This article contains spoilers for Captain America: Brave New World.
Captain America: Brave New World
Captain America: Brave New World has had a tough time. Following a rocky journey filled with reshoots and controversies, it managed to rake in over $300 million at the global box office. However, critics gave it a rotten score.
Whatever one’s takeaway from Captain America: Brave New World, the film carries a burden different from previous Captain America outings. Brave New World features the first Black Captain America headlining a Marvel film. It shouldn’t be a big deal in 2025, yet here we are.
In Captain America: Brave New World, Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) is well-settled in his role. He’s got a trusty sidekick in Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez), who has taken on Sam’s former moniker of the Falcon. He’s even gained the confidence of crusty old Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (Harrison Ford), now the president of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s version of the US, despite the latter having thrown Sam and several Avengers in prison. Ross also hunted Sam for many years. Things have changed. But, have they really?
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When Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) handed Sam his vibranium shield, Sam’s immediate reaction was that the shield felt like it belonged to someone else. Steve knew it didn’t, though. Sam has the essential ingredient of what makes Captain America a hero: he is a good man.
Journey to Self-Love
While Sam may be the new star-spangled man, he’s still trying to accept and be accepted as a superhero. These are tense times, especially in the United States of America. People who don’t fall into the reigning political party’s narrow notion of the “default” identity are deemed disposable.
For time immemorial, during the most difficult times, we have turned to art for answers or, if nothing else, catharsis. That’s where Captain America: Brave New World steps up. The film’s core theme is essentially a journey of acceptance. Not only for Sam Wilson but for all the naysayers who can’t accept that superheroes can (and have always been) from across the spectrum of identity.
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Sam’s journey to self-love begins positively before the film puts him through the wringer. We start the film on a high — Sam successfully pulls off a mission and defeats a guy much bigger than him, all without any supersoldier serum.
To top it all off, Sam, Joaquin and Sam’s friend, the forgotten Captain America Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly), are invited to the White House for a party. Sam learns Ross is looking to restart the Avengers, this time with Sam in charge. What could go wrong? Well, everything. You can only find out who’s really on your side during the tough times. The moment Ross is threatened, he turns on Sam. He goes as far as to dismiss Sam’s credibility by saying, “You’re not Steve Rogers.”
The New Star-Spangled Man
This is the core theme of Captain America: Brave New World: Sam isn’t Steve Rogers. Nothing Sam does, be it carry Steve’s shield, wear the same suit or take the supersoldier serum, will make Sam into Steve Rogers. Because in the eyes of the MCU universe and especially in the real world, Sam is not a white man. Hence, he has to doubly/triply/quadruply prove himself to be accepted as Captain America.
The meta-commentary shouldn’t be lost on us here. At a time when DEI (disability, equity and inclusion) has become more potent than a swear word in the eyes of the most powerful men on the planet, being Black and commanding any influence is seen as an affront to a small but powerful minority. This is the uphill battle that Sam personifies in the film.
He’s Already a Hero
But here’s the clincher: Why should Sam, or anyone, want to be Steve Rogers? Sam is his own man and should be accepted as such. He wasn’t just handed a shield and automatically turned into a superhero. He was already a hero — when he was fighting for his country, when he was counseling combat veterans and when he was Falcon. As Captain America, he has a new look and more responsibilities, but he’s still the same generous hero as before.
Arguably, Sam’s somewhat better at the job than Steve was. From the start of Captain America: Brave New World, Sam’s skills go far beyond throwing around a shield. He’s conversant in several different languages, is diplomatic, a great mentor to Joaquin and tries to work within the system.
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Sam is doing the same job as Steve, sans super-serum. He has to be so much more accomplished, and even then, the system refuses to accept him. The goal posts for Sam to be accepted will always keep moving. If this sounds familiar, it’s because many people from marginalized communities, especially the Black community, face this obstacle in real life.
“That’s Why It’s Yours”
Despite the Steve Rogers-sized albatross around Sam’s neck, Sam’s confidence in his beliefs doesn’t waver. He knows his friend Isaiah didn’t voluntarily attempt to assassinate the president. Sam also knows that whatever Ross’s demons are, he’s still a father who wants to be a good person for his daughter and a former general who wants peace. Both times, Sam is right.
