With Agatha All Along having officially closed shop as of last Wednesday, the mainline Marvel Cinematic Universe canon can officially set its sights on Captain America: Brave New World, which hits theaters on Feb. 14, 2025.
As what’s probably the first film that will be abiding by Marvel’s better-late-than-never, quality-over-quantity approach, fans may be expecting to reap a few more rewards than usual with this one. Brave New World‘s leading man, after all, has already gotten his fair share, although not in the form you would think.
In a recent appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Anthony Mackie was asked what the best part about starring in his own MCU flick was, and it wasn’t the lucrative contract, nor the enormous market exposure, but the fact that he gets free fishing charters because all the fisherman want to “take Captain America fishing.”
The best part is I now get free fishing charters, you know in Louisiana fishing charters is a big deal, it can run you about $800, now I go down to the booth and they’re like ‘hey man, I wanna take Captain America fishing’ so I get free fishing charters!
The actor also sang his praises for his co-star Harrison Ford, who makes his MCU debut in Brave New World as President Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross, replacing the late William Hurt in the role. Mackie described him as “the coolest cat he’s ever met,” showing particular fondness for the octogenarian genre icon’s tendency to roll up on set before saying “Let’s shoot this piece of s***!”
Hopefully, of course, Brave New World is not a piece of s***. Marvel has unfortunately stopped trying to create meaningful narratives with robust characters as of late, instead opting for the irony-drenched fan service of Deadpool & Wolverine, and the foreshadowing-for-the-sake-of-foreshadowing of Agatha All Along, prioritized vibes and all.
Brave New World, however, will not be able to get away with either of those approaches (as though said approaches can be gotten away with in the first place). It places the MCU back in the hotseat of the main narrative, and will therefore be operating in a framework that demands competent drama and storytelling with an ostensibly traditional lens. In other words, that means no winking at the audience, no puzzle-esque plot gimmicks, and no redemption in the form of an all-but-guaranteed Eli Bradley setup; it can only hope to be the best possible version of Anthony Mackie and company versus the world.
Again, we won’t know if it hits that bar until February, but while Brave New World will serve as the next mainline entry, there’s still plenty of Marvel to look forward to until then. Season three of What If…? is due out in December, following last season’s release schedule of a daily episode release starting on the 22nd.
It’s not yet clear how many episodes will comprise the third season, but among the details we do know is an episode starring Red Guardian, an episode where the Avengers pilot mechs Power Rangers-style, a musical episode featuring Agatha Harkness, and a Western episode featuring Shang-Chi. So far, no details about a fishing episode, much to the presumable dismay of Mackie.
