MarvelBlog News for February 16th, 2025

Marvel’s year has officially started with the release of Captain America: Brave New World.

While I realize Marvel had already introduced Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man on streaming, it’s nowhere near the same.

The MCU relies on revenue from its theatrical releases to keep the engine running.

So, this week’s MarvelBlog News focuses almost exclusively on this Brave New World. Let’s begin.

Mixed Reviews

Several of my friends are registered critics on Rotten Tomatoes.

I never bothered to get registered for the Tomatometer, but I was first against the wall back in the day. Here’s my old page.

I’ve learned a few things over the years about how the review process works, even as I hold my own opinions.

Here’s my review of Captain America: Brave New World. Long story short, I liked the film well enough to give it a B+.

Mine is apparently the minority opinion, as the film is only 51 percent fresh at Rotten Tomatoes after more than 200 votes.

So, half the critics like the film well enough while the other half don’t.

That’s not great news for Marvel, which its critics maintain remains in a slump.

The thought process here is that Deadpool & Wolverine doesn’t count.

That film isn’t really a MCU story, at least not to its critics. Sure, the TVA appears, but the movie could just as easily take place outside the MCU.

After all, the first two Deadpool movies weren’t a part of the MCU, and they did get great.

Similarly, Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine never appeared. So, until very recently, he was a Fox-Marvel character.

Therefore, some people are comparing Brave New World to the other recent MCU titles.

We’re talking The Marvels (62/80), Thor: Love & Thunder (63/76), and Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (74/85).

Those numbers in parentheses are the other recent MCU films’ Tomatometer and Popcornmeter scores.

Previously, RT had called the Popcornmeter by a different name, Audience Score.

The site has since updated in an attempt to crack down on review-bombing, which happens often with MCU titles.

You can still see the lingering problem, though. Brave New World is more of the same.

Do Reviews Matter?

This year marks a changing of the guard at Marvel. Every movie I just mentioned shares a commonality.

These were all titles made during the pandemic, a stressful, unprecedented era in filmmaking.

All the titles faced an uphill battle in finishing production, a statement that applies to Captain America 4 as well.

You may not realize this, but filming began more than two years ago. It’s not quite a Kraven the Hunter situation, but it’s close.

Marvel performed several reshoots and script rewrites to save a movie that tested horribly during early screenings.

In fact, WWE wrestler Seth Rollins originally appeared in the film as a member of Serpent Society.

Giancarlo Esposito, who is in the movie for about ten minutes, wasn’t even hired until May 2024, long after principal photography had ended.

That’s typically the sign of a disaster project. So, Marvel is probably a bit relieved that the reviews are this good.

Still, the film has started in Eternals territory (47/77) when Marvel had hoped for better.

And that places the film in an odd position. The film isn’t great, but it’s good enough. So, is good enough, well, good enough?

We won’t have an answer for this question until after next weekend, as the opening weekend box office has been assured.

Thus far, the dislike of Brave New World isn’t intense, which has to feel like a win for Marvel.

The studio created a film best described as Woke AF and tossed in an Israeli female assassin to boot.

I would imagine that everyone at Marvel knew this project was in a world of hurt after the Presidential election results came in.

That’s probably why the marketing campaign has been muted, largely focusing on the Red Hulk.

About the Box Office

Marvel has known all along that the reviews may impact the film’s long-term appeal, but its opening weekend should be solid.

Sure enough, the film earned $12 million on Thursday followed by $28 million on Friday for a first-day total of $40 million.

Please remember that the weekend estimate is enhanced by the President’s Day holiday.

This extra boost should give Brave New World an estimated four-day total of $100 million.

Early tracking had suggested $95 million. So, the film is right in line with expectations and even a tick better.

Globally, projections called for $190 million. In actuality, Brave New World managed $192.4 million.

For a film with a reasonable budget of $180 million, that’s a solid start.

Right now, Captain America 4 appears likely to be profitable, but that’s only a small part of the conversation.

Sure, Marvel is relieved to have avoided another situation like The Marvels, but Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantumania remains a possibility.

That film opened higher at $120.3 million over the same weekend. However, its terrible buzz sunk it.

Ant-Man 3 only finished with $476 million. Somehow, Brave New World has an even worse Cinemascore of B-.

So, Ant-Man’s quick flameout is the doomsday scenario Marvel hopes to avoid, but it’s still not all that matters.

Marvel’s New Path

Brave New World starts the MCU down the path that leads to Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars.

Without spoiling the film, the Avengers come up a couple of times.

Aspects of Brave New World tie into what’s happening next with Thunderbolts* as well.

Then, Marvel takes a big step forward with The Fantastic Four: First Steps, which expands Marvel into the multiverse.

The MCU has danced around this premise for a while now, but even Multiverse of Madness mostly sidestepped it.

With Fantastic Four, there’s no ducking the idea any longer, which will lead to Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom.

That’s the money story right now, and Marvel needs fans to remain invested until the story arc reaches that point.

I’m not sure Brave New World does that, but it’s still early in the process to say for sure either way.

What I’ll say is that critics are more likely to notice editing and continuity errors than others. That factors into the reviews.

My casual movie fan friends were decidedly more positive about the film.

So, I’m hopeful that Brave New World will be good enough not to slow momentum.

I suspect consumers realize it’s the least of Marvel’s three movies this year and will treat it as such.

Thunderbolts* needs to deliver, though. Otherwise, the MCU is right back to making negative headlines again.

That’s the story we’ll track over the next several weeks of MarvelBlog News.

 

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