There’s talk of a mega shake-up with the Avengers: Doomsday cast. There’s a report that Michael B. Jordan could be getting back into character as Erik Killmonger for Marvel. 6y6sy

It goes without saying that when the first Black Panther came out, Marvel was flying high. They ruled the zeitgeist, and perhaps more importantly, they ruled the box office. Things have changed significantly since then. Michael B. Jordan is a bona fide star now — he just led Sinners to becoming one of the most profitable and raved-about movies of the year so far.

On the other hand, Thunderbolts is a good enough movie, but there’s already talk that it’s set to actually lose money. And some of the MCU’s recent releases have just fully missed the mark. The rug feels like it’s slowly being pulled from underneath the Marvel machine, so they might actually need to figure out how to create a pathway for stars like Michael B. Jordan to return.

If Michael B. Jordan does come back, it’s not going to be either surprising or novel. There’s a pretty interesting aspect to how they chose to bring back Robert Downey Jr. But not all reintegration of characters needs to be that creative. The Avengers, luckily, have a mechanism that makes it possible for them to have their shawarma and eat it too: incorporating other universes. As fans obviously know, Killmonger died in the first Black Panther, and Letitia Wright was already announced to be back as the Black Panther in the Avengers. But if recent reports are to be believed, Michael B. Jordan will be playing a variant of his famed character in the movie.

The report originates from the AlexFromCC. In the Marvel scoops game, you’re only as good as your last correct scoop. And this was right on the money when they were first to report Hailee Steinfeld would Hawkeye. So there’s at least a reason to believe that they have sources deep inside the Marvel machine.

RUMOR:

Michael B. Jordan will interpret a variant of Black Panther in AVENGERS: DOOMSDAY.

The variant will be part of the multiverse team for the AVENGERS.

Via @AlexFromCC pic.twitter.com/20dulUdCJS

— Culture Base (@Culture3ase) June 1, 2025

As for more plot details and how the Creed star’s performance would be incorporated, that’s obviously under lock and key. And with how Marvel typically works, they could still even be tweaking that script. But the way it’s shaping up, the report also suggests he’ll play a small role in the Avengers. Everything right now is pointing at Marvel moving towards the Fantastic Four and maybe even possibly using this as an opportunity to give a backdoor entrance for the X-Men into the larger universe.

Michael B. Jordan certainly cemented himself as one of the heirs of the house the Tom Cruises and Brad Pitts built with his performance in Sinners. It would honestly be cool if he used his star power to cameo and surprise fans, because sometimes even a glimpse of a star is worth the price of ission for some. And while the core Marvel fans will always be loyal to the cause, Thunderbolts is proof that these films also need mainstream appeal for them to make financial sense.

Right now, what Marvel is focusing on isn’t just maintaining the fans they had before, but also building brand-new ones. They need every star they have to achieve that.

Well, well, well ⏤ Marvel Studios has decided to shake things up with its fourth Spider-Man installment, ditching a certain theme we’ve all grown accustomed to.

What’s the name of our new web-slinging adventure, you ask? It’s called Spider-Man: Brand New Day. That’s right: “home” is nowhere to be found in the title. Cue collective gasps, raised eyebrows, and fainting spells the world over. Tom Holland announced the news himself at CinemaCon 2025, leaving everyone expressing a similar sentiment.

For those who have been keeping score, the previous Spidey titles — Homecoming, Far From Home, and No Way Home — have all nestled comfortably within the “home” motif. It served as a thematic thread that tied Peter Parker’s adventures together, reflecting his journey from aspiring wall-crawler to full-blown Avenger. Now that, uh, Brand New Day has been unveiled, more than a few onlookers have been left scratching their heads. Has Marvel had lost its thematic com, or is this just a case of title roulette?

The sticky Spidey reactions pour in 3c294l

Given the announcement’s timing on April 1st, 2025 ⏤ aka April Fool’s Day ⏤ skepticism has been running rampant. Is Marvel playing an elaborate April Fool’s prank on us? Or is this genuinely the new direction for our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man? Let’s just say people had as many questions as opinions, and no one wasted any time sounding off. This quickly led to the question of the moment: what happened to our old pal home?

