Marvel Boss Says Replacing Chris Evans Led to ‘Captain America: Brave New World’ Flop

Captain America: Brave New World didn’t do very well at the box office, and Marvel boss Kevin Feige has talked about why. In the most recent Captain America installment, Anthony Mackie plays Sam Wilson, who became the new Captain America after Steve Rogers gave him the shield in Avengers: Endgame.

Sam’s story also continued in the Disney+ show The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which led up to this film.

Even with Sam’s big journey, the movie didn’t make as much money as past Captain America films. It earned $415.1 million worldwide on a budget of $180 million, according to Box Office Mojo. That’s much less than Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which made $714.1 million, and Captain America: Civil War, which made over $1 billion.

Talking to the press about what happened, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige, as reported by Deadline, said the movie didn’t do as well because it “was the first without Chris Evans.” Chris Evans played Steve Rogers and left the role after Avengers: Endgame, when his character gave the shield to Sam.

Captain America: Brave New World received mixed reviews from critics, many of whom were split on the story, its ties to the rest of the MCU, and the visual effects. The overall reception was described as mixed-to-negative, with praise mainly going to the performances, especially Anthony Mackie and Harrison Ford.

On Rotten Tomatoes, only 48% of 345 critics gave the film a positive review. The critics consensus reads: “Anthony Mackie capably takes up Cap’s mantle and shield, but Brave New World is too routine and overstuffed with uninteresting Easter eggs to feel like a worthy standalone adventure for this new Avengers leader.” Metacritic gave it a score of 42 out of 100, calling the response “mixed or average.”

Audience feedback wasn’t much better, CinemaScore gave it a “B–”, the lowest ever for an MCU film, and PostTrak called the reactions a “mixed bag,” with an average of three out of five stars.

So, was the absence of Chris Evans really the reason for the film’s underwhelming performance? Or was it something else entirely?

Even before the movie hit theaters, reports suggested test audiences reacted very poorly to early cuts of the film. This pushed Marvel to order major reshoots to try to fix what they could.

Several characters were rumored to have been cut completely, including Rosa Salazar’s Diamondback and Seth Rollins’ King Cobra. Salazar was supposedly removed due to weak on-screen chemistry with Anthony Mackie, even though her character was originally written as his love interest.

Rollins’ character, meanwhile, was cut to make room for Giancarlo Esposito’s Sidewinder, a character the actor has hinted will have a bigger role in the MCU’s future.

The Serpent Society subplot, which had been teased early on, was largely scrapped. And in the final cut, you can feel it. The movie often plays like it was patched together from pieces that worked during test screenings.

The result? A messy and forgettable film that didn’t meet expectations. Fans were especially frustrated by how heavily Red Hulk was used in the marketing, only for the character to appear for about five minutes in the entire movie.

Feige might have a point that fans are attached to Chris Evans, but the entire story of Brave New World truly didn’t give fans much of a reason to show up, at least not in big numbers.

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