CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD BTS Photo Reveals New Look At The Leader’s Scrapped Comic-Accurate Design

CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD BTS Photo Reveals New Look At The Leader’s Scrapped Comic-Accurate Design

A new photo from the set of Captain America: Brave New World has revealed a live-action look at the original design for The Leader which was more comic-accurate than the approach in the movie’s final cut.

By JoshWilding - Mar 30, 2025 03:03 AM EST

Captain America: Brave New World's reshoots remain a subject of great interest and debate among fans. However, as easy as it is to criticise Marvel Studios for dropping the ball on what will now be a movie that ranks among its lowest-grossing titles, there must be a reason Kevin Feige felt it needed such a drastic reworking. 

A new behind-the-scenes photo from the movie has surfaced today showcasing the movie's original design for The Leader. The complete opposite of what we got in the movie itself, it appears to be a stand-in used on set or perhaps just an early prototype created before the makeup and prosthetics were applied to Tim Blake Nelson.

Regarldess, we have to imagine there are some shots of the actor looking like this somewhere out there that have yet to be revealed. 

The Leader's appearance changed significantly during additional photography, something that was originally confirmed by promo art and an officially released Funko Pop.

In the process, the comic-accurate large head you see below was swapped out for the sympathy-inducing deformed look we got in Captain America: Brave New World's final cut. 

That means that all of the villain's scenes were reshot, no great surprise when he was originally portrayed as the creator of a superpowered Serpent Society and a master manipulator. Ultimately, we'll never know which version was better but there must be a reason Marvel Studios felt such a drastic overhaul was necessary.

In a post-release interview with Variety, Captain America: Brave New World director Julius Onah explained the character's new look by revealing, "When you think about the arc of his character and the humanity that’s been taken away from him, there’s a monstrosity to him, and I really wanted to lean into that, so the moment you see him, you understand what’s propelling him as a character and his desire for retribution."

"We started off with an entirely practical version of it. You still see a lot of that practical work, in terms of prosthetics and paint stuff of that sort. It was great for Tim, because he’s very immersive in terms of what he likes to do as a performer."

"And then when we put it together in the movie, I wanted to push it even further, to make sure that that jump could come [over] on screen," Onah contained. "So we did enhance with visual effects, just to push it to that edge of something that hopefully wasn’t too off-putting, but again, helped you understand emotionally what was driving him."

You can take a close look at Captain America: Brave New World's original take on The Leader below. 

In Captain America: Brave New World, after meeting with newly elected U.S. President Thaddeus Ross, played by Harrison Ford in his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut, Sam Wilson finds himself in the middle of an international incident. He must discover the reason behind a nefarious global plot before the true mastermind has the entire world seeing red.

The movie stars Anthony Mackie, Danny Ramirez, Shira Haas, Xosha Roquemore, Carl Lumbly, with Giancarlo Esposito, Liv Tyler, Tim Blake Nelson, and Harrison Ford. The movie is directed by Julius Onah and produced by Kevin Feige and Nate Moore. Louis D’Esposito and Charles Newirth serve as executive producers.

"Flawed but functional, Captain America: Brave New World's many problems are largely forgotten any time Anthony Mackie and Harrison Ford electrify the screen," we said in our review"And when Red Hulk shows up, the movie reaches new heights of awesome."

Captain America: Brave New World is now playing in theaters.

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POWERDUDE
POWERDUDE - 3/30/2025, 3:09 AM
That design is LITERALLY perfect. They are absolute fools.
SuperiorHeckler
SuperiorHeckler - 3/30/2025, 9:02 AM
@POWERDUDE - Agree 100%. And if it really was a Kevin Feige decision to trash-can this big-head look; it's just another example that like an aging former pitching-ace, Kevin is losing his fastball when it comes to these creative choices. 🤨
NoDaysOff
NoDaysOff - 3/30/2025, 9:29 AM
@POWERDUDE - Yeah...also seemed less expensive.

I can maybe see it coming across as goofy in a movie where the tone was suppose to be (at least intended) more serious.

His final design does look a bit more menacing, but less comic accurate.
Batmangina
Batmangina - 3/30/2025, 9:59 AM
@POWERDUDE - Yep. Standard Disney 'Take the thing that looks like the original thing and make it shittier'

AgentofSH1ELD
AgentofSH1ELD - 3/31/2025, 5:54 AM
@Batmangina - South Park "Put a woman in it! Maker her gay!"
BigPhilbowski
BigPhilbowski - 3/30/2025, 3:14 AM
Whoever made the decision to change this needs to be fired
whatthetruck
whatthetruck - 3/30/2025, 8:28 AM
@BigPhilbowski - reality is that this change likely came from test audience feedback, It probably looked like shit in motion.
Arthorious
Arthorious - 3/30/2025, 8:55 AM
@whatthetruck - but what we got was severely worse.
soberchimera
soberchimera - 3/30/2025, 1:24 PM
@BigPhilbowski - They were probably worried about Hector Hammond comparisons.
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AgentofSH1ELD
AgentofSH1ELD - 3/31/2025, 5:55 AM
@soberchimera - I wondered that myself.. Would they have had a focus group say Wait! look at this!! probably.. too bad they changed it but it still worked out IMO.
MarvelZombie616
MarvelZombie616 - 3/30/2025, 3:31 AM
This looks really good.
Test screenings are total bullshit, because they are attended by people who have no clue about the source material.
MyCoolYoung
MyCoolYoung - 3/30/2025, 3:36 AM
They should’ve went with that. They didn’t need to hammer home the “Ross is a monster , he made a monster” point
MGSSnake1988
MGSSnake1988 - 3/30/2025, 3:36 AM
The Leader's appearance would've been impactful if 1.) this design is kept because it's even more terrifying than the broccoli leftover from Guardians 3, and 2.) if he is confronted by Bruce Banner himself.

