, the title of the movie is Thunderbolts*, with the asterisk meaning… something, I guess. It will also be the end of Phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as if these distinctions mean anything anymore. Based on Deadline’s description, the footage shown at Comic-Con features Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova returning home to see David Harbour’s Red Guardian while taking a break from being an assassin, then being “called into a lab” where the Thunderbolts try to kill her. Elsewhere, Valentina Allegra de la Fontaine, the God-awful Julia Louis-Dreyfus character, attends “a high-class, fancy dinner soiree” while Bucky watches her. Then there’s some action and a lame tagline. And that’s it, which makes sense because it’s Thunderbolts – excuse me, Thunderbolts* – and nobody cares.

Sebastian Stan compliments Florence Pugh in Thunderbolts* #SDCC pic.twitter.com/twqstWsT9p

— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) July 28, 2024

I have no idea what possessed Marvel to make this movie other than wanting their own version of the Suicide Squad. To that end, they’ve repurposed the Thunderbolts from the comics; originally, that team was a phony group of superheroes that were actually the Masters of Evil in disguise. Here, it’s a bunch of second-string characters that can’t carry a movie on their own, which is mostly what the MCU is nowadays. To pick this apart, when Deadline says the Thunderbolts try to kill Yelena, I assume that means another team of Thunderbolts rather than the one she’ll be part of in the film. But maybe not; maybe they show up to kill her, she kicks their asses, and they make her the leader. I have no idea because the footage isn’t online as of this writing. All I know is that I feel bad for Florence Pugh because she really is a good actress, and she’s doing this crap for Marvel instead of something cool. (I probably wouldn’t feel so bad for her if I saw her paycheck, though.) But then, the same goes for a bunch of these actors, like David Harbour. Thunderbolts* is set to be released on May 5, 2025; I doubt you’ll have to book your ticket a month in advance.