Lately, there hasn’t been one Marvel movie that hasn’t caused some kind of controversy or the other. While the last film, Deadpool & Wolverine, is under the scrutiny of the public for its character Nicepool, thanks to the ongoing feud between Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds versus Justin Baldoni, the recently released Captain America: Brave New World has caused not one, not two, but several controversies.
From its CGI to the inclusion of the Israeli superhero Sabra, played by Israeli actress Shira Haas, the film has caused quite an uproar among Marvel fans. However, the biggest of it, perhaps, is the comparisons between Harrison Ford’s character, Thaddeus ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross, aka Red Hulk, and the current President of the United States, Donald Trump.
The second Marvel Cinematic Universe film to be led by a Black superhero after 2018’s Black Panther, starring the late Chadwick Boseman as the titular character, Brave New World is the fourth film in Marvel’s Captain America franchise and a follow-up to the Disney+ series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, starring Anthony Mackie as Captain America after getting the shield from the OG Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers at the end of Avengers: Endgame.
It is the first film in continuity since MCU’s hiccups, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and The Marvels. Naturally, the stakes are pretty high for Captain America: Brave New World. The film has a lot to achieve if it wants to come at par with Marvel’s lost glory during the pre-Endgame period. While the film has been performing shockingly well at the box office so far, the reviews from critics coming in have not been so good. So, without further ado, given below is the reason why fans have been comparing Red Hulk with the current POTUS and all the other issues facing Captain America: Brave New World.
Why Marvel fans can’t stop comparing Red Hulk with Donald Trump?
Since its inception, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been criticized by a certain section of fans and praised by others for the deep political and social commentary it offers. The Captain America films, in particular, have continued to follow this path, featuring a range of fictional events that many have associated with real-life events and issues, many of them often political in nature.
Well, Captain America: Brave New World has found itself at a similar place, but instead of the usual praises, it has been receiving backlash from fans due to allegations of Harrison Ford‘s Red Hulk being similar to the 45th and 47th President of the United States, Donald Trump. Ford stars as Thaddeus ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross, aka the POTUS in the recently released film, who ends up transforming into a gigantic monstrous Red Hulk, destroying the White House in his wake.
The Red Hulk destroying the White House part has also been allegedly linked with the January 2021 United States Capitol Building attack by pro-Trump supporters after he lost the 2020 presidential elections. Others linked it to being an alleged mockery of Trump and his administration, claiming that the film wants to depict the current President as ‘incompetent.’ Moreover, the fictional president outsourcing tech and military innovation to a genus scientist was another reason why fans believe Red Hulk is similar to Trump.
These baseless links also stemmed from the first trailer for the film, which was released back in July 2024, featuring an assassination attempt on Ford’s character. Just a few days later, an assassination attempt was carried out on Trump, leading Marvel to alter the trailer later on. Despite the film and the reshoots having happened long before Trump won the 2024 presidential elections, right-wing supporters continue to claim that such alleged similarities were intentional. Such claims have further increased after the release of the film on February 14.
Anthony Mackie fires back at Red Hulk-Donald Trump comparisons
Captain America: Brave New World has been in development since long before the 2024 Presidential elections, yet the alleged comparisons have continued. Even though Marvel Studios changed the original title of the film, which was Captain America: New World Order, in a bid to remove the political resonance, the backlash over the alleged connection between Harrison Ford’s Red Hulk/ Thaddeus Ross and Donald Trump remains intact.
Moreover, the film’s shoot and reshoots took place last year in the summer, long before Trump was elected the 47th POTUS (via Vulture). While Marvel Studios is yet to respond to such backlash, the lead star of the film, Anthony Mackie, responded to such accusations in a recent cover story by Esquire Magazine.
I hope, as a country, we’re tired of all the political jousting. Let’s just go to the movies and chill the f–k out. We could’ve made this motherf–ker yellow and it would’ve been a problem.
While many have not reacted well to Mackie’s statement, the actor isn’t entirely wrong. At the end of the day, it is just a film set in a fictional world containing fictional people. And if it is any consolation, Ford’s character in the film is not like Trump at all but rather has a pretty different political and ideological approach than the current president. While the trailer did not show what kind of a ‘leader’ Ford is, the film, released recently, contains enough proof that Ross being allegedly similar to Trump is just an ill-founded accusation as a result of bad timing.
The Red Hulk-Donald Trump comparisons are not the only problems facing Bave New World.
As mentioned before, Captain America: Brave New World has a lot hanging on its shoulders. The film was originally slated to release back in 2024. However, issues with production and reshoots delayed the film, leading to it being released in the ‘Trump-era,’ plagued by Red Hulk-Donald Trump comparisons.
The reason for its delay was the disastrous test screenings, which apparently took place thrice and resulted in underwhelming, mostly negative results (see ComicBookMovie.com). This led Marvel Studios to change its plan, eventually leading to 22 days of reshoots and the addition of Giancarlo Esposito of Breaking Bad fame as a new supervillain. These changes eventually pushed the film’s production budget to over $180 million.
As Vulture details, these issues are only the tip of the iceberg, as the film was, apparently, a hard one to shoot. Along with director Julius Onah’s inexperience in making big-budgeted films, an insider, who is frequent at Marvel sets, revealed to Vulture that aside from the film being pretty expensive and challenging, a lot was going on with ‘A-list’ egos, which was mainly just Harrison Ford, who is allegedly infamous for being troublesome on sets.
If these issues weren’t enough, the film’s lead, Anthony Mackie, created problems when he stated in a promotional event last month that for him, Captain America represents a lot of different things, and I don’t think the term ‘America’ should be one of those representations. Although he later clarified his statement (via The Hollywood Reporter), his comments have continued to offend right-wing fans.
Apart from the outrage by the right wing, there has been a call for a boycott of the film due to the presence of the Israeli superhero Ruth Bat-Seraph, aka Sabra, played by Israeli actress Shira Haas, who served in the IDF as well. Pro-Palestine supporters not only protested outside the premiere of the film but have also called for a total boycott of the film, even though Marvel claimed that Sabra would be introduced as a US government agent instead of Mossad (via Variety).
Captain America: Brave New World is also one of the worst-rated MCU movies of all time, currently containing a 51% rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. While the audience score is currently at 80%, the film’s critical ratings across various platforms remain more or less similar. Despite all of this, the film has grossed $192.4 worldwide so far during its opening (via The Hollywood Reporter).
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