Marvel insider reveals what went wrong in “rough” Captain America: Brave New World shoot

Captain America: Brave New World was a notoriously choppy production, with reshoots, rewrites, and tension between the director and one star making it a “rough” shoot, according to one insider.

The new film marks the MCU’s return to the big screen after a restrained theatrical slate in 2024 (albeit, the studio released one of the highest-grossing movies ever with Deadpool & Wolverine).

Alas, things aren’t exactly going to plan. While it’s estimated to make $85 million in North America alone this weekend, the critical reception hasn’t been great (it has a 53% Rotten Tomatoes score). In our three-star review of Brave New World, we said it wasn’t “a return to the MCU’s halcyon days, nor a step into bold, uncharted franchise territory. Instead, it’s a profoundly mid, muddled actioner that’s just entertaining enough.”

In the eyes of one Marvel insider who worked on the movie’s reshoots, it was doomed during production. “I think everyone on the crew knew this is probably not going to be a good film,” they said.

Marvel insider says Harrison Ford was a “diva” on Captain America: Brave New World

Marvel Studios

Speaking anonymously to Vulture, a longtime Marvel crew worker explained why Brave New World’s shoot was so chaotic, citing Harrison Ford’s A-list ego and hasty changes to the film’s characters and story.

They said: “Some of the action sequences were not believable. We had a lot of frustrations on set. After principal photography was finished, it was like, ‘Oh, we’re going to introduce the leader of the Serpent Society.'”

This is about Sidewinder, Giancarlo Esposito’s villain who appears relatively briefly in the film. Little is explained about why he’s called Sidewinder, or what the Serpent Society is.

The insider also corroborated earlier reports about disastrous test screenings. “Maybe they don’t want to see anything political in an election year? Maybe they were divided on who they were voting for?” they said, believing Thaddeus Ross’ (played by Ford) similarities to Donald Trump may have put people off.

They also referenced the movie’s original title – New World Order – and how conspiracy theorists linked it to the idea that “Jews run the world.”

Notably, they said Ford was “one of the crankiest performers” they’d ever worked with. During his motion-capture scenes, “it seemed like he hated it and didn’t want to do it. And when Harrison was done, he was done. Everyone was trying to scramble to make him happy. That made for a very awkward work environment.”

“I’m not going to say the director [Julius Onah] was not equipped to handle that production. Basically, dealing with A-list egos was the issue. It was mainly just Harrison Ford. So that was a little disappointing. At the end of the day, it was the most tense Marvel shoot I’ve ever worked on,” they added.

With the movie in cinemas now, check out our list of the best Captain America: Brave New World Easter eggs and find out when Brave New World will come to Disney Plus. You can also read our breakdown of the movie’s ending and Brave New World’s post-credits scene.

Make sure you check out what’s dropping during Dexerto’s We LOVE TV & Movies week too.