Captain America: Brave New World has been awarded a B- CinemaScore, marking the lowest grade ever received by a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie. This places the film behind even The Marvels and the previously criticized Eternals and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. That means Brave New World is offically the weakest audience-rated MCU film to date.
CinemaScore, a trusted market research firm that surveys moviegoers on opening night, provides an initial snapshot of audience satisfaction. A B- grade is a clear sign of disappointment, placing Brave New World in the same category as notable superhero misfires like 2003’s Hulk, Dark Phoenix, and Venom: The Last Dance. For a franchise known for its history of once-consistent success, this is a significant setback.
Harrison Ford as the Red Hulk in Captain America: Brave New World – YouTube, Marvel Entertainment
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This low CinemaScore is even more glaring when compared to previous Captain America films. Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Captain America: Civil War both received an A CinemaScore, while Captain America: The First Avenger earned an A-. Even The Incredible Hulk, often considered one of the MCU’s weaker early entries (though I really like it!), managed an A- grade. The sharp decline in audience approval underscores growing fatigue with the MCU’s direction and dissatisfaction with this latest installment.
Oof – so bad… uh oh#CaptainAmericaBraveNewWorld
This is the lowest CinemaScore the #MCU has ever gotten.
It’s lower than #TheFlash #MovieMath on Sunday pic.twitter.com/d6JDhWKpHr
— Grace Randolph (@GraceRandolph) February 15, 2025
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Even Grace Randolph of Beyond the Trailer, who is known for her generally favorable MCU reviews (and even rated Brave New World positively), acknowledged the severity of the situation, tweeting, “Oof – so bad… uh oh #CaptainAmericaBraveNewWorld. This is the lowest CinemaScore the #MCU has ever gotten. It’s lower than #TheFlash.”
The troubled production of Captain America: Brave New World has been well-documented and may have contributed to its lukewarm reception. The film faced extensive reshoots after disastrous test screenings, with insiders revealing that 22 days of additional shooting were needed to rework key sequences and add a new villain, played by Giancarlo Esposito. These last-minute changes ballooned the film’s budget to somewhere between $350 and $375 million, putting immense pressure on its box office performance.
Harrison Ford as the Red Hulk in Captain America: Brave New World – YouTube, Marvel Entertainment
READ: Captain America: Brave New World Movie Review – The MCU is Done
Further complicating matters, Harrison Ford’s portrayal of Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross, who becomes the Red Hulk, created behind-the-scenes challenges. Ford, now 82, was reportedly difficult to work with. Crew members reportedly described him as a “diva” who disliked the motion-capture process required for his character. This tension on set, coupled with director Julius Onah’s limited experience with large-scale productions, contributed to a chaotic filmmaking environment.
Political controversy also plagued the film. The original title, Captain America: New World Order, sparked backlash due to its association with divisive political issues, prompting Disney to change it to the more neutral Brave New World. The film’s portrayal of Ross as a powerful, authoritarian leader who transforms into the Red Hulk drew comparisons to Donald Trump, adding fuel to an already polarized cultural climate. Disney even edited a trailer featuring an assassination attempt on Ross after the real-life attempt on Trump’s life, further highlighting the film’s struggles to navigate political sensitivities.
Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson/Captain America in Marvel Studios‘ CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD. Photo by Eli Adé. © 2024 MARVEL.
Adding to the turbulence was Anthony Mackie’s controversial press tour. Mackie, who takes on the mantle of Captain America in the film, faced criticism after stating that Captain America shouldn’t represent America. The backlash forced him to issue a hasty social media clarification, but the damage was done. Mackie’s comments, combined with the film’s production woes, created an uphill battle for Brave New World even before its release.
As Captain America: Brave New World continues its theatrical run, the B- CinemaScore could hinder its box office longevity. With Marvel Studios already facing scrutiny over declining quality and audience fatigue, this latest setback raises significant questions about the future of the MCU and its ability to maintain its once-unshakable dominance at the box office.
Do you agree with this Captain America: Brave New World Cinemascore rating? Sound off in the comments below and let us know!
The Disney cheque didn’t clear.
Mackie was a major misfire. He was pretty good as a side-kick Falcon. They could have make Falcon a major character, let him grow, and people would eat it up. Make him a few upgrades, lean a bit more into the drones, maybe going a bit for trans-humanism. But nooo, they needed black Captain America at all cost. And what a cost it is. Another major flop, another nail in the coffin and another movie that didn’t even made it to zero profit on the first weekend by far (which is major indicator if the movie is a flop or not).
This reeks of a major reboot. The same way as the DC is preparing to do after the horrendous Flash movie with Ezra Miller.
This Marvel propaganda movie was funded by USAID, no doubt…
Eh. Doubt that. The whole movie cost around 300 million dollars. USAID gave Disney money for National Geographic documentaries. If they funneled some cash from that to this, it would be just a few hundred thousands maybe a million to hire some DEI hires to stand around and look important.
USAID gave away a lot of money, and a lot of those money went to good causes. Please, don’t be reductive. It’s like saying that Red Cross is run by CIA, just because CIA hijacked Red Cross’ vaccination against malaria/ebola/”enter disease here” of middle-eastern/African villages to map the families of terrorists by DNA.
USAID does a lot of important work all around the world, work that kept USA safe from a lot of danger, simply by preventing that danger even arising. Sadly, it was hijacked by activists and bastards pushing dangerous political agendas thanks to Obama/Biden and Biden/Harris administrations. (Why Obama? Because Obama started this official DEI funding)
Mackie is perfect for roles that the character is never supposed to be completely series. For instance, he’s perfect in Twisted Metal IMO.
The pitch for this movie was likely tangential to: “BLM is the new Captain America”. Disgraceful. Go woke, go broke, Disney.
The BLM website donations went straight to a Democrat site. ActBlue if memory serves. Then they complain that the money wasn’t given from the Democrats to black people, as if that was ever the real plan.
B- feels high to me. Everything I’ve heard says this movie is closer to a D+ at best. It was bad, really bad, but there are worse movies out there and worse movies still to come (looking at you, Dirt Brown).
Just remember in the Snow Brown remake: they’re changing the term “fair” to mean fairness and justice.
This means that the Queen, who wants to kill Snow Brown, wants her dead out of the petty spite that Snow Brown is the most just woman in all the land. The Queen is the second most just woman in all the land.
What kind of evil and nasty stuff do you think the average woman in that land does if the second most just woman will kill out of petty spite?
Not the worst MCU movie of all time, just the worst MCU movie so far.