Kevin Feige Believes CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD Underperformed Because It Didn't Feature Chris Evans

Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige has reflected on Captain America: Brave New World's negative reviews and poor box office performance, sharing his belief that the movie struggled without Chris Evans.

News

By JoshWilding - Jul 22, 2025 06:07 AM EST

Filed Under: Captain America: Brave New World

Source: Deadline

Captain America: Brave New World opened earlier this year to 46% on Rotten Tomatoes and ended its run at the global box office with a disappointing $415 million.

The movie got caught up in 2023's Hollywood strikes, but was also heavily reshot. All of The Leader's scenes were scrapped, the final battle removed Isaiah Bradley and Sabra, and Giancarlo Esposito's Sidewinder replaced the Serpent Society.

Marvel Studios clearly attempted to fix a movie that wasn't working, but the result was one of the studio's biggest letdowns. Where did it all go wrong for Captain America: Brave New World? Well, according to Kevin Feige, the movie didn't work because it "was the first without Chris Evans."

Anthony Mackie led the cast as Sam Wilson, the MCU's new Captain America. Avengers: Endgame ended with Steve Rogers presenting the former Falcon with the shield, but that was six years ago, and Marvel Studios decided to explore his transformation into the new Captain America in Disney+'s The Falcon and The Winter Soldier.

With the benefit of hindsight, it would have been a wise move for a new Captain America movie to be released in 2021, chronicling Sam's evolution into the star-spangled superhero. Marvel Studios was under a mandate to create new streaming content, though, so it is what it is.

As we reported yesterday, Feige has also weighed in on why Thunderbolts* (which received positive reviews) similarly underperformed. "Thunderbolts* was a very good movie, but nobody knew that title, and many of those characters were from shows," the Marvel Studios President explained. "There was that residual effect of [audiences going], 'I guess I had to have seen these other shows to understand who this is?'"

Moving forward, Marvel Studios will release one TV series per year, and it won't be so closely connected to what happens in theaters. While the shows will be there for fans and non-fans alike to enjoy, it seems the goal is to make it so that the MCU no longer feels like homework.

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+.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD BTS Photo Reveals First Look At Isaiah Bradley's Cut Patriot Costume

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99 Comments

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SteviesRightFoo - 7/22/2025, 6:13 AM

Who would've thought that the vast majority of people don't like severely discounted versions of legacy characters

CaptainFlapjaks - 7/22/2025, 9:46 AM

@SteviesRightFoo - do you think cap 4 would have done well if they really did decide to pass the cap torch (ha chris evans joke) onto Sebastian stan's bucky? They teased it in all 3 cap films and it never happened. I remember each time they teased it, it got cheers.

SteviesRightFoo - 7/22/2025, 10:16 AM

@CaptainFlapjaks - 100% although id still just prefer the real captain America

Bucky74 - 7/22/2025, 10:26 AM

@SteviesRightFoo - Steve Rodgers IS the only Captain America. You can try and replace Bruce Wayne with Dick but audiences will never accept it for more than one film. There is a reason these characters are so popular and a copy and paste will always be rejected. Fans want to see Steve and Tony interact with the Fantastic Four, X Men, etc. we barely have seen Steve and Spidey together. We want the OG’s!

SteviesRightFoo - 7/22/2025, 10:54 AM

@Bucky74 - that's what im saying man. Just recast steve Rogers, Tony stark , thor etc

ImNotaBot - 7/22/2025, 10:57 AM

@SteviesRightFoo - Also the movie is bad, the script is bad, they made terrible choices with the reshoots, the movie is a discount version of CA:TWS and Mackie is not a good lead. I really like him as Falcon but hes not a good lead at all.

For me this new Cap only works with Bucky as a buddy cop movie like Lethal Weapon.

CaptainFlapjaks - 7/22/2025, 11:01 AM

@SteviesRightFoo - not against their choice for sam, but i felt there was always a more compelling tale with bucky cap. Having to navigate being a former hydra/russian superspy while representing america. How would the public deal with that news? Also him having to live up to his best friends legacy. And its a story of redemption

Bucky74 - 7/22/2025, 11:04 AM

@SteviesRightFoo - absolutely. And when they do, maybe film a montage sequence with those actors and their MCU history (Tony in the cave making his suit, Cap fighting Red Skull etc) to ingratiate fans with those characters and make them feel as “lived in” as Chris and RDJ’s characters did. But bring them back! It’s been long enough and characters come back in the comics all the time. I think Wong is great, but I want to see Steve fighting and teaming with Scott Summers and Storm not Mackie, and most fans feel the same

Baf - 7/22/2025, 11:06 AM

@SteviesRightFoo - I never understood the re-cast issue. Comic books change artists all the time.

