The MCU returns to the big screen in less than three months when Captain America: Brave New World hits cinemas on Valentine’s Day, and while there’s much about the action-packed fourquel that promises to warm the heart — Harrison Ford as Red Hulk? ‘Nuff said — there is something about Sam Wilson’s first solo cinematic outing that’s disappointing fans: the lack of Sebastian Stan.
The best part of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was, just as the title suggests, the bond between Anthony Mackie’s Sam and Stan’s Bucky Barnes, with folks eager to see more of the dynamic duo in future projects. Tragically, Marvel has decided to split them up. Stan will be appearing in next spring’s Thunderbolts* instead, while Sam has found himself a new best pal to save the world with in Brave New World. And our first look at this familiar character in their very own superhero togs has now been revealed.
“One of the key emotional centers of the film”: Say bye bye Bucky, because Sam’s got a new sidekick in Captain America 4
As per Empire, a new still from Brave New World has been unveiled which offers our first glimpse at the MCU’s Falcon 2.0. Top Gun: Maverick star Danny Ramirez debuted as Joaquin Torres in Falcon and the Winter Soldier and, just like in the comics, he will take on Sam’s old mantle in Brave New World to operate as the new Cap’s partner in crime-fighting.
Director Julius Onah was on hand to promise that the friendship that forms between Sam and Torres is one of the movie’s biggest emotional threads. “There’s this incredible big brother/little brother dynamic between them,” Onah said when describing the partnership between the two heroes. “It’s going to be one of the key emotional centers of the film.”
According to Onah, Sam will bring a lot of experience to the table, but at the same time his greener sidekick will teach him a thing or two as they come up against some serious new challenges. Those challenges may just take the shape of a red-hued Han Solo Hulk and Tim Blake Nelson’s the Leader, returning for the first time since The Incredible Hulk.
“These guys are incredible fighters,” Onah continued. “And Sam has been there and back. He’s got some tricks up his sleeve, and over the course of the film there are things he comes to learn that become other tools in his arsenal, when he’s facing even the most impossible of threats.”
As much as Stan’s absence smarts, it sounds like we could be about to witness the birth of another iconic Marvel bromance in Sam and Torres. Sam taking on a sidekick is also a moving marker for how much he’s evolved in this franchise since his own debut in 2014’s The Winter Soldier, when he himself played second fiddle to Steve Rogers’ Sentinel of Liberty. That said, if Bucky doesn’t turn up for at least a cameo, we’ll be more red-faced with anger than Ford’s President Ross.
Captain America: Brave New World is coming on Feb. 14, 2025, while Stan’s own Thunderbolts* will follow on May 2.
