CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD Concept Art Reveals Movie's Scrapped Superpowered Serpent Society

CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD Concept Art Reveals Movie's Scrapped Superpowered Serpent Society

Newly revealed Captain America: Brave New World concept art has revealed a first look at original plans for the movie's Serpent Society and, as expected, they were going to rock some impressive powers.

By JoshWilding - Mar 01, 2025 02:03 PM EST

Earlier today, artist Mushk Rizvi uploaded concept art for several past and upcoming MCU projects to her website...including Avengers: Doomsday. It was a pretty major blunder, albeit one that's unlikely to do any harm to the movie. If anything, it will just increase excitement.

Regardless, Rizvi also shared some of her work on Captain America: Brave New World, showcasing the superpowered Serpent Society. 

Original plans called for this team to battle Cap, The Falcon, and possibly even Isaiah Bradley during the movie's opening. Rumour has it the previous iteration of The Leader - think more mastermind and less victim - enhanced the villains who were a crucial part of his plan to steal Adamantium and cause a global crisis. 

There are several alternate designs here and, based on set photos, Marvel Studios initially went for those full-blown supervillain costumes. The one thing this lot has in common are cybernetic enhancements in their arms giving Diamondback, Cobra, Mamba, Constrictor, and more some pretty hardcore powers. 

Rosa Salazar and Seth Rollins were cast as Diamondback and Cobra but both ended up being cut, even with the former getting her own Happy Meal toy last year.

During a recent interview, filmmaker Julius Onha said the movie's reshoots took Captain America: Brave New World from being "heightened" to "more grounded" and cited the Serpent Society being cut as an example. 

"I think it gets a little deceptive in ‘a whole new character was added,’ because Serpent Society was always a part of the story, so the story function that Serpent Society serves in the film has never changed...we were deviating probably a bit too much from the grounded tone that we wanted the movie to have with how we had created Serpent Society at first."

"You know, they are people dressed like snakes in comic books, and they have snake-adjacent powers and stuff that’s really, really heightened, and you wanted an actor who could really help us lean, or gesture towards the fantastic, but without losing that sense of grounding. So it’s not like Serpent Society or the character changed. It was just, let’s really introduce a version of them that fits into the tone of the movie."

Take a closer look at what might have been in Captain America: Brave New World in the X posts 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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Wahhvacado
Wahhvacado - 3/1/2025, 11:07 AM
The lack of Invicible on this site is criminal

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HashTagSwagg
HashTagSwagg - 3/1/2025, 2:07 PM
@ItsNotForMeWahh -
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McMurdo
McMurdo - 3/1/2025, 2:08 PM
@ItsNotForMeWahh - I don't get it. The show is consistently fantastic. It's my favorite thing of every week! That and Reacher makes my Thursday nights great.
Wahhvacado
Wahhvacado - 3/1/2025, 2:19 PM
@McMurdo - It is really on of the most consistent shows out right now.

I haven't seen Reacher since season 1. How are you liking season 3 so far?
McMurdo
McMurdo - 3/1/2025, 2:32 PM
@ItsNotForMeWahh - I'm enjoying it. Season 1 is peak. And season 2 was a great follow up. I don't think I can say it's on the level of the first two seasons but I like the new characters and Reacher is pretty ruthless in his mission this season.

Alan Ritchson is just fantastic IMO. Every time he's on screen I'm more and more convinced he can pull off Bruce Wayne/Batman. Especially after seeing him act in Gentlemenly Warefare with Cavill. He's got the range despite what many may believe about him as an actor.

I really hope James Gunn is at least willing to let him read for the role if he hasn't already. Not many people out there with his build and acting ability in tandem.
Wahhvacado
Wahhvacado - 3/1/2025, 2:39 PM
@McMurdo - That is great to hear! I'll make sure it's on my watch list!

Ritchson really is great! I love his screen presence, especially in Gentalmenly Warefare! I never saw it but I guess he's also going to reprise his role from Blue Mountain State. He seems like a great dude and I wish him all the success.

I could definitely see him as the Batman we saw a brief glimpse of from Creature Commandos, same body type
McMurdo
McMurdo - 3/1/2025, 2:41 PM
@ItsNotForMeWahh - interesting. I never watched Blue Mountain State. I know it's a college football show and remember it was one of his early roles. Will Def have to peep it since it's coming back.
kazuma
kazuma - 3/1/2025, 3:06 PM
@ItsNotForMeWahh - Nothing lost tbh
GirshwinDavies
GirshwinDavies - 3/1/2025, 3:11 PM
@ItsNotForMeWahh - I have been binge watching the shit out of this show. Love it
marvel72
marvel72 - 3/1/2025, 3:22 PM
@ItsNotForMeWahh - it's because Invincible is better than most of the Disney Marvel Shows and Movies.
MuadDib
MuadDib - 3/1/2025, 4:47 PM
@McMurdo - Invincible is def the top animated show right now and deserves more love.

Reacher is great, followed Alan’s career since Smallville.

Always felt he’d have been THE PERFECT Shazam, has the exact look straight from the pages of a comic book.

For a while I felt he’d was too big to be Bruce Wayne, but I’ve come around and can’t see anyone better now.

