The Captain America: Brave New World trailer is here!

In one of the most bizarre twists of the year, Marvel Studios just premiered the trailer for Captain America: Brave New World...eight days after the 4th of July??? If ever there was a prime day to kick off the marketing campaign for the next Marvel Studios movie, it would be that patriotic holiday!

But yes, the Sam Wilson incarnation of the star-spangled man with a plan is back. Following up on the ending of Avengers: Endgame and the events of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Wilson's Captain America now has his own movie. Check out the trailer below and then read on for an analysis of what this trailer entails.

Amusingly, Marvel Studios' marketing apparently decided to run with those McDonald's toys accidentally spoiling the Red Hulk's presence by dropping that character at the very end of this trailer. Heck, Red Hulk's fingers even dominate the teaser poster for Brave New World! Save for the presence of that distinctly-hued supervillain, Brave New World is clearly aiming to deliver a more grounded atmosphere reminiscent of Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

Anthony Mackie's version of Captain America in this trailer is defined by looking stoic in the middle of all kinds of morally-muddled chaos. Did you think Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Secret Invasion, and Thor: Love and Thunder were all too detached from reality? Here comes a Captain America installment emphasizing dingy underground bases and recognizable real-world locales getting busted.

Also notable in the trailer is the heavy presence of Giancarlo Esposito. This acclaimed actor was added to Brave New World via extensive reshoots just a few months ago. However, that isn't preventing Marvel's marketing team from showing the guy off.

Also in the trailer? A glimpse of the MCU version of Ruth/Sabra, with her bigger moment involving her walking down a corridor with Xosha Roquemore's unnamed character. In the comics, the character is a mutant superhero working for Mossad. With Israel's insignia on her costume, her comic book exploits include her discovering the ability to "see this dead Arab boy as a human being" thanks to her interactions with The Hulk.

She also fights lots and lots of racist Palestinian stereotypes. Ruth is apparently being reimagined for the movies as someone working for the U.S. government rather than Mossad (though that still means she's working for an entity engaging in anti-Palestinian and Zionist antisemitism activity). However, her minimal presence in this trailer suggests Marvel Studios isn't looking to garner more pre-release controversy and discourse over including any incarnation of Sabra.

Please, Marvel, give us more Jewish representation in the MCU without adapting characters rooted in colonial governments!

In lighter territory, a brief shot in the trailer shows the nifty sight of Sam Wilson/Captain America and Joaquin Torres/Falcon (Danny Ramirez) zooming through the air together. Also briefly glimpsed in the trailer from behind (rocking a pretty cool hat!) is Samuel Sterns/Leader (Tim Blake Nelson), a figure who also has one ominous line in the trailer about "power" shifting in the world. It's been 16 years already (17 by the time Brave New World opens!) since we last saw Nelson in the MCU. That droplet of superpowered blood pouring into his forehead wound is about to pay off. Any chance to see an actor of Nelson's caliber in a movie is a treat. Paying off that tease for an Incredible Hulk sequel that never happened, that's just icing on the cake.

Then there's Harrison Ford as President Thaddeus Ross. The iconic Ford is now the third actor to portray Ross in live-action, following Sam Elliot in Hulk and William Hurt in various Marvel Cinematic Universe outings. Ford's certainly playing the character as a "Harrison Ford type" from the trailer (complete with ditching the character's famous mustache) but it's always good to see the Witness/The Fugitive leading man in anything.

Speaking of new things, it's a tiny touch, but I appreciate that the "Captain America" font at the end of the trailer is distinctly different from the ones used for the three Steve Rogers movies. That detail helps make Brave New World feel unique compared to past Captain America outings and reinforces how this movie belongs to Sam Wilson.

It could just be I'm a bimbo from Texas, but the scenes Marvel's marketing department chose to showcase here also seemed very specifically designed to address recent criticisms of the company's creative output. Most notably, emphasizing large-scale daytime action sequences like the Captain America skirmish against gorgeous cherry blossom trees is a direct contrast to very justifiable criticisms of too many recent MCU set pieces being set in dimly-lit and minimally vibrant locales. Whether intentional or not, Brave New World's teaser features visuals and grounded action seemingly made as a counterpoint to recent MCU discourse. Whether those elements will actually work in the final film, though, remains to be seen.

Brave New World's teaser trailer is just that, a teaser. Much about the film is still unknown, including who is composing the score. For the love of God, Kevin Feige, Nate Moore, and director Julius Onah, please don't get another go-to Marvel composer like Henry Jackman or Ramin Djawadi. Please, think outside the box, get someone cool and unexpected like Tamar-kali, Kathryn Bostic, or Hildur Guðnadóttir! Further info on who is composing the film's score and other secrets related to Brave New World (like who actors like Esposito are playing) will undoubtedly emerge in the coming months before the film hits theaters everywhere on February 14, 2025.