Bucky74 - 7/22/2025, 11:34 AM

@CaptainFlapjaks - That would have been cool for one film (especially since him and Steve share close to the same history), but ultimately, Steve must come back. Steve will always be Captain America

Canyoublush - 7/22/2025, 6:20 AM

No shit Sherlock. I’m glad Kevin realised the error of his ways. If he really wanted the movie to succeed financially a Chris Evans cameo would have added another 100-150 million to its box office tally. Not that it would have made a difference to the film but it certainly would have drawn more attention to it nonetheless.

Bucky74 - 7/22/2025, 10:29 AM

@Canyoublush - DEI demands that Disney doubles down, so I propose that they bring Steve back and have them both be Cap. The MCU is big enough for two Captain America’s

Martianhunter - 7/22/2025, 6:21 AM

So editing that movie to death, 3 times reshoot, bs story wasn't the fault but not featuring Steve Rogers was. Ok feige whatever you say.

KennKathleen - 7/22/2025, 6:26 AM

@Martianhunter -

rockinsokinrobo - 7/22/2025, 6:32 AM

@Martianhunter - exactly where the comic book writers of year past to help make a comic book a comic book movie. Fiege clearly has no vision. Mcu had a blade concept movie but coogler made a vampire movie with the clothes off the blade movie.

Urubrodi - 7/22/2025, 7:38 AM

@Martianhunter - Well a lot of that was necessary cause they couldn't figure out how to make Captain America movie work without Captain America.

Martianhunter - 7/22/2025, 7:52 AM

@KennKathleen - I really doubt that. We had proper handover from Rogers to falcon in Endgame so audience were already aware. It was script problem through and through, they removed whole plot, 3-4 times reshoot, editing till before release and final "product" clearly shows that.

Martianhunter - 7/22/2025, 7:56 AM

@rockinsokinrobo - I won't go that harsh on kevin "will show butt naked men, head to toe burka clad women" feige but I agree they do need a different person in-charge.

Also this might be more of Disney problem.

Martianhunter - 7/22/2025, 8:34 AM

@Urubrodi - In that case, we never actually saw real captain America. I'm sure a man from 1930-40 would behave completely different in morden world than what was depicted on screen by Marvel.

ShimmyShimmyYA - 7/22/2025, 8:56 AM

@Martianhunter - they micromanaged the hell out of the movie and probably made it worse

This is the type of thing people killed DC for with Snyder even if I don’t like his movies we gotta be consistent , Sony too.

Martianhunter - 7/22/2025, 9:21 AM

@ShimmyShimmyYA - Yes. Marvel definately need better writer atleast. What else is wrong there? we probably won't know for next 30-40 years.

ShimmyShimmyYA - 7/22/2025, 9:45 AM

@Martianhunter - trying too hard to overcorrect their plans from 2020. But instead of leveling out it’s like a tailspin made worse

LenSpiderman - 7/22/2025, 9:46 AM

@KennKathleen - this. Sorry, but mackie is great as Falcon being Falcon doing Falcon stuff. The Falcon we’ve grown to like in these movies doesn’t work in the role of cap as we’ve grown to know him in these movies. But the movie itself was a boring mess.

Bucky74 - 7/22/2025, 11:40 AM

@Martianhunter - Yes and No. look at WW 2 vets. They all seem to share the same patriotic values and pride in our nation. Granted it was a different time and a different mindset but most supported their fellow men and women no matter the color of their skin or gender. Even when they interview African American vets, most only see the colors of our flag and their is a beautiful purity in that that has been lost thanks to victim hood politics. I think Steve as portrayed in the films is a decent example of most men of the time.

ObserverIO - 7/22/2025, 12:12 PM

@Martianhunter - The did the same thing to a lot of successful movies too. You're a crtical thinker when it comes to the art of movies so you may not even be able to compute what I'm about to tell you, but Quality ain't that important when it comes to a movie's box office success.

Sinner - 7/22/2025, 6:25 AM

That and the fact it wasn’t very good. You don’t present a new Cap in a mid af movie and expect people to embrace it. It’s a very hard rewatch.

MarvelZombie616 - 7/22/2025, 7:27 AM

@Sinner - Seen it twice in theaters, gave it 4.5/10 both times.

rockinsokinrobo - 7/22/2025, 6:27 AM

Fiege full of it. The story was psss poor support telling. Fiege uses the name of story line but hasn’t developed the wide variety of character of marvel. A list stars why? I don’t need Oscar Isaac as Marc just give me regular actor who can play the severity of mental health not a think piece Where the story. Folk did not know crap about guardians but had fun with. Thunderbolts had suicide squad issues. Humans fighting a Superman powered villain. Could have fought anyone . Marvel hasn’t built up heroes or villains.