Fingers crossed he gets the role
SodaBurps
SodaBurps - 3/1/2025, 8:30 PM
@ItsNotForMeWahh - This season has been great! Especially the Powrplex storyline. I'm also glad Machine Head is back. He's my favorite villain of the entire series.
Wahhvacado
Wahhvacado - 3/1/2025, 8:48 PM
@SodaBurps - Aaron Paul did such a good job with the role! Machine Head is so awesome!
narrow290
narrow290 - 3/2/2025, 9:44 AM
@ItsNotForMeWahh - this has been the best season so far
McMurdo
McMurdo - 3/2/2025, 11:31 AM
@MuadDib - my guy ✊️
Malatrova15
Malatrova15 - 3/1/2025, 2:09 PM
Reléase the SETH ROLLINS CUT NOW
HashTagSwagg
HashTagSwagg - 3/1/2025, 2:13 PM
I feel there was at least some point in time where they were actually committed to giving us the real serpent society until they saw Doctor strange do that thing with the snakes in MOM and that made them all universally agree to never try that shit again.
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MarvelZombie616
MarvelZombie616 - 3/1/2025, 2:19 PM
The first act was crap.
I love the Serpent Society and those Cyber-freaks are not it.
Matador
Matador - 3/1/2025, 2:22 PM
This movie should have just been about the Serpent Society and there shenanigans.

Captain Friendship vs. The Serpent Society!

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Oberlin4Prez
Oberlin4Prez - 3/1/2025, 2:22 PM
By the time the serpent society does come about no one will care because Marvel will have ruined the idea twice already in people's minds.
harryba11zack
harryba11zack - 3/1/2025, 2:23 PM
if disney really bee all about that diversity and inclusion Bu11sh1t then they should hire real snakes
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DrDReturns
DrDReturns - 3/1/2025, 9:19 PM
@harryba11zack - "Little Baby Bird..."
MGSSnake1988
MGSSnake1988 - 3/1/2025, 2:32 PM
Just how exactly would Sam Wilson beat all of them with just his high-powered wings?

Dude didn't want a serum, but had superpoweres tech from a third world country.
McMurdo
McMurdo - 3/1/2025, 2:35 PM
@MGSSnake1988 - yeah he's anti serum but not anti getting a leg up. I don't see the point t of him not taking the serum. He isn't Iron Man. At some point it just feels like an ego thing. If you're gonna be Captain America then be Captain America.
HashTagSwagg
HashTagSwagg - 3/1/2025, 2:46 PM
@McMurdo - Captain Hand-me-down needs no serum but will take everything else.
1stDalek
1stDalek - 3/1/2025, 2:38 PM
at least all the actors got payed for their work, but man I was legit excited to see Rosa Salazar in a CBM role, she's so underrated.
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 3/1/2025, 2:52 PM
@1stDalek - same man

Atleast this allows her the opportunity to come back in the future…

Perhaps even as a more substantial & different character since I think they were originally just suppose to be in the opening?.
MakeAmericaGrea
MakeAmericaGrea - 3/1/2025, 3:35 PM
@1stDalek -

It happened with Alita.
1stDalek
1stDalek - 3/1/2025, 4:41 PM
@MakeAmericaGrea - Manga and comic-books aren't considered the same Stateside, see sister site Animemojo as evidence, even though it's generally the same literary format.
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 3/1/2025, 2:47 PM
This version of the Serpent Society seems like a street gang or something which would feel out of place imo in the Tom Clancy-esque political/conspiracy thriller we got…

The cybernetic enhancements though could have been cool but I can see how in execution , it may have been too heightened (and I say that in a movie that as a a Hulk and a mutated bad guy but those still felt natural imo)

Anyway , I’m ultimately fine with the mercenary group version we got in the final film…

Also it allows us to potentially see Giancarlo’s Sidewinder & co grow into something closer to this or the comics in more appearances hopefully as they evolve to handle threats.

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1stDalek
1stDalek - 3/1/2025, 5:04 PM
@TheVisionary25 - Would have fit in better as mutates like in the comics, since biologically enhanced humans is where the movie enhances reality, which is weird they changed them in the first place to the prosthetics & tech driven format.
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 3/1/2025, 5:25 PM
@1stDalek - I think the Serpent Society atleast in the mainline comics have always been a mixture of tech & biologically enhanced characters so they could have gone either direction I feel.

I think another reason is the movie starts off relatively grounded but progressively gets heightened so starting out heightened with this version of SS might not have worked
Superheromoviefan
Superheromoviefan - 3/1/2025, 3:17 PM
it was lame how little like the comics it was
SpideyQuad
SpideyQuad - 3/1/2025, 6:00 PM
OMG that is a terrible rendition of the Serpent Society. It looks like their costumes were made out of a good will dumpster
Matchesz
Matchesz - 3/1/2025, 6:15 PM
MCU is so hipster they’re too good to be comic accurate
DrDReturns
DrDReturns - 3/1/2025, 9:17 PM
@Matchesz - I was just about to say they aren't even intimidating.

Just a bunch of Gen Z punks.
movieguy18
movieguy18 - 3/1/2025, 8:42 PM
I wish they didn’t change it. I feel like it could’ve been a fun intro to the movie. Also, I loooove INVINCIBLE but can we stop the whining about it not being included on this site? Yes, there should be more articles about it but give it a break.
BlackStar25
BlackStar25 - 3/1/2025, 9:35 PM
Eh? Not what I imagined. Need more color
Floke
Floke - 3/2/2025, 4:19 AM
Not as lame as the Vespa Hipstergang from The Bath of Bobba, but... maybe Im getting old... they look more like annoying punk brats than villains.

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