I was sorta sad by all the initial negative reactions Captain America: Brave New World was getting. As the week wore on, however, it seemed to be that the audience was coming around to it. As I said last week, I saw it Thursday night, and I didn’t go in expecting much. When the film started, with only 5 people in the 10 PM showing, I thought Marvel was on their way to their next bomb. Leaving the theater, though, I had a different opinion of the whole thing. I really enjoyed the film, and it had some really great performances by a lot of the cast.
So, if you’re unfamiliar, Brave New World is the fourth Captain America film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, yet the first with Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson as the titular character. Even though it’s hinted at near the end of Avengers: Endgame, the real transformation takes place in the The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Disney+ series. Now, I discussed this a few weeks back, when talking about the Disney+ The Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, but this film commits the same cardinal sin, in that none of the events of that miniseries are summarized in the film. So, not only is that series expected viewing, but also required. If you skipped that show, there are five things that won’t make sense in this movie:
- What’s the deal with Cap’s wings? You’ll notice these aren’t the same wings Sam had when he was Falcon, as those were destroyed during the series. As a “thank you” for helping out the Wakandans, they gift him a new pair of wings, which you see here. Also, they are made of Vibranium, so they have the same feature as Black Panther’s suit, where they absorb energy that eventually has to be discharged. So, the audience is expected to remember the explanation of how that all works, from a movie from 7 years ago. Oh, and Joaquin does mention the origin of the wings to a colleague, but then plays it off as a joke?
- Who the Hell is Joaquin? Another character from the The Falcon and the Winter Soldier series, Joaquin was basically a military attaché assigned to Sam, as he goes after a terrorist group. He proves to be invaluable, yet this movie allows his personality to shine more, as he wasn’t as fun-loving in the show.
- Why are Sam and Bucky cool now? In the films, those two were never close, as there seemed to be jealousy that they both shared the same “role” in Steve’s life at different times. Sam was the new girlfriend, while Bucky was back to reclaim what was his. Over the course of the show, however, both evolved as characters, with Bucky coming to understand why Steve chose Sam to take his place, while beginning to find a place of his own in the world. He’s centered from his time in Wakanda, and he takes a liking to Sam’s sister. He emerges from that show as a human being, and not as just a reformed killing machine. So, they go through a lot together, and come out stronger from it.
- Who is Isaiah Bradley? So, in the comics, he’s the original Captain America. See, the US Government wasn’t about to experiment on white men, so they chose men like Bradley. Then, he was locked up for 30 years to keep him quiet. Sam discovers his existence in the Falcon series, and he wants to make sure the world knows this hidden part of history. So, Sam bears the weight of living up to the examples set by both Steve and Isaiah, and he just wants to ensure the country continues to do right by Isaiah, as he’d given up so much to protect it.
- Why does Sam keep saying he should have taken the serum? Well, they discover there’s still some Super Soldier Serum out there, and it’s trying to be acquired by a shadowy figure called The Power Broker. The US Government has named John Walker as the new, government-sanctioned Captain America, and he ends up taking the serum in a roundabout way. And it makes him crazy. That’s how he falls from grace, to end up where he is in Thunderbolts*. Meanwhile, Sam could have taken it, but declined. Oh, and The Power Broker? It’s Sharon Carter, operating out of Madripoor – the seedy island nation known only for crime in the comics. Yeah, everyone pretty much hated that development…
So, I think you’re caught up. Could you have enjoyed the film without knowing all that? Probably, but it certainly clarifies a few things. Oh, and Celestial Island is the result of the finale of Eternals, which pretty much everyone skipped.
I see a lot of folks upset about the stance that Sam took in the whole kerfuffle, feeling it was in opposition to his “Blackness”. One reviewer said Sam’s portrayal was designed to be inoffensive to white people. While the racial aspects can’t be ignored, I also feel like we’re asking things of Sam that we never expected of Steve. And I’m also not sure what they expected him to do. He saw himself as something of a Great Unifier, and he was making moves to do that – Unify a divided nation. I’m reminded of when Obama took office, and some black folks were upset because he wasn’t blackity black. Like, they wanted him to mail out reparations checks, and form an Anti Klan Task Force or something. They expected The Black President, when what they got was The President. It’s an office where you have to be even-keeled, as much of it is about optics. So, Captain America knows he’s black, but he’s still gonna make some decisions that some black people won’t like. You can’t please everybody…
In all, I thought it was a strong movie. It wasn’t perfect. I could have done without the character of Ruth “Not Sabra” Bat-Seraph. We’re supposed to care that she’s a former Widow, yet she looks like a child wearing her mom’s pantsuit. I’d hope we never see her again, but I could totally see her taking on a Henry Peter Gyrich-like role (he was the government liaison to the Avengers in the 80s comics) with the next incarnation of Avengers. I also felt the Red Hulk CGI wasn’t great, nor was “The Leader” much of a compelling villain. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop with Ross, but it seems like he really did want to change, but something got lost in the recasting. I never really accepted him as “Ross”, as I went through all that other stuff with William Hurt and NOT Harrison Ford. Plus, did Liv Tyler make SAG minimums here, or did she just sell her likeness rights? Our main exposure is via photographs, and when we do see her, it looks like computer shenanigans.
