While you probably expected Captain America: Brave New World to feature some end-credits scenes, you may be surprised to hear that the first Marvel film of 2025 only has one. After a long series of delays and reshoots, Captain America: Brave New World is finally here to pilot the Marvel Cinematic Universe towards a hopefully smooth 2025 flight, which also includes the likes of Thunderbolts*, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Daredevil: Born Again, and more. Sam Wilson's (Anthony Mackie) first big-screen appearance as Steve Rogers' (Chris Evans) successor, Captain America: Brave New World only having one end-credits scene continues a trend for Marvel Studios, as Deadpool & Wolverine (the only MCU movie of 2024) also had only one end-credits sequence, where Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) revealed what Johnny Storm (Chris Evans) really had to say about Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin).
On average, most movies in the MCU have at least two end-credits sequences, with one focusing on future plot development and the other being more of a funny gag. For the films that only have one, it's typically one or the other, though there hasn't been a somewhat consistent pattern of deemphasizing these sequences. That's also true for films outside the MCU, such as Sony's allegedly final Spider-Man spin-off, Kraven the Hunter, which lacked an end-credits sequence of any kind. Still, the practice is alive and well, with the Sonic the Hedgehog trilogy being a prime example.
Is 'Captain America: Brave New World's End-Credits Sequence a Mid-Credits Scene or a Post-Credits Scene?
Marvel fans will need to be patient to see what the credits of Captain America: Brave New World has up its sleeve. The sequence in question appears at the literal end of Captain America: Brave New World's historically short run time, with the flashy mid-credits leading immediately into the more traditional crawl credits. Once those credits conclude, the scene finally plays, and it directly sets up where and when we'll see a key character from the film return in a future installment of the MCU.
If you want to go into the fourth Captain America film completely blind, you can probably stop reading here and bring your mighty shield to Brave New World's premiere this weekend. Still, we already have a pretty good idea of what's next for the MCU. Immediately following Captain America: Brave New World are Thunderbolts* and The Fantastic Four: First Steps in theaters, not to mention Disney+ shows like Daredevil: Born Again and Ironheart. It's already been confirmed that Anthony Mackie will equip the shield and wings again as Captain America for both Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars.
What Is 'Captain America: Brave New World' About?
Captain America: Brave New World is less of a continuation of the story established in Captain America: Civil War and more of a direct continuation of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which was ultimately the first Marvel project that thoroughly explored how the world had changed in the wake of Avengers: Endgame. Despite fully accepting his inherited title of Captain America, Sam Wilson is still navigating a tumultuous political landscape that sees superheroes more as weapons rather than selfless altruists. This is something that becomes abundantly clear in Sam's meetings with the newly-elected U.S. President, Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross (Harrison Ford).
However, all is not well in the U.S., as unbeknownst to the film's protagonist, Captain America: Brave New World is also a sequel to the second MCU movie ever made, The Incredible Hulk. That's because the elusive Leader (Tim Blake Nelson) has decided to use his brilliant gamma-irradiated intellect to declare a shadowy war on the country itself, kickstarting a deadly conspiracy that could change the fate of an ever-changing Marvel universe as we know it. It's a sinister plan that also involves turning the already irritable Thadeus Ross into the near-unstoppable entity that is Red Hulk.
Captain America: Brave New World is now in theaters.
Captain America: Brave New World
- Release Date
- February 14, 2025
- Director
- Julius Onah
- Writers
- Dalan Musson, Malcolm Spellman
- Prequel(s)
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War
- Franchise(s)
- Captain America, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Cast
-
Sam Wilson / Captain America -
Thaddeus 'Thunderbolt' Ross / Red Hulk
- Main Genre
- Superhero
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