By the time Captain America: Brave New World hits theaters, Secret Invasion will have finished, The Marvels and Deadpool will have premiered, and Thunderbolts will be on the way. Phase 5 of the MCU will near its end, and the beginning of Phase 6 will begin to set the stage for a climactic third act of the Multiverse Saga.
A lot must happen between now and then, but it all starts with Secret Invasion. If Marvel is smart, it will use this Disney Plus series to advance the franchise’s overarching story instead of just letting it be a one-off project like it has with other properties (or worse, retcon it the way it did with WandaVision and Multiverse of Madness. The best way for Marvel to do that? Give us the cameo we’ve been waiting for, and don’t be afraid to make a major MCU plot move in a Disney Plus series.
End with a death so Brave New World can begin with one
When it was announced that Harrison Ford was replacing William Hurt as General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross in the MCU, it was unclear at first where Marvel was taking the character. After Kevin Feige revealed Ross would become the President of the United States in Brave New World, the answer became much clearer.
Come Sam Wilson’s (Anthony Mackie) first solo outing as the Sentinel of Justice, Thaddeus Ross will step into his new role as Commander-in-Chief, and by his side will be Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) as the head of the CIA. As we saw in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, de Fontaine has her own agenda, and by the time Brave New World rolls around, it’ll probably have to do with Adamantium, Vibranium, The Sentry, or even all three.
As President, one of the first things Thaddeus Ross will do is put together the group of anti-heroes known as the Thunderbolts. What mission he will send them off to do is still unclear at the moment, but we have our theories.
But in order to get there, something needs to happen to the current President of the United States. We got a glimpse of this in episode four of Secret Invasion titled “Beloved” wherein President Ritson (Dermot Mulroney) and his Secret Service team are ambushed on the highway by Gravik and his followers. President Ritson ends up making it out alive, but his near-death encounter is a massive foreshadowing of what we can likely expect to happen in the very near future.
Only two Secret Invasion episodes and two MCU movies (The Marvels and Deadpool) stand between this Disney Plus show and Brave New World. Should Marvel wish to hold onto a shred of its credibility, it won’t waste this six-episode espionage thriller as a filler show in between cinematic installments. Go ahead, kill off President Ritson. Then, when that’s done, give us a Harrison Ford cameo in the finale.
As we saw in set photos for Brave New World, Sam Wilson will attend a funeral. Might that funeral be the death of President Ritson who bit the bullet at the end of Secret Invasion/beginning of Brave New World? Maybe.
Rip off the band-aid, Marvel, don’t be afraid to leverage your Disney Plus shows
Up until now, it’s felt like Marvel has been afraid to leverage its Disney Plus shows as more than just minor supplementation in the overarching MCU storyline. What’s the point then? Being afraid to force viewers to watch these Disney Plus shows in order to understand the big cinematic releases diminishes the value of the shows. Killing off President Ritson and cameoing Harrison Ford in Secret Invasion doesn’t mean you can’t write that into Brave New World for those who aren’t as up to speed. It’s all about the writing.
All I ask is that you don’t drop the ball on this, Marvel. Don’t let President Ritson die off-stage. Don’t let it be mentioned in passing, or suddenly tell us Thaddeus Ross is the new Commander-in-Chief. Give the storyline its due. After all, its implications are the very reason we’re getting Thunderbolts in the first place. As a matter of fact, here are eight things Marvel can do to really breathe life into the MCU and make the most of Captain America: Brave New World.
In the interim, you can stream Secret Invasion on Disney Plus, and watch The Marvels when it releases later this year on Nov. 10, 2023.
