Captain America: Brave New World underwent significant changes during reshoots, with the Serpent Society left on the cutting room floor and The Leader's appearance completely overhauled after all of Tim Blake Nelson's scenes were reshot.
The idea was to make Samuel Sterns less of a mastermind and more of a sympathetic figure. However, in doing so, his comic-accurate head was replaced with a zombified, brain-shaped...something (which most fans agreed was a total misfire).
Thanks to The Artbook Collector, we have a first look at the many alternate designs considered by Marvel Studios for Captain America: Brave New World. These were first revealed in the newly released "Art of" book for the movie.
Almost all of the designs are better than what ended up in the movie, with The Leader given a comic-inspired costume to go with his enlarged head. Some versions are really out there, though, including one that sees the villain's head break apart to unleash a maw not dissimilar to a Xenomorph's inner mouth.
The site also shared some comments from concept artist Ian Joyner, explaining what the thinking was behind that take:
"My favorite stuff is creature work. One of my favorite movies is The Thing. So whenever I get to play in that world, I have a lot of fun. We don’t necessarily want to lean into the full-on body horror, but I was delighted with the more recent comic-book interpretation of the Leader in the Immortal Hulk run – where he literally absorbs people’s brains, intelligence, and souls and everything. My idea was, like, could we actually just do something that crazy? I was considering that The Leader might be able to control minds with his brain and even sucking the brains out of other people."
Captain America: Brave New World clearly could and should have been so much better, and it's a great shame that the 15-year wait for Sterns' return was such a let-down following his introduction in The Incredible Hulk.
You can see more crazy alternate designs for The Leader by visiting The Artbook Collector website.
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 streaming on Disney+.