Captain America: Brave New World is the next installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe that will be hitting theaters. And it’s one of very few MCU films since 2019’s Avengers: Endgame that will be (mostly) earthbound. It doesn’t have anything to do with the multiverse or cosmic threats. (We say “mostly earthbound” because there is a plot point that stems from the 2021 film The Eternals, but they will likely explain it in the film; we’re not recommending that movie here, as it is not one of the MCU better efforts.) 

One of the great things about the Marvel Universe in the comic books has always been the different stories that it tells. The same universe where Daredevil is fighting thugs in Hell’s Kitchen is also where literal gods – like Thor and Hercules – help to save the earth from interstellar threats. The Guardians of the Galaxy are fighting evil out in space, while light years away, the Punisher is taking out the mob in the same city that Dr. Strange is battling mystical threats from his “Sanctum Sanctorum” in Greenwich Village. Just a subway ride uptown, and you’re at Avengers Mansion. It all takes place in the same “canon.” 

Lately, however, films have been focused on the very heady and often confusing multiverse concept. Thankfully, Captain America: Brave New World (hitting theaters on February 14) and Thunderbolts* (May 2), breaks away from that. 

But as with most Marvel projects, there’s lots of backstory, so we want to help you to prepare early with a list of films and TV shows you might want to check out before hitting the theater for Brave New World. And if you only want to watch one thing, we’ll recommend putting some time aside for 2021’s Disney+ miniseries Falcon and the Winter Soldier. But if you’re starting early and want to do a deep dive, keep reading. 

• The Incredible Hulk (2008)

  Note that 2008’s The Incredible Hulk has nothing to do with 2003’s Hulk movie. That earlier movie was awful and the 2008 film was a reboot of the character. But Incredible Hulk star Edward Norton didn’t return to play Bruce Banner/the Hulk after this film, so some fans may not realize that it is part of the MCU “canon.” But it is: Robert Downey Jr. even made a cameo in a post-credits scene as Tony Stark. The next time we saw Banner was in 2012’s The Avengers, and by then, Mark Ruffalo had replaced Norton.

  The Incredible Hulk was mostly forgotten until William Hurt’s Thaddeus Ross returned in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War. He’d later appear in 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War, 2019’s Avengers: Endgame and 2021’s Black Widow. Tragically, William Hurt passed away in 2022. Harrison Ford will be taking over the role of “Thunderbolt” Ross in Brave New World, and he’s now President of the United States.

  Tim Roth’s Emil Blonsky (aka the Abomination) made a surprise return with a cameo in 2021’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Seven Rings, and later had a role in the 2022 Disney+ series She-Hulk: Attorney At Law. But two other Incredible Hulk cast members will make their return in Brave New World: Liv Tyler as Betty Ross, Thunderbolt’s daughter and Bruce Banner’s one-time girlfriend. And Tim Blake Nelson as Samuel Sterns, who eventually becomes The Leader, one of Hulk’s arch-enemies. But it seems that Captain America will have to deal with him first.

• Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

  We’ll skip over two classics here: 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger and 2012’s The Avengers. They’re both great films, but none of the characters in Brave New World were a big part of those stories. 2014’s The Winter Soldier was where Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson, aka the Falcon, made his debut. Sam was a war vet who led a support group for fellow vets with PTSD, something that clearly made an impact on Steve Rogers. Years later, Steve led a support group, as seen at the beginning of Avengers: Endgame. In The Winter Soldier, Sam fits in perfectly with fellow heroes Rogers (Chris Evans), Natasha Romanoff aka the Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson).

• Captain America: Civil War (2016)

  We’ll skip two more films here. Sam Wilson appears in 2015’s Avengers: Age Of Ultron; by the end of the film, Sam is part of the team. Sam also appears in 2015’s Ant-Man; he’s guarding Avengers’ HQ when Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang (aka Ant-Man) sneaks in to steal some gear. Sam and Steve are also in the post-credit scene, which ties directly into Civil War.

  But 2016’s Captain America: Civil War is one of the MCU’s best films. Thunderbolt Ross – now the U.S. Secretary of State – tells the Avengers that the United Nations is preparing the Sokovia Accords, which will allow the U.N. to control the team. They’re just too powerful to exist unchecked, given the havoc that Hulk, Thor or Wanda can unleash on the world. Steve and Sam disagree and go rogue, putting together a team that also includes the reformed Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) and Rudd’s Ant-Man; they are soon at odds with Tony Stark’s team which includes Romanoff (at first, anyway), James Rhodes/War Machine (Don Cheadle), the Vision (Paul Bettany), T’Challa/the Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) and Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Tom Holland).