“No more Home name">

At the end of the day, Marvel Studios is no stranger to keeping fans on their toes, and the Spider-Man: Brand New Day announcement is no exception. By breaking away from the “home” theme and aligning the film’s release with Avengers: Doomsday aftermath, the studio seems poised to take Peter Parker — and all of us — on a multiversal journey unlike any other. Whether this new day will shine bright or cast shadows remains to be seen. But one thing is certain: we’re getting another Tom Holland Spider-Man movie, and that alone is worth celebrating.

Samuel L. Jackson’s role as Nick Fury in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has been a huge success, but apparently, a lot hinged on a conversation with Bruce Willis. While the role may seem like a no-brainer to you and me, nine movies are a long time to sign off on when the MCU was nowhere near the powerhouse it is today.

Recently, Vanity Fair reported that this success was influenced by advice from Willis. The two actors worked together on films like Die Hard With A Vengeance, where Willis gave Jackson some important career tips.

You can thank Bruce Willis for Jackson considering the Nick Fury role 3u4p30

Willis suggested that Jackson should aim for a recurring role, which would provide career stability, even when other projects weren’t as successful. He pointed out how action stars like Arnold Schwarzenegger with The Terminator and Sylvester Stallone with Rocky and Rambo benefited from such roles. At that time, Willis saw his own character, John McClane, as his steady role. Though Jackson appreciated the advice, its full impact wasn’t clear at first.

When Jackson was cast as Nick Fury, g on for an initial nine films, he followed Willis’s advice. This role became central to his career and to the MCU. Fury has appeared in more films and even a mini-series on Disney+, though audience reactions to the mini-series have varied. Nonetheless, the character’s importance is clear.

Jackson’s first appearance as Nick Fury came in a post-credits scene of Iron Man, marking him as a key part of the MCU story. This character has arguably become Jackson’s most defining role, even more than his work in the Shaft films. Jackson has mentioned that he prefers working on high-grossing movies like those in the MCU rather than films aimed just at awards.

The character of Nick Fury changed a lot from his original comic book version. Originally a brown-haired white man similar to David Hasselhoff’s version, the MCU made Fury a bald Black man, directly inspired by and played by Jackson himself. This was a significant move for representation in the MCU.

The original advice was given before 1995, when Die Hard With A Vengeance was released. Since Iron Man was released in 2008, it took over a decade for the advice to really click. This is honestly really good advice for anyone and likely shows why the MCU became so popular with big actors.

If an actor could guarantee work by just appearing as a superhero a few times, then it would entice them to take the role. This is boosted by the fact that kids love superheroes, and it would keep the actor well known for a generation. Roles don’t always come fast and when needed, so having something to fall back on must be nice.

Jackson continues to be a part of the MCU, with future projects like Avengers: Doomsday set to come out in 2026. His career path mirrors Fury’s growth and ongoing presence, showcasing how effective Willis’s advice was. Willis’s career ended in 2022 due to a health condition, but his influence on Jackson and impact on the MCU and superhero films is still felt.

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Daredevil: Born Again.

The MCU timeline is getting more tangled than a maze, and Daredevil: Born Again just added a few more twists. The long-awaited Disney Plus revival of Daredevil isn’t just bringing Matt Murdock back into the spotlight, it’s also jumping around in time, making it tricky to figure out exactly when everything is happening. If you’re trying to pin down Daredevil: Born Again on the MCU calendar, you’re not alone. Let’s break it all down and figure out when this new chapter actually takes place. And if you haven’t seen Born Again yet, know that there are big spoilers ahead.

The Prologue: Fall 2025 5p7224

Daredevil : Born again
The raw intention is clear and they stayed true to the original. But that intro? – It's as cold as they come one of the most ominous Marvel has ever done. The opening credits? -The Catholic choir still lingers in my mind, like a haunting whisper.

WORTH pic.twitter.com/8hzMhKUvIj

— Patrick_neal (@Patrick_neal07) March 5, 2025

The series kicks off with a prologue that takes place one year before the main events of the show. Marvel doesn’t slap a big timestamp on the screen, but some solid clues place this part of the story in the fall of 2025. This makes sense because Matt Murdock was still active as Daredevil during She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, which takes place in the summer of 2025. 

At that point, he was still in his Daredevil suit, cracking jokes and even meeting Jennifer Walters’ family. However, Daredevil: Born Again reveals that sometime shortly after that, Matt steps away from the Daredevil persona following the death of his best friend, Foggy Nelson. That means the prologue is happening just a few months after She-Hulk, likely in the fall of 2025.

The Main Storyline: 2026 af3q

Fight the darkness.

