“Captain America: Brave New World” concludes with Captain America saving the world once more, but his journey doesn’t end there. Ahead of the upcoming “Avengers: Doomsday,” he has one more mission to complete: reassembling the Avengers. Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson takes over as Steve Rogers and leads his first MCU movie, “Captain America: Brave New World,” where he faces off against the formidable Red Hulk (Harrison Ford).
However, the post-credits scene introduces a new threat: gamma-irradiated genius Samuel Sterns, also known as the Hulk villain Leader. Sterns’ nefarious plot involves providing heart pills to President Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross, which secretly contained gamma radiation. This transformation turned Ross into the Red Hulk when he lost his temper. Sterns’ revenge was for Ross’s role in his own transformation into a jolly green mad scientist with a hideously enlarged brain.
After a battle that destroys the White House, Cap defeats the Red Hulk/Ross and locks him up in prison. Ross also turns himself in and decides to serve jail time for his rampage. But who becomes the U.S. president while Ross is incarcerated? We don’t receive a direct answer to that question, but we do learn, through a brief cameo, that Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes, also known as the Winter Soldier, is embarking on a political career. He is revealed to be an incoming U.S. congressman. We will see Bucky next in this summer’s “Thunderbolts” movie, but it appears that he is a member of the new anti-hero/villain team rather than a politician in the film. In the post-credits scene, Captain America visits Sterns, who is incarcerated on the Raft. In an ominous speech, Sterns reveals that he has calculated the probabilities and that there are other worlds in the universe that Earth’s heroes will have to protect the planet from. This officially introduces Captain America to the multiverse, although MCU fans have already witnessed it come to life in “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” “What If…?,” and soon in “Fantastic Four: First Steps.” The scene appears to set up the next “Avengers” movies, “Doomsday” and “Secret Wars,” which are likely to bring together numerous characters from across the multiverse. We know that Robert Downey Jr. will reprise his role in these movies, but this time as the supervillain Dr. Doom rather than Iron Man in a reality-bending twist. This summer’s “Fantastic Four” will also introduce an alternate world where Mr. Fantastic, the Invisible Woman, the Human Torch, and the Thing serve as its primary superheroes. If these characters cross over into Cap’s world, will he be able to form an alliance with the new team to confront Dr. Doom? Hopefully, Captain America can reunite Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in time to face this ultimate threat to the multiverse.