Popverse's top stories of the day

• Is the Severance procedure real? Not exactly, but Apple TV+'s scifi plot has a real-life parallel
• David Lynch dies, aged 78
• Creature Commandos season 1 finale: Who dies, what's next, & when can I watch more of James Gunn's DC animated hit?

Change is in the air in the MCU. 2024 felt like something of a reset for Marvel, where they only had one movie hit cinemas. Now, they’re opening 2025 with a new Captain America movie. However, February's Brave New World sees a new hero holding the shield - Sam Wilson, after playing sidekick for over a decade, is now the hero. Sure, switching up leads in a successful film series is a big risk, but, both narratively and thematically, Sam Wilson is the right Captain America for our time.

Ever since Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson was introduced in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, he’s been practically joined at the hip to Rogers. Even the throwaway line of “I do what he does. Just slower,” begins to set up the similarities between the two while highlighting their differences. And it is the contrast between the two that makes Captain America: Brave New World a movie that I have to see in theaters. 

Where Steve Rogers was always the “man out of time,” no matter how long he spent in the modern day, Sam Wilson isn’t held back by being out of touch with the world around him. He doesn’t have a long-lost love to pine over (yet) and he is going to understand at least most of the references that are thrown his way. Wilson is a clean slate for the studio to deliver the kind of tense political thriller that audiences are expecting from Captain America.

There is also something deliciously ironic about the first Marvel movie in the second Trump presidency to feature a Black man as Captain America. The George Floyd protests of 2020 marked a turning point in his first term, something that The Falcon and The Winter Soldier briefly touched on. While Sam was famous for helping to save the world in Avengers: Endgame, his credit still wasn’t good enough to get a loan to save his boat. The fact that Isaiah Bradley is returning in Captain America: Brave New World, this time as a potential presidential assassin, suggests Sam Wilson’s blackness is going remain front-and-center in the new film. It is a layer of storytelling that we couldn’t have from a Steve Rogers-led Captain America movie.

Yet, for all their differences, both heroes are bound by a desire to simply do the right thing, no matter the cost. It would be unfair to suggest that Wilson only followed Rogers into fights – he was always an eager accomplice to their adventures. While Brave New World will probably feature signs that Wilson struggles to live up to the seemingly perfect image that the world had of Steve Rogers, he should, when given the chance, show that his instinct is always to do the right thing. Even when it makes him an enemy of the President of the United States.

This isn’t to say that I’m not a fan of Steve Rogers’ time in the limelight, but it is hard to deny that Sam Wilson is the perfect successor to the Captain America title. Not only is he already a familiar face to Marvel fans, both in the MCU and as one of the heroes who carried the shield while Rogers’ was temporarily dead in the comics, but this feels like the culmination of everything the character has always been about. Sam Wilson has always been the perfect successor to the Captain America shield and I can’t wait to see him prove it on the big screen.

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