‘Old Marvel is back on the menu’: Wait, so ‘Captain America: Brave New World’ is actually… good?

Some early reactions to Captain America: Brave New World are positive. Enthusiastic, even. With the endless reshoots the film underwent, though, and the downward trend Marvel has been experiencing in the last few years, I think we are allowed to be a little surprised.

There were rumors the first test screenings for Brave New World weren’t exactly successful, thrusting the crew into additional reshoots at the start of 2024, lasting nearly six months. Adding to that were reports that three major sequences had to be cut and that brand-new writers and cast members were being added last minute, including Giancarlo Esposito.

That sort of modus operandi has rarely ever worked out for Marvel, with some of its biggest flops such as Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, The Marvels, Secret Invasion and Echo also requiring extensive reshoots and a lot of editing room action.

The film is Anthony Mackie’s first solo outing as the new Captain America and the introduction of blockbuster king Harrison Ford to the MCU, taking over for the late William Hurt in the role of Thaddeus Ross. The occasion alone demanded Marvel be on its very best game, but making the most competent movie possible should have been the superhero juggernaut’s top priority regardless, considering James Gunn’s new and improved DC Universe is about to come knocking.

Thankfully, it sounds like fans of the genre (the people whose reactions the franchise is most interested in, surely) loved it. Nerdist Editor-in-Chief Rotem Rusak says the movie “brought to life the best of the MCU” as she complimented its “sharp” action, “simmering” mystery and tension, and “interesting” political themes. For @TheConnorWeb on X, Brave New World isn’t “groundbreaking,” but it still did not disappoint, with Mackie “[cementing] himself as the ‘Star Spangled Man.’”

POC Culture found it “MASSIVELY entertaining” — all caps — praising the leading duo of Mackie and Danny Ramirez for bringing heart to the story. Slightly more biased is Wong Updates, a Marvel fan account, who called the film “a cinematic gem” that delivers “a mix of Winter Soldier and The Dark Knight.” They also declared that “Old Marvel is back on the menu.” Take that with a tremendous grain of salt, but, hey!, if one person saw all of that in Brave New World, then maybe there really is something to work with among those patched-up 118 minutes of runtime.

As Marvel fans, we’re hoping we’ll leave the theater in agreement with these takes. Still, we can’t help but feel duly frustrated that the production studio seems more interested in fixing any issues in post-production than in giving creators the bandwidth, freedom, and support to simply create a great script. Or, I don’t know, just make better choices.

So, let’s hope Brave New World lives up to its title and doesn’t end up cowardly, dated, and small, instead. It arrives in theaters Friday, Feb. 14.