The majority of Marvel Cinematic Universe projects, whether it’s the movies or latterly the TV shows, try to strike their own tone while still fitting into the standard formula that’s served the franchise so well over the last thirteen years. Sometimes the genres can shift dramatically in the space of the same series, though, as we saw with Chris Evans’ Captain America trilogy.
The First Avenger was an old fashioned adventure married to a period piece set in a heightened reality, while The Winter Soldier drew inspiration from the political espionage back catalogue, and Civil War was essentially an Avengers movie on a slightly smaller scale. Even The Falcon and the Winter Solider, which was technically a Captain America story, was a globetrotting buddy story heavily indebted to real-world themes.
Insider Daniel Richtman is now claiming that Anthony Mackie’s feature-length debut under the costume will draw inspiration from a much more unlikely source, with the tipster touting it as being comparable to a G.I. Joe blockbuster in terms of delivering big, broad, camp fun. While the idea of the largest brand in the industry looking to emulate a franchise that’s hardly set the world on fire is a very peculiar notion, it’s admittedly not the wildest thing we’ve ever heard.
After all, Stephen Sommers’ The Rise of Cobra was basically a live-action Team America played with a largely straight face, while Jon M. Chu’s Retaliation was a much more tongue-in-cheek militarized shoot em’ up. Of course, Captain America 4 will look to blaze its own trail, but it’s been a long time since we’ve seen the MCU lean into elevated absurdity on any sort of grand scale, so maybe Sam Wilson is the guy to make it happen.
