Steve Rogers was right — stars and stripes really do suit Sam Wilson.
At the end of Marvel Studios’ culminating blockbuster Avengers: Endgame, Steve chose Sam (Anthony Mackie) to succeed him as the next Captain America. As the Disney+ Original series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier later explored, carrying the shield — and the responsibility that comes with it — proved to be more complex than either envisioned.
Opening in theaters Friday, February 14, Captain America: Brave New World finds Sam having fully embraced his new identity. After he meets with U.S. President Thaddeus Ross (Disney Legend Harrison Ford), an international incident of epic proportions forces Sam to face an emerging threat that, if not contained, will soon have the whole world seeing red.
“When President Ross says, ‘You’re not Steve Rogers,’ Sam recognizes and understands that, because he doesn’t have the serum. He doesn’t have the backup and the facilities that Steve had,” Mackie said in the Spring 2025 issue of Disney twenty-three, available soon to D23 Gold Members. “When we first met Sam, he was a counselor. He was a soldier. He was a veteran. His brute force is his humanity, his mind, and his compassion — not his muscles.”
While Sam may not have Super Solider serum coursing through his veins, he does have a superpower: empathy. “Sam’s got so much heart. That makes him a great Cap, but he’s also very formidable,” director Julius Onah said. “I’m excited to take him on this journey in this paranoid thriller that is full of twists, turns, and surprises… It’s really emotionally satisfying.”
Luckily, Sam isn’t in this fight alone, thanks to U.S. Air Force intelligence officer Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez). As the new Falcon, he wants to spread his wings — literally and figuratively. “Anthony and I got to know each other in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, but in this film, we get to play at our pace,” Ramirez said of their characters’ brotherly dynamic. “What you see on-screen is what stems organically from our personal relationship.”
Ruth Bat-Seraph (Shira Haas), a former Black Widow and security advisor to President Ross, also joins Sam and Joaquin on their quest to discover who is manipulating world leaders. Wary of spoiling any plot points, Haas teased, “She is a big force on their journey.”
As for President Ross? According to Ford, he couldn’t have gotten into the character’s mindset without studying the “wonderful performance” that the late William Hurt gave across five Marvel Cinematic Universe films. “There are things that are happening to President Ross that were happening to him but hadn’t reached the point where they were transformative, if you will,” Ford explained. “The complications of his life — his relationships with people — were formed without the knowledge of what was committing him to the choices he was making.”
Also joining the fray is Seth Voelker/Sidewinder (Giancarlo Esposito), who leads a group of mercenaries called SERPENT. “He used to be a military man, like Sam, but he chose a different route in terms of how he decided to move through the world,” Onah said. “He became a mercenary, taking his expertise and using it as a soldier of fortune. Sam, meanwhile, uses his expertise for the benefit of other people — not the benefit of himself.”
After a 15-year hiatus, Tim Blake Nelson returns to the MCU as Samuel Sterns — albeit a different, somewhat altered version of the character he originated in The Incredible Hulk. “It’s so incredible to see him again, but in a very different way,” Haas said. “There’s a psychological aspect to this villain, because his power is in his brain. It’s exciting and scary.”
Mackie, meanwhile, can’t wait for audiences to see how his own character has evolved.
“I was never offended when people said Sam was a sidekick, or that Falcon was secondhand to Captain America, because that was only one facet of reality you got to see,” he told Disney twenty-three in an exclusive interview. “You didn’t get to see Sam’s day-to-day life; you got to see how Sam was affected by Cap’s reality and how he was a part of the Avengers’ lives. It’s really cool and exciting to see a character like Sam grow and get his due. It’s rewarding and humbling — not so much for me, but for Sam Wilson. I’m excited for people to finally see him be the soldier and the patriot that he is outside of the Avengers.”