In all, I went into the film, having told everyone I knew that “Anthony Mackie isn’t a leading man”. I left that theater, however, with my mind changed. He did a great job as a character, as a figurehead, and as a role model. We’re never going to get back to the Avengers: Endgame peak, so we should just stop expecting that. The same thing happened with the comics. Honestly, this is a problem with IP-mining in general. When we stop telling finite stories, then it becomes a constant cycle of “edging” with no climax. For those of us who came from the comics world, none of this is a surprise. It’s just jarring to see that mentality has been adopted by pretty much ALL media now. Anyway, go see Captain America: Brave New World, and tell ’em Will sent ya. They’ll probably look at you funny, seeing as how I’m nobody, but maybe an angel will get its wings or something.
The big event of the weekend, however, was probably SNL50: The Anniversary Special. Airing Sunday night (for some reason), the 3-hour special featured special guests and cast members from various points in the show’s 50-year history. I enjoyed it. I mean, I’ve been watching SNL for over 35 of those years (I never had a bedtime as a kid…), so it’s certainly been an important part of my life. I’ve got to say, though, overall I’m disappointed.
The special itself was fine. Going into it, I don’t think I realized they’d be doing live sketches. I vaguely remember the show’s 40th anniversary, which also had a primetime special. I know a ton of alums showed up for it, but couldn’t remember how that time was spent. I hadn’t even planned to watch this one live, as 3 hours felt like such an investment, and I had set the DVR instead (Yeah, it was gonna be on Peacock, but I didn’t want to give NBC the chance to edit out anything they didn’t want to “live forever” on the streaming version). Still, I ended up turning it on, and imagine my surprise when I saw present-day Will Ferrell as Robert Goulet. And I still didn’t immediately realize it was a live sketch until I noticed that Kim Kardashian and ScarJo were in the Lawrence Welk sketch. Yeah, Scarlett’s married to Colin Jost, but you wouldn’t have two non-musical celebs in the same sketch on a normal episode. It wasn’t until I noticed that it was clearly present-day Ana Gasteyer there that I was like “Oh, this is NOW!”
Anyway, why was I disappointed? Well, if you started watching the show at the point of the ’94 cast overhaul (which gave us Will Ferrell, Cheri Oteri, Molly Shannon, etc), you probably thought the special was excellent. However, if you’ve watched longer than that, you probably felt – like me – that the special did a poor job of celebrating ALL 50 years of the institution. It felt more like a 30th anniversary, given all of the “recency” of everyone in the spotlight. There were a lot of special guests who I didn’t really feel earned their spot. Sure, you could say they needed Sabrina Carpenter there for the Domingo sketch, but did they? Like, she wasn’t even born at the time of the cast overhaul I mentioned. Entertainment media has made a lot of mention as to how Marcello Hernandez is the first Gen Z cast member, which has been good and bad. At the end of the day, Gen Z ain’t watching SNL, so I hate to see the show go out of its way to court an audience that doesn’t exist. Sure, those kids might even like Domingo, but they ain’t watching that sketch live, but rather on TikTok the next day.
