Tim Blake Nelson first played The Leader in 2008's The Incredible Hulk, the second MCU movie after Iron Man was released earlier that same year.
Samuel Sterns' story ended with a hint that he was about to become The Leader but, over a decade and a half later, we still don't know what became of him. However, thanks to Captain America: Brave New World, all that changes next year.
"I deeply, deeply grieved over the prospect of not being able to come back into the MCU," Nelson told Variety of his absence in a recent interview. "All I wanted to do, as an actor, was to figure out what happens to this guy. 18 years later I got to do it and I wasn’t disappointed."
"It was a great challenge and I was guided beautifully by Julius Onah, who’s an indie director," he said of the next Captain America movie. "These are real directors who want to work with real actors and give them opportunities to play outlandish characters. Marvel supports that."
The actor went on to say that, despite endless talk of superhero fatigue, no one should "count Marvel out." Nelson added, "Marvel is an unheard-of phenomenon in movie history. Kevin Feige and his studio created dozens of connected movies that exist in one cinematic universe, to use their term. There’s no comparable achievement. So no – I don’t think it’s over."
He'd go on to say that Captain America is one of Marvel Studios' "most grounded" franchises, comparing it to Logan (an interesting remark seeing as Brave New World features a Red Hulk). "This is going to be a wonderful movie," Nelson added.
Of course, one of Marvel Studios' biggest detractors in recent years has been Martin Scorsese. Nelson brought the filmmaker up while praising the MCU, making it clear he fully disagrees with the idea of superhero movies not being "cinema."
"I couldn’t respect Martin Scorsese more, he’s his own genre, but I disagree with him when he derides Marvel. I come down on the side of Marvel movies absolutely being cinema. They return us to being kids again. When they are really good, and they often are, you lose yourself in them."
"Are they profound? Are they ‘Goodfellas’ and ‘Miller’s Crossing,’ are they ‘Bicycle Thieves,’ ‘Schindler’s List’ or Kieślowski? No, but they aren’t aspiring to be. They are entertainment and there’s artistry involved in them. That’s my Marvel speech."
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 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.
Captain America: Brave New World opens in U.S. theaters on February 14, 2025.