New ‘Captain America’ Movie Trashed By Critics, Gets Record Low Score Ahead Of Release

“Captain America: Brave New World” is slated to open this weekend and it’s already generating negative attention, with some of the worst critical reviews of any Marvel film to date.

The fourth installment in the MCU’s Captain America franchise is led by Anthony Mackie, who took over the role from Chris Evans. Other main characters in this latest installment include Red Hulk (Harrison Ford), The Leader (Tim Blake Nelson), and Sidewinder (Giancarlo Esposito).

“Brave New World” has debuted with a 52% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes as of Thursday afternoon. Comparatively, that puts it only ahead of “Eternals” (2021) and “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” (2023), two recent MCU films that also got poor reviews from critics.

Digital Trends critic A. A. Dowd called the film a new “rock bottom” for the franchise with a “mess” of a plot. “No blockbuster that cost this much money should look this shoddy,” he added.

“With its cheap action and garish visuals, it’s then that we enter yet another genre altogether: action-figure commercial,” observed New York Times critic Brandon Yu.

Vulture critic Bilge Ebiri also had harsh words, calling Marvel a “giant slop machine” and saying the franchise was spinning “out of control into the confused and shallow mess that we have before us.”

Meanwhile, Washington Post critic Ty Burr gave the film 1.5 stars and called it “humorless” and a “pixel-pounding mishmash” that is “more interested in fan service and protecting corporate IP” than in telling a good story.

“The fight sequences are meditative, the grave-whisper acting belongs in a coming-attraction trailer from 1996 and, yet again, the viewer needs to have watched a TV series and at least two movies to fully grasp what’s happening,” New York Post reporter Johnny Oleksinski wrote.

The movie’s synopsis says, “Anthony Mackie returns as the high-flying hero Sam Wilson, who’s officially taken up the mantle of Captain America. After meeting with newly elected U.S. President Thaddeus Ross, 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.”

Bad reviews are only the latest controversy for the new “Captain America.” Recently, the film’s star came under fire for comments he made about the titular character. Mackie said, “For me, Captain America represents a lot of different things and I don’t think the term ‘America’ should be one of those representations. It’s about a man who keeps his word, who has honor, dignity, and integrity. Someone who is trustworthy and dependable.”

After his comments went viral, the actor clarified his statements and called himself “a proud American.”

“Let me be clear about this, I’m a proud American and taking on the shield of a hero like CAP [Captain America] is the honor of a lifetime,” he said, as The Daily Wire previously reported.

“I have the utmost respect for those who serve and have served our country,” he added. “CAP has universal characteristics that people all over the world can relate to.”