Having Sam Wilson foil most of his plans make him look more stupid than previous Cap villains, including Helmut Zemo. Moreover, Sam has zero connections to him. There's no point to him confronting The Leader, other than the fact that the dude is the main bad guy of the film.
Vigor
Vigor - 3/30/2025, 6:48 AM
@MGSSnake1988 - it's explained through out the movie why Leader is involved with Ssm
MGSSnake1988
MGSSnake1988 - 3/30/2025, 6:58 AM
@Vigor - It was forced. It would've had more impact if it was Hulk.
Arthorious
Arthorious - 3/30/2025, 8:58 AM
@MGSSnake1988 - on a serious note who are Sam Wilson’s villains in the comics when he became Cap? White wolf maybe? I really don’t know
SuperiorHeckler
SuperiorHeckler - 3/30/2025, 9:07 AM
@Arthorious - (Not being a regular comic-book reader) I'd imagine Sam simply inherited Cap's villains along with Roger's colors and shield. After all, what self-respecting super villain would waste his time with "The Falcon" unless he was running (and flying) around pretending to be Captain America? 🤨
dagenspear
dagenspear - 3/30/2025, 1:37 PM
@Vigor - All that has nothing to do with Sam. It's all tangential to me. Leader and this story is just there. No personal connection to these villains overall.
dagenspear
dagenspear - 3/30/2025, 1:37 PM
@SuperiorHeckler - You can't pretend to be a fake title. You can wear it if you want.
Superheromoviefan
Superheromoviefan - 3/30/2025, 3:38 AM
maybe they used cg and it didnt look good? thats the only reason i can think for changing it
TheLobster
TheLobster - 3/30/2025, 4:02 AM
Marvel decided to spend more money to make their film worse than it already was LOL
RegularPoochie
RegularPoochie - 3/30/2025, 5:21 AM
Bunch of idiots, what a shame.
JurassicClunge
JurassicClunge - 3/30/2025, 6:04 AM
Sometimes listening to the test screenings isn't always the best idea 😮‍💨😮‍💨😮‍💨
Gmoney84
Gmoney84 - 3/30/2025, 7:33 AM
Original recipe.
KennKathleen
KennKathleen - 3/30/2025, 8:43 AM
@Gmoney84 - User Comment Image

User Comment Image



Extra crispy.
dragon316
dragon316 - 3/30/2025, 7:46 AM
Comic accuate leader would not have saved movie forehead need be bigger
RockBottom
RockBottom - 3/30/2025, 7:51 AM
Goddamit Marvel.
Fares
Fares - 3/30/2025, 8:06 AM
Comic accurate? Sure.
Better? Not necessarily.
GirshwinDavies
GirshwinDavies - 3/30/2025, 8:23 AM
@Fares - way better
Comicmoviejunki
Comicmoviejunki - 3/30/2025, 8:25 AM
@Fares - definitely better
Matchesz
Matchesz - 3/30/2025, 10:03 AM
@Fares - personally I liked the bubbled up exposed brain look, but I would have combined that look with this one
ToldYaSo
ToldYaSo - 3/30/2025, 12:48 PM
@Fares - MUCH better than the Tea Bag version.
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 3/30/2025, 8:07 AM
Honestly besides wishing his head was more elongated , I didn’t mind The Leader’s look in the film since I felt it effectively demonstrated visually the desire that Sterns had for revenge against Ross…

I wouldn’t have minded the original look but given the intent of the director & story , I think the revamped version worked better.

Anyway . I think BNW was decent-good overall but I do hope future Sam Cap projects improve upon the faults of this one!!.

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WEAPONXOXOXO
WEAPONXOXOXO - 3/30/2025, 8:08 AM
Even if they got the look right the story was bad. It was a forgettable movie. No need to talk about it again. Let's get more Deadpool articles.

That was a bad movie too but it had some funny parts.
Reginator
Reginator - 3/30/2025, 8:15 AM
So glad I didn’t spend time seeing this movie.
GirshwinDavies
GirshwinDavies - 3/30/2025, 8:21 AM
What in the actual phuck marvel
MarvelZombie616
MarvelZombie616 - 3/30/2025, 8:25 AM
@JoshWilding

Captain America Brave New World falls to #7 on it's 7th weekend:

2,380 (-520) theaters, Fri $730K (-35%), 3-day $2.75M (-32%), Total $196.5M/Wk 7

At this rate, it will cross the $200 million domestic after full 8 weeks in theaters.
Ojeet78
Ojeet78 - 3/30/2025, 8:35 AM
I have no idea why they dropped this and went with the Angstrom Levy look
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 3/30/2025, 8:41 AM
@Ojeet78 - I mean , Onah explains above that it was basically to further illustrate his desire for revenge against Ross aswell as push even more the point of the man/monster Ross used to be
Ojeet78
Ojeet78 - 3/30/2025, 11:28 AM
@TheVisionary25 - It didn't work though. From what I remember of Stearns from The Incredible Hulk , is that he was just a man of science and somewhat weird. He even smiled when he got infected with that gamma blood. His arc in this wasn't well done and it stuck out like a sore thumb cause he had a history with Banner and this movie was about Captain America. I wish the movie had focused more on Sam, Isaiah and Joaquin. That was the best part in my opinion, everything else felt very out of place. Anyway I love Tim Blake Nelson and hope he gets another chance at this character.
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