Marvel Television’s all-new series #DaredevilBornAgain is now streaming only on @DisneyPlus. pic.twitter.com/zroDfMfn6s

— Daredevil (@Daredevil) March 5, 2025

After the prologue, Daredevil: Born Again jumps forward one year. That places the majority of the series in 2026. This also lines up with the real-world timeline since it’s been about seven years since Daredevil season 3 wrapped up on Netflix, and Marvel seems to be keeping the same in-universe gap. By 2026, Matt Murdock has been out of the crime-fighting game for a while, but we all know that won’t last. With Wilson Fisk (aka Kingpin) making moves, it’s only a matter of time before Matt is pulled back into the fight.

Episode 2 and the jump to 2027 6m4d36

First 2 episodes down. And my goodness it feels so good to have the man without fear back. It comes out blazing. But I know these two episodes are just the beginning. The ending of episode 2 has you on the edge of your seat. It’s just beginning. I LOVE this show #Daredevil

— Brian (@BrianDeMuro) March 5, 2025

Things get even more interesting in episode 2, which kicks off with a New Year’s Eve celebration. That means we’re officially in January 2027 now. This is a big deal because it connects Daredevil: Born Again to Captain America: Brave New World. That movie, which features Sam Wilson’s Cap, and Harrison Ford as President Thaddeus Ross, is also set in late 2026 and 2027. Specifically, the events of Daredevil: Born Again are happening just a few months before that film’s opening scenes. This also confirms that Thaddeus Ross is still the U.S. President during Born Again, and he hasn’t turned into the Red Hulk yet.

Figuring out where Daredevil: Born Again fits within the broader MCU is no easy task. However, the other projects help paint a clearer picture. She-Hulk: Attorney at Law wrapped up in the fall of 2025, around the time the prologue of Born Again takes place. The main events of Born Again then unfold in 2026, leading into 2027, which is when Captain America: Brave New World kicks off. It’s a lot to keep track of, but it is possible to untangle the twisted timeline. Who needs the TVA?

Joe and Anthony Russo, the directing duo behind the Avengers: Doomsday, have revealed the process behind developing the Marvel sequel’s new villain, Doctor Doom.

For those unversed in MCU lore, Victor von Doom is all set to be the universe’s next Big Bad, with Iron Man actor Robert Downey Jr. on board to don the villain’s infamous green suit. Ahead of the film’s release midway through next year, the filmmaker siblings, who also helmed Avengers: Endgame, pulled back the curtain on exactly how Downey is preparing for the role, summarizing the process as “very intense.”

Joe Russo says Robert Downey Jr is doing detailed research to prepare to play Doctor Doom

“He’s writing backstory, costume ideas… He just loves really rich 3-dimensional characters & I think he sees a real opportunity here with the character”

(Source: https://t.co/I1HNsNkVvm) pic.twitter.com/IXLz0Ep29T

— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) March 5, 2025

“It’s a very intense process developing the character,” Joe Russo recently told Entertainment Tonight. “[Downey] is so immersed in it. He is so dialed in.” The acclaimed actor is so immersed, in fact, that the Russo brothers said he has apparently conceived of a backstory for Doctor Doom, as well as ideated some potential costume ideas. Somewhere out there, the screenwriters and costume designers are fearful that Downey is coming for their bag, but the directors said that is simply how Downey operates.

“We were just on the phone with him this morning before we got here talking about it,” Joe said. “I think [Downey] just loves really rich, three-dimensional characters, and I think he sees a real opportunity here with that character.” Filming for the entry into the Avengers franchise is expected to begin soon, and comes a year after Downey revealed his involvement in the film to much shock and awe at the 2024 San Diego Comic-Con. “New mask, same task,” Downey said as he interrupted the . “What did I tell ya? I like playing complicated characters.”

The reveal of Robert Downey Jr as Doctor Doom. pic.twitter.com/zvDBeMrrvN

— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) July 28, 2024

Details beyond Downey’s character-development process remain scarce, to the point where some of his fellow Marvel stars were just as surprised as us about his return to the franchise. Jeremy Renner, who plays Hawkeye, said there was “not a peep” about Downey’s role in the Avengers group chat he shares with the actor (how does one score an invite to that?), while Doctor Strange actor Benedict Cumberbatch said he texted Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige a simple “what the f***?” upon hearing the news. You and me both, Benny. Cumby? Batchy">vague teases given by the Russo brothers last month. The siblings revealed they are shooting Doomsday and Secret Wars “fairly back-to-back” and said it will be “a lot of work.” Joe also added that the pair “may or may not survive, but since this is the MCU, they can always pull a Downey and return, anyway. Avengers: Doomsday is expected to hit cinemas on May 1, 2026.

