Captain America: Brave New World Trailer - Red Hulk Revealed As Sam Wilson Takes On Multiple Marvel Villains (2025)

Marvel Studios unveils the Captain America: Brave New World trailer, revealing a first look at the upcoming Phase 5 MCU movie. The fourth movie in Marvel's Captain America series will be the first since Chris Evans's Steve Rogers passed on the shield at the end of Avengers: Endgame. Anthony Mackie's Sam Wilson now dons the mantle of Captain America and is set to go toe to toe with General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross, played by Harrison Ford, after William Hurt's passing in 2022.

Today, Marvel released the Captain America: Brave New World trailer, which features the first footage of the 2025 MCU movie. The trailer includes a brief look at Red Hulk, who was widely theorized to be debuting in the movie, along with new characters played by Giancarlo Esposito, Shira Haas and Xosha Roquemore. Take a look below.

Additionally, Marvel released the official Captain America: Brave New World plot synopsis, which can be found below.

After meeting with newly elected U.S. President Thaddeus Ross, played by Harrison Ford in his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut, Sam finds himself in the middle of an international incident. He must discover the reason behind a nefarious global plot before the true mastermind has the entire world seeing red.

What The Captain America: Brave New World Trailer Reveals About The 2025 MCU Movie

Anthony Mackie Returns As Sam Wilson While Harrison Ford Debuts As Thaddeus Ross

The biggest surprise of the Captain America: Brave New World trailer is no doubt Red Hulk's appearance. Though the villain was widely speculated to be appearing, especially with the inclusion of Thaddeus Ross in the movie, I would've expected them to hold back on revealing Red Hulk until a later trailer. But if Marvel is so quick to reveal Red Hulk, that begs the question of what they're holding back, which I have an idea about.

Though much of the trailer focuses on the tense interactions between Mackie's Captain America and Ford's President Ross, there are brief shots of Tiamut's hand emerging from the ocean, a remnant of the final battle in Eternals, during which they stopped the Celestial from destroying Earth. I believe that is the location of the final battle of Captain America: Brave New World, since it's only briefly glimpsed in the trailer - and I think Marvel is hiding a villain, which they often do. Namely, Tim Blake Nelson's Samuel Sterns aka The Leader.

If Captain America: Brave New World's real villain is "a true mastermind" then The Leader is the obvious choice. In fact, I suspect The Leader is the one pulling the strings behind not only Red Hulk, but the assassination attempt on President Ross as seen in the trailer - perhaps as a way to force Ross to become or accept his Red Hulk side. Whether that's true remains to be seen, but more will no doubt be revealed in future Captain America: Brave New World trailers, and perhaps even later this month at San Diego Comic-Con.

Captain America: Brave New World

Fantasy

Adventure

Action

Director

Julius Onah

Release Date

February 14, 2025

Studio(s)

Marvel Studios

Distributor(s)

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Writers

Dalan Musson , Malcolm Spellman

Cast

Harrison Ford , Liv Tyler , Giancarlo Esposito , Rosa Salazar , Takehiro Hira , Anthony Mackie , Tim Blake Nelson , Shira Haas , Carl Lumbly , Danny Ramirez , Rachael Markarian , Jacqueline Loucks , Tony Mareno , Zo'Anne Mckinstry , Phuong Kubacki , Colby Lopez , Xosha Roquemore

Franchise(s)

Captain America , Marvel Cinematic Universe

Source: Marvel Studios