They tried to do some cross-generational stuff, like Pete Davidson doing his aloof guy character with original cast member Laraine Newman, but it didn’t work for me – mainly because I felt the focus was on Pete. Let’s be honest here: To many, Laraine Newman’s legacy is gonna be that she gave birth to the star of Hacks. If they wanted to do that sketch, there were better people to play off of Pete. Julia Sweeney is still around. Victoria Jackson was THERE. Yeah, Newman is an “OG”, but…
And let’s talk about Jackson. The fact that the show sort of ignored the “bad boy” era bothered me. There are a bunch of folks from that era that are still with us, and still trying to work. But they’re…difficult and/or Republicans now. Dennis Miller, Rob Schneider, Victoria Jackson – all nutjobs, but were big contributors to the show at a very particular time. And, given we can’t celebrate with Hartman, we’re left with those folks who made Phil look good. It was even jarring that Dana Carvey wasn’t there, given he’s basically been a cast member this season, with all the Church Lady appearances and whatnot. The official report is he had the flu and couldn’t fly, but I’m not sure I’m buying it. Also conspicuously missing were Bill Hader, Dan Aykroyd, and the aforementioned Miller. Hader and Aykroyd cited “scheduling conflicts”, but this isn’t a situation where you can just say “I’ll catch the next one.” Even folks who didn’t leave under the best circumstances, like Sasheer Zamata, Casey Wilson, Finesse Mitchell and Melissa Villaseñor were there. In fact, a ton of folks were there that I didn’t realize, since I skipped the red carpet special. The other day, I was looking at the Getty Images from the event, and I’m seeing Cheri Oteri, Chevy Chase, Julia Sweeney, and Billy Crystal. The special did nothing with them, yet they’re giving time to BAD BUNNY?!
I also kinda feel like the lead-up to the event was almost too much of a good thing. I mean, there was the music documentary, the Peacock limited series (with an entire episode devoted solely to the “More Cowbell” sketch?), the Homecoming Concert, and then Sunday’s special. I sort of got overwhelmed by all of it by the time the weekend came around, ending up watching none of that stuff. It’s sort of like when a movie has a breakout character, and the studio says “They need a spinoff”, instead of keeping them in the movie series, and just giving them a bigger part in the next one. In this case, I feel like all of those individual projects probably should have been whittled down and incorporated into this special, as opposed to trying to execute a 3-hour episode of Saturday Night Live. I was also sort of surprised Lorne said nothing at the end. He’s always been of the opinion that “The show speaks for itself”, but if I helmed 45 years of a 50-year franchise, I’m gonna at least say “Thank you.” I found that odd. Oh, and the less we say about Sir Paul, the better…
Will Around The Web
I did wrote an anecdotal personal post this week, about the history of my family. It wasn’t about Power Rangers or comics, so it may not have “landed”. Oh well. I don’t do it often, so get it when ya can!
Also, I hate when podcasts just disappear and don’t say anything. I’m pretty sure Remember That Show? should be back next week. Sometimes Life gets in the way…
Run The Numbers
Here’s where my reading totals stand at the end of this week:
I read Camgirl, from publisher AWA, which was one of the most predictable things I’ve ever read. And I paid $6.99 for that! They got me. They got me good…I also read DC’s Zatanna #1, as well as Marvel’s Weapon X-Men #1. Didn’t love those, either. Not a great week for comics.
Things You Might Have Missed This Week
- If your grandparents were unusually happy this week, it’s probably because they heard that CBS has ordered a Blue Bloods spinoff, Boston Blue, starring Donnie Wahlberg. I hear he’s got the right stuff for such a project…
- Speaking of spinoffs, ABC has officially ordered the 3rd show in the 9-1-1 franchise, with 9-1-1: Nashville.
- Another long running franchise is expanding, as Paramount announced the 3rd entry in the Avatar: The Last Airbender franchise, Avatar: Seven Havens. Set after the events of The Legend of Korra, fans already hate it.
- It’s not all great news for TV, however, as Chuck Lorre’s Bookie has been canceled after 2 seasons on Max.
- ESPN and Major League Baseball will be going their separate ways following the upcoming baseball season. Folks wondering what ESPN will air in its place should brace themselves for UFC Live at The Kennedy Center.
- Benson Boone’s “Beautiful Things” was named the top-selling single in the world for 2024.
- You can’t say you’re building a comic-based cinematic universe without having a high profile actor drop out of your project, so welcome to The Show, DC Studios! Yeah, Daniel Craig has dropped out of the Sgt. Rock film.
- In a move being celebrated by no one, Amazon/MGM has gained creative control of the 007 franchise from the Broccoli family. I’ve never been a huge Bond fan, but I kinda liked how this one family still ruled their property with an iron fist instead of letting the character been driven by studio committee. Anyway, hope you’re ready for the Felix Leiter streaming series…
One would think the celebration of a 50-year institution would be a pretty big deal. And it WAS. But it could have been better executed. So, that’s why I’m going to have to say that Captain America: Brave New World, which is expected to gross $280 million by end of day Sunday, had the West Week Ever.