  There’s also a weird moment where Rogers reveals he has feelings for Emily VanCamp’s Sharon Carter – a CIA agent and the niece of his true love, Peggy Carter (who died at the beginning of the film). Sharon goes on the lam at the end of the film, because she sided with Team Steve.

  But it turns out that the guy behind a lot of the schism in the film is Helmut Zemo (Daniel Bruhl), a Sokovian whose life was shattered by the Avengers’ battle with Ultron in Age Of Ultron. By the end of the film, Cap’s team is on the run.

• Black Widow (2021)

  Although Black Widow was released after Avengers: Endgame, it actually takes place between Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War. It’s William Hurt’s final performance as “Thunderbolt” Ross: he’s chasing Natasha, who has been on the run ever since he learned that she helped Captain America escape from Team Tony in Civil War. But the film also gives us insight into Russia’s “Black Widow” program. That’s relevant because Ruth Bat-Seraph (Shira Haas), a close ally of Ross, is a former member of that program. In the comic books, Bat-Seraph becomes the Israeli superhero Sabra.

• Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

  Steve and Tony’s respective teams bury the hatchet (or shield), because earth, and all of existence, faces a bigger threat, in the form of Thanos. The film could have been a disaster: it brought together the Avengers, the Guardians of the Galaxy and Dr. Strange. There were a lot of characters, a lot of movie stars, a lot of storylines and a lot of moving parts. Give credit to directors the Russo Brothers: the movie didn’t collapse under its own weight; it really worked and we all waited on the edge of our seats for a year to see the follow-up. Sam was featured pretty prominently in the film, and we also saw that “Thunderbolt” Ross was still very much at odds with Rogers and Sam. Sam’s relationship with Ross will be a big part of the story in Brave New World.

• Avengers: Endgame (2019)

  Hopefully, this isn’t a spoiler: Sam isn’t featured too much in Endgame, but that’s because he, along with half of the world, was “blipped” out of existence by the Thanos “snap” at the end of Infinity War.  But Sam makes his scenes count: he alerts Cap that he, and the rest of the disappeared heroes, are back, and in a callback to Steve and Sam’s first meeting back in Captain America: The Winter Solider, he says, “On your left.” If you saw the film on release weekend in 2019, you remember the scene, and you probably have chills just thinking about it. 

  The other scene is when an elderly Steve Rogers returns and hands his shield to Sam. He asks Sam, “How does it feel?” Sam replies, “Like it’s someone else’s.” Steve responds, “It isn’t.”

  “Thank you,” Sam says. “I’ll do my best.” One of the brilliant things about this movie is that, among the epic battles and the dizzying amount of characters, there are still incredibly powerful emotional moments like this one.

• The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021)

  As we mentioned, if you watch anything before Brave New World, you probably want it to be this six-episode mini-series, which aired on Disney+. Here, Sam wrestles with what it means for a Black man to be Captain America; at first, he decides that he doesn’t want the mantle. He gives Cap’s shield to the government and continues as the Falcon. Sam and Bucky Barnes, aka the Winter Solider, struggle with their relationship with each other but ultimately become friends, while battling a group called the Flag Smashers, who believed that the world was better off during the Blip.

  The show sees the return of Sharon Carter, Helmut Zemo, Ayo of Wakanda’s Dora Milaje (Florence Kasumba), and a cameo by Don Cheadle’s James “Rhodey” Rhodes. It also introduces Danny Ramirez’s Joaquin Torres (who will become the Falcon, now that Sam is Captain America), and Carl Lumbly’s Isaiah Bradley, a Black man who was Captain America during the Korean War. Torres and Bradley are both major characters in Brave New World. The series also introduced two characters who will feature prominently in the Thunderbolts* film: Wyatt Russell’s U.S. Agent, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, who we last saw in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

  The show also gave us some more insight into Sam’s character, and what it’s like to be an Avenger. How does being “dead” for five years during “The Blip” affect your credit rating? How does that affect your family; we meet his sister, Adepero Oduye’s Sarah Wilson and we learn about their family dynamics. Is it easy to get a job or apply for a loan if you’re an Avenger? Until now, we didn’t know much about Sam outside of his partnership with Steve, and this show gives him a lot more agency. It’s a great show and worth a few hours of your time.

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