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However you look at it, there are a lot of issues with Captain America: Brave New World. The movie’s impact was undermined by putting the best reveals in the trailers and the plot was frustratingly similar to that of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. However, there are two areas where Anthony Mackie’s first outing as Captain America deserves praise; the stellar action sequences and the wonderful acting by Carl Lumbly as Isaiah Bradley, which may be one of the best performances in Marvel history.

We first saw Carl Lumbly as Isaiah Bradley in 2021’s The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, where he was portrayed as the forgotten Captain America. After serving his country proudly during the Korean War, he was imprisoned by the government and experimented on for 30 years. While Lumbly brought some much-needed gravitas to the role and served as a stark counterpoint to the celebrated hero of Steve Rogers, it wasn’t until Captain America: Brave New World that we get to see just how broken Bradley has become.

At the start of the film, Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson is doing his best to help Bradley return to a world that had betrayed him. The scene where the two, along with Joaquin Torres/Falcon, travel to the White House together is the first glimpse that perhaps there is hope that Bradley’s wounds might heal. He jokes. He laughs. He struts his stuff in his suit with a wonderful amount of swagger. It is a moment of joy among three people who we, as the audience, know are about to have a very bad couple of days.

Then Bradley is brainwashed and attempts to kill the President, which puts a bit of a damper on the night of celebration. Afterward, he immediately goes on the run, his instinct to flee heightened by his fear of being captured and imprisoned again. When Wilson convinces him to go quietly, Lumbly delivers what is possibly the most impactful line in the entire movie. He begs the soldiers and officers sent to arrest him not to ruin his suit – the suit he got married in years before. Bradley isn’t worried about his own life; that was over the moment he agreed to be captured. He just doesn’t want to see his beloved suit ruined.

This all sets up what is easily the most impressive moment in Captain America: Brave New World. When Wilson, investigating what really happened to Bradley and the others, visits Isaiah in prison, we see a totally different person behind the glass. Even before he speaks a word, you can practically see the PTSD oozing out of every pour. His posture is slumped and weak. His gaze is stuck in the middle distance, in what is immediately recognizable as the “1000-yard stare” that many soldiers develop after combat. His voice cracks and he is without hope.

Here was Isaiah Bradley, one of the most powerful figures in the movie at this point, broken in mind and soul. He is confronted by his worst fears and resigned to the fact that he will never taste freedom again. It is one of the most brutal and raw portrayals of PTSD you’ll find in cinema and Carl Lumbly deserves all the praise in the world for it.

Yes, we loved the action in Captain America: Brave New World. And Lumbly isn’t the only stellar performance in the movie – both Anthony Mackie and Harrison Ford have moments of greatness and nuance in a film that otherwise treats its characters like a sledgehammer. However, the three best scenes in the movie aren’t about superheroes or fights to save the world. Carl Lumbly’s portrayal of Isaiah Bradley elevates not just the scenes he is in but the movie as a whole.

Consider this a meta post-credits scene for Marvel fans - the four key articles you need to read next to continue the thrills:

• How to watch the Marvel Cinematic Universe in release or chronological order
• The best Marvel Comics stories of all time
• All the MCU movies ranked from best to worst
• Our weekly Marvel insider's column, Marvel Matters