Marvel just experienced perhaps the biggest leak in its 16-year history. A confirmed concept artist for Marvel Studios inadvertently shared exclusive art from the most anticipated films of the MCU’s slate, namely The Fantastic Four: The First Steps, Avengers: Secret Wars, and more.

Artist Mushk Rizvi shared the leak on their official website, sparking immediate conversation online among eagle-eyed Marvel fans. The art was swiftly taken down from Rizvi’s site. Or more accurately, Rizvi’s entire website went dark, as did every one of their social media s, including Instagram, Facebook, and X. One can only assume the Marvel execs, namely Kevin Feige, popped a blood vessel when news of the leak reached their desks.

The MCU has endured a rough couple of years since the conclusion of Avengers: Endgame. The long-running storytelling machine has ran face first into numerous critical and box office hit-or-misses throughout Phases Four and Five, leading fans to question how much gas the studio has left in the tank. In response, the studio has pulled back, throwing up metaphorical “under construction” signs. But somehow, we just got a glimpse through the cracks. If even half of this leaked concept art comes to life, the MCU might just be entering another golden age.

Note: This leak is huge and is a major spoiler for the conclusion of Marvel’s Multiverse Saga. To maintain the theatrical integrity of the films, WGTC has chosen not to embed the links into this article. Instead, we have linked out to them, allowing readers to choose whether they wish to see them or not.

The most detailed leak of the bunch come from what appears to be Avengers: Doomsday, at least according to initial reports; trusted insider My Time To Shine has said the art is actually from Avengers: Secret Wars. The standout image shows Doctor Doom seated on a throne, clad in white armor reminiscent of the Secret Wars (2015) comic run. It looks like Doom rules over a universe of his own making — presumably Battleworld. At first blush, Reed Richards appears absent and all we see is a woman who could be Sue Storm standing beside Doom with, presumably, Franklin by her side. Another woman with a blonde braid down her back holds a thick chain wrapped around the neck (or hands) of a man kneeling at Doom’s throne. That woman shares a resemblance to Yelena Belova, and the chained man may or may not be Reed Richards. If it’s not Reed, it could suggest he is stranded elsewhere, trying to reunite with his family in Battleworld. The image also reveals Doctor Strange’s unmistakable silhouette, which might explain why Benedict Cumberbatch previously stated he won’t appear in Doomsday but will return for Secret Wars.

Another long-speculated decision seems to be confirmed: the introduction of a new Black Panther. The leak all but guarantees a recasting of the role, originally embodied by the late Chadwick Boseman. Given the film’s shifting timelines, Marvel could introduce an older Black Panther, possibly played by Denzel Washington. Those long held rumors could finally be coming true.

Some concept art introduces entirely original MCU ideas that are not rooted in any comic run, making predictions rather difficult. One such image shows Star-Lord sitting on a couch next to White Vision. Another depicts a medieval planet ruled by Hulks, of which we see Tatiana Maslany’s She-Hulk and Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner-Hulk front and center talking to someone who may or may not be Hulk’s son, Skaar. Another image reveals Star-Lord and Wong in a Guardians of the Galaxy-esque bar surrounded by of the Young Avengers team, of which includes Kate Bishop, Stature aka Cassie Lang, Tommy Maximoff aka Speed, Billy Maximoff/Kaplan aka Wiccan, and Ms. Marvel. The direction of these stories remains unclear, but they hint at major shake-ups.

How will all of this unfold in the final films? We don’t truly know. As Sean Baker said in his Oscar speech for Anora, we’ll just have to head to the theaters and find out.

Cue lights, fade in on Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con 2024. Robert Downey Jr. slips off the Doctor Doom mask, and the walls reverberate with a thousand and one happy screams from the Marvel fandom. This was, is, and will remain the golden goose of realized MCU rumors, but it also underlined just how much glucose this franchise is running on.

