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| Image Credit: Marvel Studios |
If you want to know what happens in the ending and post-credits scene of Captain America: Brave New World, you're in the right place. For the others, watch out for spoilers! The 35th film of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is responsible for fixing the narrative arc and the imagery of the most important franchise in the world, battered in the years after Avengers: Endgame (2019). Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) had taken care of patching the wounds with important takings, but it wasn't enough. The charisma and appeal of one of the most important, perhaps the most iconic, of the Marvel heroes was needed.
Captain America: Brave New World was released in Italian cinemas on February 12, 2025, by The Walt Disney Company Italia. Directed by Julius Onah, it is the penultimate film of Phase Five for the MCU—the last will be Thunderbolts in May 2025—and one of the most important. Kevin Feige says that without Cap, there is no real mythology for Marvel, nor are there the Avengers. Captain America is the cornerstone on which to build the commercial viability and cultural strength of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The direct sequel to Captain America: Civil War (2016) and the miniseries The Falcon and The Winter Soldier (2021), it is the cinematic debut of the new cinematic incarnation of Cap, Anthony Mackie, and has a great supporting cast, if we can call it supporting: Harrison Ford, Tim Blake Nelson, Danny Ramirez, Shira Haas, Giancarlo Esposito. We know that an MCU film is not just a film, but the piece of a more complex serial story. We know that the things that happen in a single story have implications that go far beyond the story itself. For this reason, as per tradition, here is the explanation of the ending and the scenes (or the scene?) post-credits of Captain America: Brave New World. Enjoy the reading, and watch out for spoilers.
What happens at the end of Captain America: Brave New World
Captain America: Brave New World recovers and enhances an element of Marvel mythology that has disappeared from the radar in the most recent films: the Celestial Island. The Celestial Island is what remains of the Celestial Tiamut, the gigantic divine creature that appeared briefly in Eternals (2021). The Celestial Island is rich in adamantium, a very precious raw material, even superior to the vibranium of Wakanda. The President of the United States Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford) wants to negotiate an agreement with friendly countries, including France, India and Japan, for the fair division of the resource.
The theft of some batches of adamantium risks blowing up the agreement. Captain America/ Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) and Falcon/ Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez) manage to find the stolen game and bring the thief, Sidewinder (Giancarlo Esposito), to justice. Too easy. Sidewinder was just a tool in the hands of the mysterious “buyer” of the adamantium. The theft is the first step in his criminal plan. The buyer can control the human mind and, during a gala dinner at the White House attended by Cap and Falcon, he “conditions” the mind of Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly) to force him to shoot President Ross. He miraculously escapes the attack, while Isaiah is arrested and risks the death penalty. Cap and Falcon must exonerate him, find the buyer and stop him.
The buyer is called Samuel Sterns/ Leader, he is a villain with a deformed face and superhuman intelligence. His desire – as explained by the interpreter, Tim Blake Nelson – is to obtain justice through anarchy. Leader, through mind control, tries to unleash the Third World War, using American fighter pilots to attack the Japanese air force off the coast of Celestial Island. Cap and Falcon intervene to restore calm, with Falcon who is seriously injured. Samuel Sterns is arrested and peace is restored. It seems like the end of the games. It is not.
Samuel Sterns's real goal is another: to destroy his jailer, Thaddeus Ross. For years, Leader has been Ross's prisoner, who guaranteed him immunity and a laboratory for his experiments on the condition that he help him become president; only at that point would he be freed. Ross, who has repented over the years, once elected does not keep his promise, considering Sterns too dangerous to be freed. The leader is not surprised by the betrayal and activates his revenge, prepared for some time.
The pills synthesized to alleviate Ross's heart problems were stuffed with gamma rays: the induced genetic reaction manifests itself dramatically during the press conference preparatory to the announcement of the adamantium agreement. Thaddeus Ross, having lost control of the situation following a trick by Leader, transforms into... Red Hulk. Now everything is clearer: Samuel Sterns was a brilliant optical illusion of the plot because in reality Red Hulk is the real villain of Captain America: Brave New World. Cap can't match him in terms of physical strength and can only calm him down by talking to him, convincing him to listen to the best part of himself. The world is (apparently) saved.
Captain America – Brave New World: the explanation of the post-credits scene
All's well that ends? Not exactly. On a superficial level, the conclusion of Captain America: Brave New World shows us a world at peace. Thaddeus Ross resigns from the office of President of the United States and is locked up in the Raft, the super prison, the only place on Earth capable of containing his strength; he has decided to make amends for his past and accept responsibility for his actions, even at the cost of losing everything. In prison, Ross is visited by a friendly Sam Wilson and, above all, by his daughter Betty (Liv Tyler), with whom he no longer has a relationship. The two start over from scratch.
Isaiah Bradley is acquitted of the charges and together with Sam, he visits Joaquin in the hospital, injured but no longer in danger of life. Falcon doubts his abilities and does not believe he can be, for the future, a sidekick worthy of Captain America; it is the protagonist who convinces him otherwise, after dropping the bombshell. Sometime before, Thaddeus Ross had tried to convince Captain America to reform the Avengers, in vain.
Sam feared that rebuilding the team under the direct control of the United States government and no longer as an independent agency at the service of humanity, would jeopardize its autonomy of maneuver and judgment. With Ross out of the game, Cap manifests to Falcon his intention to recreate the Avengers. This is the happy note, but there is also a dark omen to balance the mood of Captain America: Brave New World, and it comes with the only post-credits scene of the film. We are back in the Raft. Sam Wilson visits the Leader (Tim Blake Nelson) to inform him of the failure of his plans. The leader is not upset and, indeed, invites Cap not to be distracted by the recent victory.
If he managed to save the world this time, the next one will be more complicated. The problem with the Avengers, Leader points out, is that they have always thought they were the only heroes existing on the only possible version of Earth. In reality, there are many other worlds and many villains. How will Captain America cope, Leader wonders, when the “others” arrive? With the post-credits scene of Captain America: Brave New World, therefore, Marvel relaunches the multiverse epic in grand style, preparing the ground for Avengers: Doomsday (2026) and Avengers: Secret Wars (2027). The countdown has begun.
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