Captain America: Brave New World’s Rotten Tomatoes Score Confirms An Unfortunate MCU Trend

A negative MCU trend prevails with Captain America: Brave New World's critics' score on Rotten Tomatoes, but it may not be a problem for Marvel. Captain America: Brave New World is the MCU's fourth Captain America installment, but Sam Wilson's first MCU solo movie. Steve Rogers left Sam Wilson a huge responsibility when he bestowed him with the shield. While Sam gave up the shield for a brief time, he proved his skills to the world multiple times afterward, and he currently holds both the Captain America title and the ability to assemble a new Avengers team should a situation call for it.

Thaddeus Ross, Samuel Sterns, and Betty Ross return seventeen years after their MCU debut in The Incredible Hulk, though Bruce Banner doesn't appear in Captain America: Brave New World. Instead, it's Captain America who fights Red Hulk and thwarts the Leader's plans, and also the one who helps Betty Ross and her father reconcile. Captain America also defends Tiamut's body from becoming the inciting event of an international war after a considerably long period without any reference to the events of Eternals. But while Captain America: Brave New World brings The Incredible Hulk and Eternals to the forefront again, it doesn't fare much better than them with critics.

Captain America: Brave New World Gathers Events From Unpopular MCU Titles

Captain America: Brave New World connects directly to The Incredible Hulk and Eternals, and unfortunately, joins them at the very bottom of Rotten Tomatoes' MCU movie rankings by critics' score. Eternals stands at the second-to-last spot with a 47% Tomatometer, just one percentage point above Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania's 46%. Captain America: Brave New World is in the third-to-last spot of Rotten Tomatoes' MCU list, right above Eternals, at 49%.The Incredible Hulk stands four spots above, with a 68% Tomatometer. Twenty-six other MCU movies surpass all three movies in terms of critics' score.

MCU Movie	Rotten Tomatoes Critics' Score	Ranking
The Incredible Hulk	68%	#29
*Captain America: Brave New World*	49%	#33
Eternals	47%	#34

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier has a much higher critics' score than Captain America: Brave New World, Eternals, and The Incredible Hulk. In fact, Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes' Disney+ series holds a "fresh" critics' score at 86%, towering above all three of the aforementioned movies. However, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier comes in eighth of twelve MCU shows in Rotten Tomatoes' rankings. There's fierce competition on the small screen when it comes to Marvel Studios' Disney+ series, and shows such as Ms. Marvel, WandaVision, and Loki overshadowed The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, with 98%, 92%, and 87%, respectively.

Captain America: Brave New World’s Critical Reception Makes At Least Two Sequels More Unlikely

The Incredible Hulk 2 And Eternals 2 Aren't Coming Anytime Soon

Edward Norton's Hulk stands in the rain in The Incredible Hulk and Richard Madden's Ikaris looks at him in Eternals

The Incredible Hulk isn't a particularly popular Phase 1 movie, and Hulk's troubled distribution rights makes a direct sequel unlikely to materialize anytime soon. And seventeen years after The Incredible Hulk's release, Hulk has already completed a full character arc across various supporting appearances. Eternals has been a divisive movie, its characters and set-ups haven't been addressed since its 2021 release, and Eternals 2 has reportedly been canceled altogether. Considering how many projects Marvel Studios is developing or producing for Phases 5 through 7,The Incredible Hulk2 and Eternals 2 have remained unlikely for a while.

The fact that none of these three movies' characters and plotlines have been at the center of a well-received MCU movie could influence their future appearances

Captain America: Brave New World brings The Incredible Hulk and Eternals back to the spotlight, but it had a similar critical reception. Although a film's critical reception depends on a wide variety of factors, the fact that none of these three movies' characters and plotlines have been at the center of a well-received MCU movie could influence their future appearances. Elements such as Adamantium, Tiamut's corpse, Gamma monsters, and the Celestials may continue to pop up in future MCU projects, but they may not get another movie of their own. Marvel may instead focus on other areas like the multiverse and mutants.

Captain America: Brave New World's Critics And Audience Scores Suggest Not All Hope Is Lost For Future Sequels

Audiences Liked Captain America: Brave New World Much More Than Critics

10-Ways-Captain-America-Brave-New-World-Is-The-Incredible-Hulk-2

Captain America: Brave New World, The Incredible Hulk, and Eternals haven't won critics over, and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier has been overshadowed by massive Disney+ hits. However, general audiences have disagreed. Captain America: Brave New World holds an audience score thirty percentage points above its critics' score, at 79%. Eternals' Popcornmeter stands at 77%, and The Incredible Hulk's stands at 69%. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier breaks the trend again with an audience score of 81% against a critics' score of 85%, but it still ranks quite high in the MCU's overall rankings.

MCU Movie	Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score	Ranking
The Incredible Hulk	69%	#34
*Captain America: Brave New World*	79%	#26
Eternals	77%	#29

Again, all three movies struggle to match most other MCU movies' Popcornmeter, but their audience score isn't as low as their critics' score. However, The Incredible Hulk's 69% audience score beats Captain Marvel's 45%, Eternals' 77% beats Captain America: The First Avenger's 75%, and Captain America: Brave New World's 79% matches that of Black Panther, which otherwise holds the top spot on Rotten Tomatoes' MCU rankings in terms of critics' score, at 96%. Going exclusively by audience reception, it seems possible for Captain America: Brave New World, Eternals, and The Incredible Hulk to have direct sequels, eventually.

Captain America: Brave New World Saves Some Of The MCU’s Least Popular Titles From Irrelevance

The Incredible Hulk And Eternals Will Likely Live On In Different Forms

Regardless of whether Captain America: Brave New World, The Incredible Hulk, Eternals, and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier receive direct sequels or not, the fact that Captain America: Brave New World made their plot relevant again is already a significant sign of faith in them by Marvel. Apart from Celestial Island and Samuel Sterns, Captain America: Brave New World also remembered Abomination's rampage and Thaddeus Ross' hatred for the Hulk, and it brought back Isaiah Bradley. While characters usually don't mention the events of The Incredible Hulkand Eternals explicitly, they still have an important place in the MCU's world history.

Thunderbolt Ross (Harrison Ford) as President, edited with Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) aiming his gun in Thunderbolts*.

Captain America: Brave New World Has Kicked Off An Unusual Trend For The MCU That's Already Been Confirmed For 3 2025 Releases

The MCU's first three releases of 2025 all have a connecting trait, and it's introduced by a few characters in Captain America: Brave New World.

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If Marvel Studios doesn't release direct sequels to these titles, future MCU projects can still revisit their story soon. Adamantium will probably play a key role in the MCU's X-Men movies and shows, the Leader may return in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars after his multiversal tease during Captain America: Brave New World's post-credits scene, and President Ross' transformation into Red Hulk could be addressed in any upcoming movie or show. In-universe, the events of The Incredible Hulk, Eternals, and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier may remain the main topic of discussion for a while after Captain America: Brave New World.

Source: Rotten Tomatoes

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