Fast forward to now, where we’re in the wake of the franchise’s latest faceplant in Captain America: Brave New World — a meek mess of a film that any major studio should feel embarrassed to have put out. It was, however, a meek mess full of cameos, legacy characters, Harrison Ford’s Red Hulk, gratuitous punching, explosions, and a xerox of a xerox of an emotional identity. Acceptable in Kevin Feige’s eyes, but not in James Gunn‘s.

Per Deadline, Gunn was asked at a recent press event what he would do if DC Studios ended up turning into a machine that turns out products for the sake of brand consumption rather than a truly creative superhero storytelling hub. His answer was as inspiring as they come.

I’d quit. I’m being serious! I’m not going to do this unless I think we’re doing good stuff that’s cool, that works.

Gunn’s DC Studios co-chair Peter Safran chimed in similarly, noting that they’re “not looking to make five movies a year and five series. We’re really focused on telling great versions of the stories we want to tell, and we have zero pressure on us from [WBD CEO] David [Zaslav] or anyone else to deliver more than that.”

Elsewhere, ScreenRant reports that Gunn emphasized DC Studios as “a writer-driven organization and screenplay-driven company,” a claim that he and Safran have since made good on by greenlighting Mike Flanagan’s Clayface script for production, despite it not emerging until well after the first wave of projects was announced in January 2023. That film will begin shooting this summer, while others from that announcement have yet to lock down their scripts. Under Gunn’s hand, the stories are the golden geese.

Compare that to how the MCU has been walking the walk as of late. It famously undergoes extensive reshoots on many projects to keep the overarching events flexible at the cost of storytelling coherence and quality (as seen in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Secret Invasion, The Marvels, and now Brave New World), with some of these reshoots even occurring after poor test screenings because Marvel is too yellow to stand on business.

That’s because Marvel has no business to stand on — it exists solely to please the widest possible audience. Its is a product that relies on sugary fan service moves like a Downey Jr. Doctor Doom reveal to stay relevant, all while their actual filmmaking and storytelling approaches continue to be a laughingstock of the entertainment world.

Meanwhile, Gunn is committing to the exact opposite of that with his entire chest, having now gone as far as to say that he’ll quit if the DC Universe ever strays from its storytelling mandate. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is a far better development than any A-list casting, post-credits scene, or Infinity Saga callback could ever hope to be.

James Gunn’s new DC lineup is ringing alarm bells. Not only does it seem the Marvel competitor hasn’t learned anything from the MCU‘s gradual post-Endgame decline in popular culture, but the new slate is also at risk of repeating mistakes that marred the Snyderverse.

As per The Hollywood Reporter, Gunn’s Warner. Bros Discovery vertical, DC Studios, plans to produce two theatrical live-action movies and one animated film per year, as well as two live-action and two animated series for the streaming service Max per year. Similar to concerns raised when Snyder’s Justice League was originally announced, DC is jumping into territory the MCU spent a decade building up to.

The Avengers was the culmination of multiple solo films, serving as the glue that eventually bound an ever-expanding universe together. It was a slow ascent, starting with Iron Man in 2008 and culminating in the cinematic event Avengers: Endgame over two decades later.

In comparison, Justice League (whether it be Synder’s authentic cut or Joss Whedon’s studio meddling disaster) kicked off after just Batman v Superman in 2016, and Wonder Woman in 2017. It was originally conceived as a team-up that would follow several origin films, including The Flash and Aquaman, but shifting slates and behind-the-scenes indecision created a huge mess with the timeline.

Gunn shared his opening move, Chapter One: Gods and Monsters, in 2023. It included projects now in the can like Superman (formally Superman: Legacy) and Creature Commandos, as well as ones such as Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. It was notable for its shared focus between big hitter characters from DC’s trinity — Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman — and niche C-listers, which are a group Gunn has historically gravitated towards (the Suicide Squad and the Guardians of the Galaxy).

He and Peter Safran are doubling down on this split philosophy, but with an increase in volume and frequency that has some of us nervous amid all this superhero fatigue. A Clayface body horror film, as non-lucrative as that sounds, has been promised, the Lanterns series is in production, and a Sgt. Rock movie directed by one of gay cinema’s top directors, Luca Guadagnino, is looking for its star.

If Sgt. Rock means nothing to you, it’s because it means nothing to most people. But DC Studios wants to fire on all cylinders, hoping to capitalize on what’s left of audiences’ hunger for superhero and supervillain stories.

“The DC brand was being defined by different creative teams at the company, each was pursuing their own distinct vision of the characters, the story… the result was not one DCU but many,” said Safran during a press event with the media on Feb. 21 . “This fracture proved very challenging to consumers and it chipped away at the identity of the brand.”

