Back when Captain America: Brave New World (then known as New World Order) was filming, the very first set photos that found their way online featured members of the Serpent Society, with WWE Superstar Seth Rollins and Alita: Battle Angel star Rosa Salazar spotted shooting scenes in-costume as their respective characters (most likely King Cobra and Diamondback, but this has yet to be confirmed).
As we know, some significant changes were made during reshoots, and this supervillain team was reimagined as a terrorist organization known as SERPENT. Giancarlo Esposito was brought in as Sidewinder, and we also saw Sam Wilson throw down with Copperhead (Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson).
While speaking to the Phase Hero podcast, director Julius Onah explained why he felt it was necessary to go in a different direction with the Serpent Society, while also debunking the rumor that Rollins was originally cast as Copperhead.
“He was not the guy in the church. Obviously, there’s a rogues gallery with Serpent Society and we were looking at what is the version of Serpent Society that feels the most grounded within the tone and the style and the texture of this film. With Giancarlo, Sidewinder just felt great as a leader of Serpent Society, to introduce them for the first time, but Seth was not Copperhead, no.”
Though Brave New World stays (relatively) grounded right up until President Ross Hulks-out, it's difficult to imagine a team of enhanced, snake-themed individuals sticking out too much in the movie that's currently playing in theaters.
Here's what Rollins had to say about his role being cut in a 2024 interview.
"I Wish it the best, but I am not a part of that film. [What happened?] Well, does my NDA still apply if I’m not in the film anymore? Truth be told, any answer I gave would only be my opinion on it. The script went through a lot of rewrites and reshoots so what I was there to do, essentially my role either got repurposed or completely erased.”
“So I did do a bit of an audition to possibly pop into another role, I believe, or the repurposing of my role, i’m not sure exactly on what it was, but they ended up going in a different direction with it,” he added. “And yeah my understanding was there were just a lot of rewrites and a lot of reshoots, and they know they’ve got a finished product that they’re hopefully happy with, and hopefully it’s successful, but it will be sans Seth Rollins.”
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After meeting with newly elected U.S. President Thaddeus Ross, played by Harrison Ford in his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut, Sam 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.
Captain America: Brave New World also stars Danny Ramirez, Shira Haas, Xosha Roquemore, Carl Lumbly, with Giancarlo Esposito, Liv Tyler, Tim Blake Nelson, and Harrison Ford. The film is directed by Julius Onah and produced by Kevin Feige and Nate Moore. Louis D’Esposito and Charles Newirth serve as executive producers.
Marvel Studios’ Captain America: Brave New World opens in U.S. theaters on February 14, 2025.