But Sam’s belief in himself is always teetering on the edge of a precipice. We saw this in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. At the start of the show, Sam refuses to take on the mantle of Captain America because of all these expectations. Then, he sees it given to a mediocre white man, John Walker (Wyatt Russell), who turns out to be an unhinged killer. When the stakes are high, Sam puts his needs on the back burner to carry the shield, this time for good.
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For the majority of Captain America: Brave New World, Sam seems sure of his actions. However, what he’s doing is bottling up the pressure of having to be so much better at everything just to be Captain America. The dam finally breaks at the end of the film’s second act. Sam’s self-confidence plummets during the battle near Celestial Island when Joaquin misjudges a missile’s speed and is severely injured. Joaquin, being on death’s door, cracks open all of Sam’s insecurities.
His Insecurities
He second-guesses every decision, from Steve choosing him to take the shield to refusing the super-serum. While reaffirming words from his friend Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) egg Sam on to continue the fight, it’s obvious Sam’s faith in himself is shaken. Even during the climactic battle, Sam is incensed with himself for battling a Hulk without any enhancements.
Why does Sam have this change of heart? Because Sam is under the false impression that all the heroes who came before him, especially Steve, were flawless. They never made the wrong decision, never tasted defeat and never lost someone.
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Of course, Sam’s wrong. Bucky reminds him of that. After all, Bucky is living proof Steve had lost someone (an oxymoron, but this is a comic book property, so we roll with it) and made many mistakes to get him back. How easily has Sam forgiven Steve for the events of Captain America: Civil War, which ended with Sam in an underwater prison and then years in hiding, but he won’t forgive himself for Joaquin being hurt.
Because Sam can’t rest on his laurels as Steve could and did many times.
Being On Point
Joaquin thankfully survives, and he’s even more distraught than Sam about his apparent failure. In the film’s final scene, Joaquin’s self-condemnation mirrors Sam’s. Joaquin can’t believe how Sam is always “on point” while he made a near-fatal mistake.
The pressure and responsibilities Sam carries are because he got a “seat at the table” for which his ancestors fought hard. This is why Sam has to always be “on point.” Unlike his white counterparts, Sam doesn’t get to fail up, if he gets to fail at all. Every one of us has felt the pressure of not wanting to fail at some point in our lives. But when someone is from a marginalized community, and especially from the Black community, failing isn’t considered an individual act. It somehow reflects on the entire community’s abilities.
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That’s an unfair assessment. Yet, Captain America: Brave New World, which has its flaws and issues, is immediately considered a failure and accused of bringing forth the death of the MCU. However, it’s objectively not a complete disaster like some others in the franchise (looking at you, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania). Art, meet life.
Being Captain America is more than just being a hero. Steve Rogers was a symbol who, in Bucky’s words, people could “believe in.” Sam, on the other hand, is a person people can “aspire to be” because Sam is as human as any of us. While a mistake, especially one where Joaquin almost died, is a tough pill to swallow, being Captain America has always been about believing in oneself.
In Defiance
As a woman in the army in the 1940s, Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) was often dismissed, but she defiantly proclaimed she knew her value. As both Agent Carter and Captain Carter, she doesn’t need others’ approval to accept how good she is at her jobs.
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Irrespective of the size of his enemy, Steve Rogers’ valiant refrain that he “can do this all day” was a motto he lived by. By the end of Captain America: Brave New World, Sam Wilson also learns to accept that he doesn’t have to be perfect to be a hero. In the eyes of people like his sidekick Joaquin Torres, he is already perfect.
This is an essential message for everyone to hear, especially because it comes from Sam, who represents marginalized communities that are, unfortunately, still not accepted by some fans and viewers. Plus, Sam’s journey to loving himself is a pointed meta-commentary about how art created by marginalized communities is always held to impossible standards.
A Continuation of the Hero’s Journey
Sam Wilson’s journey to self-love in Captain America: Brave New World is a continuation of the hero’s journey in previous Captain America properties in the MCU. However, it’s especially poignant in today’s political atmosphere, where people’s rights are being taken away. A film can only do so much. At the very least, though, it can give us hope when it ends on the smiling faces of a Black superhero and his Latino sidekick, with Kendrick Lamar loudly proclaiming, “I love myself.”
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