Captain America 4’s Delay May Have Already Doomed the Movie

Captain America: Brave New World is one of the many upcoming movie projects planned for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Focused on the Sam Wilson version of Captain America, the movie will also feature the return of Samuel Sterns/The Leader from 2008’s The Incredible Hulk, among other characters. These elements and more have caused many fans to already be excited about the movie, but that might not be enough to save it from only reaching half-mast at the box office.

The fourth Captain America was delayed, and rumors make it clear that this was about more than simply spacing out Marvel Studios’ projects. Now set to have extensive reshoots, the movie’s budget is sure to expand. This is problematic in itself, but given the recent trajectory of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the loss of its former goodwill, the movie will likely struggle to reach the success that it could have had.

Captain America: Brave New World Is Undergoing Extreme Reshoots

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As mentioned, the movie now known as Captain America: Brave New World has been delayed from its intended 2024 release date. Once poised to come out in the summer of 2024, it will now be released theatrically on Feb. 14, 2025. This leaves Deadpool 3 as the only Marvel Cinematic Universe film that’s coming out in 2024, and given its ties to the Fox X-Men movies, its place in the MCU is mainly due to multiversal shenanigans.

There are numerous rumors as to the reason for the movie’s major delay. One theory involves the potential controversy over the Israeli character, Sabra. Her inclusion was planned long before the current conflict between Israel and Palestine. The idea that she might be removed to avoid a potential scandal would make this only the second project featuring Sam Wilson to experience such changes. After all, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier had one of its plot beats scrapped due to similarities with the global COVID-19 pandemic. Likewise, an insider has said that the movie’s delay is to rework the action sequences, with other reports stating that the movie’s reshoots will be between January and May 2024.

Captain America 4 May Have One of the Biggest MCU Budgets Ever

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Captain America: Brave New World hasn’t had its initial budget released, but it’s likely to have been fairly large. After all, these sorts of movies (many of which were far cheaper to produce just a few years ago) can be pretty costly, even with a somewhat more street-level character like Captain America. That’s without even addressing the fact that it’s essentially a teamup or crossover movie in the same vein as Captain America: Civil War. Beyond characters related in some way to Captain America, there will also be appearances from Hulk-related characters such as main villain The Leader/Samuel Stern, Thunderbolt Ross and Betty Ross. These are simply the characters that have been confirmed so far, and with the movie’s reshoots, it’s highly likely that this cast will get even bigger.

Then, there’s the matter of the reshoots themselves, which definitely add to the movie’s base production budget. Reshoots of major blockbusters aren’t exactly uncommon, especially within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. At the same time, a reshoot period of nearly half a year suggests that the movie is being reconfigured almost from the ground up. If so, it’s in a similar situation to a notable Disney box office disappointment: Solo: A Star Wars Story. The movie was essentially shot twice after the departure of the original directors. After all was said and done, the movie had a budget of around $300 million USD. Given that it only made right under $400 million USD at the box office (possibly due to the lingering controversy of Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi), it was a major box office bomb for Disney and Lucasfilm.

The same thing could now be happening to the fourth Captain America movie, which somewhat makes sense given its scope. Brave New World acts as the final movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Phase 5, and some fans suspect that it might serve a purpose similar to the aforementioned Civil War. That means that even more characters will have to be added, especially if the goal is to finally add back a sense of connective tissue across the MCU. Keep in mind that even Avengers: Endgame “only” had a budget of, at most, $400 million USD, despite how many characters and cameos were involved. Thus, a smaller movie having a budget anywhere close would not be a good thing in the current box office climate.

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2023 has seen several major movies lose money at the box office. This includes Warner Bros. Discovery’s slate of DC movies and even Marvel Studios’ projects. In fact, the only successful superhero movies so far were Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3. and the animated movie Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (which is produced by Sony and not Marvel Studios). Paramount’s Transformers: Rise of the Beasts was a financial disappointment at the box office, and the same can definitely be said for Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning: Part One and Fast X.

Due to reshoots of their own and the production costs/delays accrued because of the COVID-19 pandemic, these movies’ budgets were fairly grandiose. Now, Marvel Studios is seeing another disappointment in the form of The Marvels. The movie will likely be lucky to make even $200 million at the box office amid a $220 million USD budget, and this comes after a similarly poor performance for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. It’s highly likely that Captain America: Brave New World might suffer a similar fate even if it makes a lot of money at the box office, and that goes back to the general sentiment toward Marvel Studios at present.

The MCU Brand Is Not as Strong as It Used to Be

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Just a few years prior, the Marvel Cinematic Universe was one of the strongest media franchises in the world, with each movie released under its banner essentially guaranteed to be a hit. This started slowing down after Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home, though that was mainly because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Even with this in mind, however, the MCU brand began suffering from decreased interest and similarly decreasing quality. Eternals was the first Marvel Studios movie to be rated as “rotten” on the website Rotten Tomatoes. Quantumania followed in its footsteps, and though The Marvels was just barely able to escape such a fate, that did little in terms of making it a popular or profitable movie.

Also diluting the former strength of the MCU brand was the emergence of several Disney+ Marvel Cinematic Universe shows. While WandaVision was a ratings and critical hit, subsequent shows were far less successful. Ms. Marvel was the least-viewed of these shows, whereas the recent Secret Invasion was panned by critics and fans alike. Thus, the MCU has more content than ever, but it’s also not in the strongest place it was in when the brand was focused solely on movies. The result is that The Marvels — a sequel to a movie that made over $1 billion USD at the box office — will likely only scratch the surface of around $200 million USD.

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It’s this environment that can easily sink the box office hopes of Captain America: Brave New World, regardless of its quality. Audiences are a lot more discerning in general, with major franchises no longer commanding their former box office appeal, regardless of reviews. After all, Mission: Impossible received rave reviews and came one year after Tom Cruise saw massive success with the much-awaited sequel Top Gun: Maverick. With the MCU brand tarnished as seen in the same negative light as the DC Extended Universe was, it’ll be hard for next Captain America movie to muster up the interest it needs to overcome what’s likely to be a high price tag.

That’s besides the fact that it’s also something of an experiment through its hero. Sam Wilson as Captain America is still “untested” in terms of being a box office draw, especially since those who never watched the MCU shows might be unaware that he took the mantle. This essentially makes the film into a “Captain America movie without Captain America.” Given the state of the brand, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is in desperate need of true star power. Hopefully, Marvel Studios can at least deliver a product that begins turning the reception of the shared universe around again. If not, it just might be twilight’s last gleaming for the MCU.

Captain America: Brave New World heads into theaters on Feb.14, 2025.