While it may have been perceived as “challenging” for audiences, it would be revisionist to not mention there have also been plenty of positive things said about the lack of homogeny that was present during Snyder’s years at the creative helm, so to speak. Audiences’ appetites may have furthered in this direction since, with projects that have distinct flair and voice connecting more than ever.

However, Safran believes DC Studios’ approach will allow for visionaries. “We don’t serve one kind of audience, so why make one kind of movie?” he said. “Working in a multitude of genres affords us the opportunity to allocate resources where they can make the biggest impact. We budget according to the demands of the story, and the revenue expectations of each title.”

Whether comic book movies still have the juice to facilitate new shared universes with high output, while the biggest one struggles to retain its existing fans, is yet to be seen. But when looking at box office data, it’s clear tentpoles are going nowhere soon. So, godspeed, DC.

In the Disney corner — weighing in at a $180 million production budget, more reshoots than should ever be counted, and an entire franchise’s free-falling reputation — The Harrison Ford Panic Button, The Lad On Your Left: Sam Wilson (aka Captain America) of Captain America: Brave New World!

And in the StudioCanal corner — weighing in at a $50 million production budget, a core cast that has lost no measurable steam, and a questionable Peacock-exclusive release in the U.S. — The Dame of Daft Dalliances, The Doll to End Them All: Bridget Jones of Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy!

With one Paddington Brown as our unbiased spectator of these two Valentine’s Day weekend releases, just how does this matchup shake out?

Bridget bodies Cap 11 times out of 10 y6073

There’s just no way that Sam stands a chance against Bridget. You could compare any benchmark: point to the respective reception of Brave New World and Mad About the Boy; measure goalposts that either film is endeavoring to cross; or — most importantly —assess the actual quality of the movies themselves, and you would still get the same answer. But Bridget’s advantage in this square-off goes far beyond that.

Bridget Jones, as a character, is the great equalizer. Every victory of hers is marred by a defeat brought on by her own making, be it professional, romantic, or even something as simple as falling into the mud.

The opposite, however, is also true; her attitude and mortal essence prevents any lasting misfortune, and she can therefore count on her next situation being no worse than the last. For Bridget, navigating a Thai prison is no more difficult than navigating a soup recipe, so she should naturally be able to handle Sam Wilson in a showdown, whatever that looks like.

Moreover, Bridget moves through her movie in a way that Sam could only ever purport to. Sam rhymes off what we’re expected to buy as a basis for his emotional arc in Brave New World, but when the time comes to walk to the walk, we just get a faceful of CGI, poorly-developed intrigue, and a desperate Bucky cameo. However well established he was in the past, Sam hardly s as a character in Brave New World.

Bridget, by contrast, throws herself head-first into the storytelling nuances of Mad About the Boy, fully living in and reckoning with all the changes and challenges that have defined her life up until now. By now, it’s clear that her inability to catch a break was never true failure on her part — it was simply a fact of incompatibility between Bridget’s obsessive and animated way of life, and an indifferent (and, let’s face it, pathologically boring) world of adulthood. Indeed, Bridget inhabits a totally different world than everyone else, which speaks directly to the dramatic irony that the Bridget Jones films employ so heavily.

And that harmonious coalescence between titular character and their own film/story is simply not found between Sam Wilson and Brave New World. Thus, with every meaningful angle examined on this cage match, there is simply no way that Bridget Jones does not come out on top in her fight against Sam Wilson. Go watch Mad About the Boy instead of Brave New World.

When those early Captain America: Brave New World reactions first began circulating, it seemed no one could agree on anything. Every praised action sequence was met with a laceration of its plot, and every praised plot point was met with a laceration of an action sequence. As a result, we all geared ourselves up for a mixed Marvel bag here; not quite an Infinity Saga-level production, but not total slop, either.

Then the reviews started coming in, which eventually brought us to the current 50% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the third-lowest in the entire universe thus far, ahead of Eternals (47%) and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (46%).

But then I actually got my own eyes on this specimen, and I having two very distinct thoughts during that excursion. The first was at the beginning; one of dread when I noticed the lack of the classic MCU title card and music. The second was at the end; one of utter mortification upon realizing it was prophetic of Marvel Studios’ faith in itself, as well as the franchise that it continues to recklessly torpedo.

