Though Steve Rogers has now vanished from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel Studios is currently in production of Captain America: New World Order. This upcoming blockbuster will serve as the fourth film in the Captain America franchise, as well as a sequel to the Disney+ miniseries The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
Little is known about the plot of this third sequel. Nevertheless, Disney recently shared some juicy details about the film at the company’s D23 Expo, revealing characters old and new that will make appearances. Of course, it will be a long time before the film lands in theaters, but for now, here’s a list of everything that has been revealed about Captain America: New World Order.
The film will focus on Sam Wilson
Anthony Mackie’s character took up the mantle of Captain America in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, so this film will obviously be centered around Sam Wilson. The winged Avenger was unsure of himself becoming Captain America and representing a country that has horribly mistreated Black people for centuries. But after Wilson fully embraced the title and the shield, his next adventure should follow him as he tries to make his country better as the new Sentinel of Liberty.
Since Mackie’s character is leading the sequel, Marvel Studios seems set on presenting Captain America very differently in this film now that Wilson is the new Captain. When discussing Wilson’s future in the MCU with Men’s Journal, Mackie compared his character to Chris Evans’s Steve Rogers, saying, “What you have to realize about Sam — he’s a superhero who is not really a superhero. There’s no secret serum. There’s no this or that. I just have wings on my suit that I got from the military. So everything that I do, I do as a common man.”
Who is coming back to the MCU
This film will feature plenty of familiar faces. For instance, Carl Lumbly will reprise his role from The Falcon and the Winter Soldier as Isaiah Bradley. In this series, he was a Korean War veteran who was unknowingly injected with the Super Soldier Serum. However, Bradley was later imprisoned by the U.S. government after he tried to stop them from eliminating many other Black soldiers secretly injected with the Serum to cover up their wrongdoings. But in the series’ final episode, Wilson had a memorial of Bradley built to honor his sacrifices for his country.
Likewise, Danny Ramirez will return to play Joaquín Torres, Wilson’s friend/ally in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier who had survived the chaos brought on by Thanos’s snap. It was during this series that Torres inherited the title of Falcon from Wilson, along with his signature wingsuit, so audiences will undoubtedly see him take flight in New World Order.
Who’s helming the film
Though Joe and Anthony Russo directed the last two Captain America films, like Steve Rogers himself, they will step aside and pass the mantle of director to someone else. New World Order will be helmed by Nigerian director Julius Onah, who’s most famous for directing Netflix’s The Cloverfield Paradox and the critically acclaimed film, Luce.
While discussing Sam Wilson in this upcoming sequel, Onah said to Collider, “We’re really testing him, and now that he’s taken the mantle of Captain America, he’s really going to question what it means to lead. And all the action and all the emotionality of the story is really built around him answering that question.”
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier showrunner Malcolm Spellman and writer Dalan Musson are also set to pen the script for this film. Since the duo helped bring Wilson’s last adventure to life on streaming, it seems natural that they return to continue where they left off.
When talking to Variety about Marvel’s approach to his character in Phase 5 of the MCU, Mackie said, “They’re definitely very inclusive. When we did The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Malcolm Spellman and I talked at length about what that character was turning into, what we wanted him to, what we wanted that narrative to be. Now with Malcolm writing this Captain America, it’s the exact same thing. We’ve talked and communicated about what we want that story to be going forward. and how it’ll fit in this new Marvel universe. You definitely get the idea of collaboration, but you don’t get to tell them what it’s going to be.”
The Leader returns
Marvel surprised audiences with the revelation that Tim Blake Nelson will return to play his character from The Incredible Hulk, Samuel Sterns. In the film, Sterns was a cellular biologist/college professor who tried to help Bruce Banner find a cure for his superpowers. But after he was forced to turn Emil Blonsky into the Abomination, a drop of Banner’s irradiated blood accidentally fell into Sterns’s head wound, enlarging his brain and turning him into the evil super genius, The Leader.
Though this was the last time audiences saw him on the big screen, Sterns was revealed to have been imprisoned by S.H.I.E.L.D. after Black Widow apprehended him in The Avengers prequel comic, Fury’s Big Week. It’s unknown if the Leader has remained in captivity all these years, but with so much free time on his hands, he will undoubtedly have something big in mind for the MCU.
Sabra’s debut
Shira Haas is set to appear in the MCU as its first Israeli superhero, Ruth Bat-Seraph, a.k.a. Sabra. In the comics, Sabra is a mutant who ended up working for Israel’s intelligence agency, Mossad. She was introduced as an adversary of the Hulk, whom she believed was working with Arab terrorists, only to change her ways after a Palestinian child is killed by a terrorist explosion.
Sabra’s upcoming appearance has been mired with controversy, as according to CNN, protestors “fear that reviving Sabra’s character would spread offensive stereotypes about Arabs and the dehumanization of Palestinians in cinema.” Nevertheless, Marvel Studios shared a statement with CNN saying, “filmmakers are taking a new approach with the character Sabra who was first introduced in the comics over 40 years ago.”
With Mackie playing the new Captain America and Sabra appearing in the film, it seems that New World Order will take the MCU in a bold new direction. Whether or not Marvel Studios will succeed in this route remains to be seen, but the film will surely be a blockbuster the world will have its eyes on.
Captain America: New World Order will premiere in theaters on May 3, 2024.