Fiege showing he needed a counsel to help direct this ship.

Lokiwasright - 7/22/2025, 6:55 AM

@rockinsokinrobo - mcu has had a Villian problem since iron man 2.

Only Loki and Thanos has been successful vills

JayTweIve - 7/22/2025, 7:14 AM

@rockinsokinrobo - It failed because it released during a time where the MCU as a connected universe has lots its momentum and hype level so most people don't feel they *need* to see every single movie like they did for years, which is why average movies featuring irrelevant characters like Ant-Man ended up making more money than a Captain America movie featuring a Hulk.

This exact same movie could've released in 2015 and it would've doubled its box-office.

AC1 - 7/22/2025, 6:28 AM

Having finally watched the movie, I think the real reason is that the script was underdeveloped and the movie ended up feeling very generic and a bit of a mess.

TheVisionary25 - 7/22/2025, 7:00 AM

@AC1 - can definitely understand the generic feel since it very much feels not only derivative at times of other political/conspiracy thrillers but also previous Cap films like TWS and CW aswell…

It’s like they were trying to recreate those moments or feel at times but to a lesser degree.

Plus i also felt like it was more Ross’s story at times then Sam’s and while Ford did a great job , we just haven’t had much time with that character to feel much sympathy for him.

AC1 - 7/22/2025, 11:23 AM

@TheVisionary25 - Yeah I think you've hit the nail on the head there. Honestly, watching the film, even though I didn't hate it by any stretch I couldn't help just feeling sorry for Sam Wilson/Anthony Mackie knowing the odds were already stacked against both the character and the actor in inheriting the franchise and then seeing exactly how much the movie just failed to live up to its predecessors in almost every conceivable way.

It almost felt like the movie was specifically written primarily to wrap up a bunch of loose ends and lingering threads and introduce stuff fans have been wondering about for a while rather than telling its own story:
- "Wondering what happened to that guy from The Incredible Hulk who was meant to become The Leader?" Here he is!
- "Wondering what happened to that dead Celestial that was left in the ocean in Eternals?" Here it is!
- "Seen those fan theories online that the Celestial from Eternals would become the source of Adamantium in the MCU?" So did we!
- "You know how Ross becomes Rulk in the comics?" Let's throw that in too!
- "Hey, remember how great Winter Soldier was back in 2014?" Let's do the same thing with Isaiah for a scene!
- "Still wondering if this is an MCU movie?" No worries, here are a bunch of references to Black Panther, Black Widow, a Bucky cameo, a subplot about bringing back The Avengers, a Betty Ross cameo, and some Hulk references!

And like, none of those things would be inherently bad in and of themselves if they worked organically in the context of a better story, but it all just felt choppy and unfinished. As boring as FATWS was at times, at least it had a pretty strong narrative.

TheVisionary25 - 7/22/2025, 11:27 AM

@AC1 - yeah , I can see that to an extent.

It’s odd to compare a tv show to a film but I did think FaTWS was definitely better.

KennKathleen - 7/22/2025, 6:30 AM

Feige is just doing a [frick] Johnathan Majors/ I told you so tour.

Add Captain America to a Captain America movie????

Hey, hey, hey- How about also placing Incredible HULK villains- IN AN INCREDIBLE HULK MOVIE!!!

TheShape9859 - 7/22/2025, 6:33 AM

Bring Chris Evans back then

Lokiwasright - 7/22/2025, 6:54 AM

@TheShape9859 -

RolandD - 7/22/2025, 7:16 AM

@TheShape9859 - You do know that he chose to leave, right?

MarvelZombie616 - 7/22/2025, 7:28 AM

@RolandD - Bullshit.

RolandD - 7/22/2025, 7:40 AM

@MarvelZombie616 - Oh, we’re going with alternative facts. He had been talking about leaving the MCU for years, but okay.

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Kevin Feige Believes CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD Underperformed Because It Didn't Feature Chris Evans

Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige has reflected on Captain America: Brave New World's negative reviews and poor box office performance, sharing his belief that the movie struggled without Chris Evans.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD BTS Photo Reveals First Look At Isaiah Bradley's Cut Patriot Costume

CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD Concept Art Gives Red Hulk His Mustache And Reveals The Cut Serpent Society

DISCLAIMER: As a user generated site and platform, ComicBookMovie.com is protected under the DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act) and "Safe Harbor" provisions.