Captain America: Brave New World is the lowest that the MCU has ever gone in of cinematic releases, and it’s not even close. What was pitched to us as an “old-school Marvel” political thriller was instead a roundup of aged loose ends that were Frankensteined into three, threadbare plotlines that hold up even less when they try and fit together. Needle drops and contrived moral monologues from Sam Wilson try and tread water but only sink the ship further, all while it pretends to be clued into the cultural climate despite working overtime to remain as narratively docile as possible.

Indeed, we’ve gone beyond mere market-driven and product-first filmmaking with Brave New World; we’re now at a point where Marvel Studios could arguably be accused of making its own downfall an item of its perverted objectification. Studio meddling is now the grotesque main course when it was once just an irritant that had to be worked around, like shoveling snow or putting on sunblock.

In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever — two Phase Four films and the last real bastions of the good that this franchise could do — James Gunn and Ryan Coogler still had to deal with those CGI army fights, but they hardly ed as drawbacks given how strong both of their films were. The ill-fated Eternals and Quantumania were not as lucky, but even then, you could still identify the necessary tweaks needed to actualize a good version of those films (namely, axe Kingo, Thena, and Gilgamesh from the ensemble, and trap Ant-Man in the Quantum Realm so as to tee up what should have been Cassie Lang’s arc).

You can do no such thing with Brave New World. There’s no mistakes to be fixed because there’s no basis for what this story wants to do, which is directly a result of Marvel Studios trying to make this film as consumable as possible for everyone everywhere. If you stand for nothing, you can’t be disliked, but you certainly won’t be respected. Sam Wilson tells us what he’s dealing with, but then doesn’t live it out in the plot. Brave New World is an impression of a xerox of an idea of a story, drenched in Marvel’s sugary IP to try and make up for it.

With Thunderbolts* and The Fantastic Four: First Steps on the horizon — not to mention the wealth of storytelling talent populating James Gunn’s DC Universe as opposed to Marvel’s legion of yes men — Brave New World was the last film that Marvel Studios could afford to get wrong. If Marvel so much as flirts with this degree of narrative carelessness again, it’s going to be curtains on the Feigeverse, and we’ll be all the better for it.

Captain America: Brave New World might take its name from a work of classic literature (the seminal dystopian novel by Aldous Huxley — give it a read!), but maybe the book it should really be named after is Frankenstein, as the MCU’s 35th film is the latest in the grand tradition of stitched-together superhero movies that faced troubled production periods. While it doesn’t bear the Boris Karloff scars of, say, DC’s Justice League or Sony’s Madame Web — Marvel’s too smart for that — it’s still a largely lifeless affair that could’ve done with another bolt of electricity.

The Disney Plus-ification of the MCU is a debate that rages on Reddit daily, but Brave New World may just represent the most egregious example to date. Despite having Anthony Mackie in the stars and stripes for the first time on the big screen, what could’ve been an all-inclusive Captain America relaunch intent on winning back wider audiences makes the curious decision to directly tie into 2008’s The Incredible Hulk and 2021’s Eternals, two of the least memorable MCU movies of the lot. The reason why is presumably so you’ll feel compelled to watch them when you get home and keep that subscription going. By reaching back to the beginnings of both Phase 4 and its entire lifespan, the MCU is coming full circle… but also eating its own tail.

In the long run-up to its release, Brave New World received a lot of heat online for appearing to be the most politically contentious MCU film yet seen, thanks to the presence of Marvel’s first Israeli superhero and its White House-centric storyline. As it happens, Shira Haas’ Ruth Bat-Seraph won’t enrage anyone, as she’s simply a walking (or butt-kicking) exposition machine in the mold of Maria Hill (RIP!). Far more interesting, though, is how the film approaches its intriguing reflection of our own current cultural climate. Which is to say, it ignores it wholesale.

Although it stars a controversial president who survives a near-miss assassination attempt, bungles international relations, and can turn into a monster with brightly colored skin, don’t expect any Trump commentary here. The studio clearly saw the writing on the wall when this one was reshot in early 2024 and made sure the movie never strayed onto either side of the political divide. If there is a central theme buried under that mandate it’s that togetherness is more powerful than division, which is certainly apposite and aspirational, even if it feels more Care Bears than Captain America.

