When Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) handed his shield over to Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) in “Avengers: Endgame,” it signaled a major, promising shift in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s status quo. The spirit of Captain America would now live on in another character, and we’d just have to wait and see how well Sam Wilson could handle a lead role.
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Although Mackie technically made his debut as Captain America in the 2021 Disney+ TV show “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” the 2025 film “Captain America: Brave New World” is widely regarded as his first proper attempt to fill Rogers’ shoes. The movie’s reviews were unfortunately mixed, with /Film’s Jeremy Mathai describing “Brave New World” as a “safe, forgettable rehash.” General audiences didn’t seem to love it either; the film was a clear-cut disappointment at the box office, one that spells a lot of doubt over whether the MCU machine can even be profitable going forward.
The good news is that Evans himself seemed to appreciate the film. As Mackie explained in an interview with E! News, Evans texted him after watching the movie with a positive (if somewhat formal review). “I haven’t talked to him, I just got a text from him saying ‘good job’ and he loved the movie,” Mackie explained. “I haven’t talked to him because we both been running around. He’s in the middle of Europe somewhere working,” he added.
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Brave New World has its flaws, but Mackie isn’t one of them
The other big review Mackie received came from his kids, and that one was a little less promising. “They loved the movie, they loved me in the movie. But they said the best thing about it was the chicken fingers at the afterparty,” the actor admitted.
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As expected, some Marvel fans who were disappointed by “Brave New World” have also been skeptical that Evans actually thought the movie was good. The apparent shortness of the text, coupled with the fact that Evans only had a simple “good job” to offer, implies to some folks that he was merely being polite. As one individual wrote in the r/MarvelStudios subreddit, “Well come on what do you expect them to say, ‘Chris texted me, said the movie was s**t’?” It’s unlikely Evans would ever say something so blunt and even more unlikely that Mackie would talk about it publicly if he did.
But while viewers may make fun of “Brave New World” for not quite being on the same level as the previous three “Captain America” films, they’ll generally concede that Mackie himself was fine in the eponymous role. The movie’s problems stem from its big twist being spoiled by the marketing (that and some major changes being made to the film and its social commentary by what seems like a string of reshoots and rewrites). As a whole, “Brave New World” has many of the same issues as other projects the MCU has churned out in its post-“Endgame” malaise. Frankly, it doesn’t seem like there was anything Mackie himself could’ve done to fix that.
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“Captain America: Brave New World” is now available to rent or buy on PVOD.
