- Captain America 4‘s plot was partly inspired by a highly-rated 1970s Marvel comic series
- It’s as much of an influence as unresolved plot threads from two other MCU movies are
- The Incredible Hulk and Eternals also had big roles in shaping its narrative
Captain America: Brave New World‘s title suggests it’s a movie that looks to the future, but its story is actually part-inspired by an old Marvel comic book series.
Nate Moore, one of the film’s many producers, told TechRadar that its narrative was as much shaped by a specific 1970s multi-issue run as it was by events depicted in other Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) flicks. Given the strong political thriller vibes that were first shown in Captain America 4‘s initial trailer, which also revealed its central conflict would revolve around Sam Wilson/the titular hero and newly-installed US President Thaddeus ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross, there’s no denying that the comics in question had a big impact on its plot.
“When we decided to put Sam on a collision course with the President,” Moore explained to me, “we thought the President should be a character that we know and love. If you recall, we’d already put Ross on this political trajectory when he was Secretary of State in Captain America: Civil War.
“So, we thought it would be really interesting if, as Sam is grappling with the mantle of Captain America, Ross was suddenly grappling with the mantle of being President, and how those positions put these characters sort of in direct conflict,” Moore continued. “We took a page from Steve Englehart’s ‘Secret Empire’ comic run from 1974, where Steve Rogers finds himself in the midst of some political intrigue, which at the time was an allegory for Watergate.”
For the uninitiated: ‘Secret Empire’ is a seven-issue series that was published between January and August 1974. In it, Captain America (Steve Rogers, not Sam Wilson) is targeted by a vicious ad campaign organized by a special interests group who called themselves The Committee to Regain America’s Principles. Essentially, they tarnished Cap’s reputation by suggesting he believed he operated outside of the law, which turned public opinion against him. Vowing to clear his name, Cap eventually discovers that the aforementioned committee is – surprise surprise – a villainous one with ties to his past.
You can read the full story via Marvel Unlimited, an online subscription service that houses over 30,000 Marvel comics for you to check out. Even better, if you use the below link and code, you can sign up for an account for half the price – but, be quick! The offer ends on Monday, March 3.
Addressing the Hulk- and Eternals-sized elephants in the room
Wilson’s first big-screen adventure as Captain America doesn’t only take its cues from a 50-year-old comic book series. Indeed, the Marvel Phase 5 film finally addresses some unresolved story beats from two of the lowest-ranked MCU films in our best Marvel movies guide.
If you’ve been keeping up with the latest information on Captain America 4, you’ll know I’m referring to 2008’s The Incredible Hulk and 2021’s Eternals. The movie’s ties to the former include the long-overdue return of Tim Blake Nelson’s Samuel Sterns and Ross’ not-so-secret transformation into Red Hulk. As for the latter, Brave New World will explain what’s going on with the giant, deceased Celestial – named Tiamut – that’s been poking out of the Indian Ocean for years. You can read remind yourself about that event in my Eternals ending explained piece.
Considering 16 and four years have, respectively, passed since those films were released, fans have had to wait a long time for answers to some of their unsettled narrative beats. Why, then, was this film the right time to revisit them?
“We’re dealing with Ross and some of the skeletons in his closet, so it allowed us to go back to The Incredible Hulk,” Moore explained. “It’s a film that’s not only underrated, but also enabled us to bring back Nelson as Sterns. In this film, you get to find out what happened to him after that fateful moment when he came into contact with some of Bruce Banner’s gamma-irradiated blood.
“We always wanted to do something with Tiamut, but we wanted it to be the right thing,” Moore continued. “I got to work on that movie, so it’s really fun for me to bring Tiamat back with the added notion that its corpse contains adamantium, which fans know plays a huge role in the X-Men franchise.
“This doesn’t mean you might see a certain someone that you might expect to see,” Moore added in reference to Wolverine. “But, we certainly want to start laying the groundwork for that. It’s no secret the X-Men are coming and we want to make sure all of that great mythology starts to get infused into the MCU.”
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tom.power@futurenet.com (Tom Power)