Perhaps the biggest flaw of Brave New World is one it shares with many of the weaker Multiverse Saga offerings: its hero has no hero’s journey. Anthony Mackie is as strong a screen presence as ever and any faults with the film are not his own, but the script gives him precious little to get to grips with. It’s frustrating, as SamCap has the potential to be just as interesting as his predecessor. While Steve Rogers is a man out of time, Wilson is treated like a man out of place — never given the same respect as his forebear and kept at arm’s length of the important conversations, despite his clear popularity with the public. Any possible personal turmoil or growth that this promises is only paid lip service.

Really, despite whose name is on the poster, this is Harrison Ford’s film, as President Ross inarguably has the most transformative arc (both internally and physically). Ford brings his familiar brand of curmudgeonly charm to the part, reconceiving the character from William Hurt’s suit with a mustache into a man haunted by a lifetime of mistakes just looking to make amends. Whether he returns as Red Hulk — what? We all saw the trailers, didn’t we? — is the big question, but he’s easily Brave New World‘s best gift to the Marvel multiverse, so with any luck he will.

Just as Ford’s President Ross barely contains the Red Hulk within throughout, there’s a sense while watching Brave New World that a much bigger, more interesting beast has been wrestled into submission after much blood, sweat, and tears. Multiple scenes have some truly eye-watering background CGI (a plain-as-day consequence of all the reshoots), Giancarlo Esposito’s Sidewinder is as paper-thin as only a major antagonist added at the eleventh hour can be, and all the fan-service builds up to a crossover cameo in which the two actors at play were patently never even in the same room.

The result is something far closer to Thor: The Dark World than Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which was surely the MCU movie the filmmakers put on a pedestal while shooting. Working on a script from five (!) screenwriters and no doubt having to restage his own work extensively, director Julius Onah had no hope of recreating the Russo brothers’ jewel in Marvel’s crown, although he doesn’t help himself out with largely lackluster action and small screen-level visuals.

When it comes down to it, Brave New World is not, in fact, all that brave. The extent to which Marvel clearly carved out the heart that must once have beaten within this lumpen, limping mass of moving wallpaper means you could even call it cowardly. On the plus side, though, Captain America 4 might be craven, but at least it’s not, you know, Kraven.

One of the more compelling aspects of romance as a film genre is how it can leverage the parasocial attachment between the public and the celebrities they ire. This to say, if you look at a movie like Anyone But You — the rom-com sleeper hit from 2023 — it’s easy to trace its box office success back to the fact that it stars Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell; two high-profile movie stars that you can casually hang out with and observe the attractiveness of, per rom-com parameters.

This is one of the tools in We Live in Time‘s bag of tricks, given its pairing of Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield of Black Widow and Spider-Man fame, but it has a lot more going for it than two popular, in-demand thespians kissing each other. One of those things is its current prominence on the Max charts.

Per FlixPatrol, We Live in Time is living it up at the top of Max’s film charts in the United States at the time of writing, beating out a quartet of Final Destination films in the rankings (namely, the first, second, third, and fifth entries in the franchise, which occupy the charts’ second, fourth, sixth, and fifth placements, respectively).

Elsewhere, Noah Wyle continues to dazzle audiences in The Pitt, which is enjoying its own spell atop the United States’ Max television rankings at the time of writing. Wyle, who portrays the show’s lead character Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch of the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Hospital, already has quite the medical drama prestige thanks to his time as John Carter on ER. That performance earned him nominations for three Golden Globes and five Emmy Awards.

We Live in Time stars Pugh and Garfield as Almut and Tobias, two thirty-somethings whose decade-long relationship is tracked from the moment of their first meeting, all the way to life after cancer takes Almut from Tobias and their daughter.

The film’s defining characteristic is its non-linear narrative, which causes us to jump around the timeline of Tobias’ and Almut’s relationship. This serves to highlight the relationship we all have to time, and how we primarily experience it through our most emotionally powerful memories, rather than those that most recently occurred.

This furthermore encourages viewers to consider how important it is to create the most meaningful memories possible, which is additionally emphasized by our early knowledge that Almut is going to die at the end of the film. This knowledge forces this family to carefully consider what they’re going to do with their extremely limited time together.

The emotional goal of We Live in Time, then, is to help us realize that our time on Earth — cancer or no cancer — is fundamentally limited, and so the best use of that time involves creating as much beauty as we can with one another. That’s a story worth exposing oneself to, even if you flock to it for no other reason than wanting to see Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield do the kissy-kissy.