Captain America: Brave New World is almost here, but are you wondering what other MCU films or TV shows you need to know about in order to be able to fully enjoy the newest edition to Phase Five?
A few things to note, there will be SPOILERS in the list. Also, Thaddeus Ross is played by Harrison Ford in Captain America: Brave New World, but was previously played by William Hurt, who sadly passed away from prostate cancer in 2022.
Must Watch
- The Incredible Hulk (2008)
- Thaddeus Ross is introduced.
- Thaddeus Ross was in charge of a team trying to make a version of the super soldier serum by using Gamma Radiation. On the team were his daughter, Betty Ross (Liv Tyler), and her boyfriend, Bruce Banner (Edward Norton, later replaced by Mark Ruffalo). The experiment turned Banner into a giant green monster known as the Hulk.
- Thaddeus Ross wanted to weaponize the Hulk for the United States Military.
- Bruce Banner goes on the run to try and cure himself of the radiation. Banner gets in contact with a Mr. Blue aka Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson), who attempts to help find an antidote for the Gamma Radiation. Last we saw Samuel Sterns, he was exposed to Gamma Radiation.
- For more details about the plot of The Incredible Hulk, check out the summary in our MCU Guide, Part 1
- The Falcon and the Winter Soldier [6 episodes] (2021)
- After being given Captain America’s shield, Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) feels conflicted with being the new Captain America since he is a black man and he feels that the country does not represent him.
- Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez) is introduced as a member of the United States Air Force, who works with Sam Wilson on locating a terrorist organization called the Flag Smashers.
- Sam Wilson meets Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly), an African-American Korean War Veteran. Isaiah was also injected with the super soldier serum, but he was imprisoned and tortured for 30 years as a subject of experimentation.
- Sam Wilson takes up the mantle of Captain America and embraces his new role.
Good to Know but Not Necessary to Watch
NOTE: Many of these will be important for when Thunderbolts* releases on May 2, 2025 – keep an eye out for the article on that one!
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
- The introduction of Sam Wilson / Falcon.
- Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
- Sam Wilson joins the Avengers… (at the very end).
- Ant-Man (2015)
- Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) aka “Tic Tac,” has a run with a certain flying Avenger. Sam Wilson, it was Sam Wilson.
- Captain America: Civil War (2016)
- Thaddeus Ross, now the United States Secretary of State, presents the Sakovia Accords (a legal document that regulates and controls enhanced / super-powered individuals which can only be used over the supervision of the government) to the Avengers, so…
- Sam Wilson / Falcon makes some choices that jeopardize his Avenger career, which puts him on the run with Steve Rogers / OG Captain America (Chris Evans) and Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson).
- Black Widow (2021)
- Thaddeus Ross hunts Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow.
- Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
- Sam Wilson, along with his buddies Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff come back for the fight to save the world, but Sam gets blipped instead.
- Thaddeus Ross enforcing his government control over the Avengers, gets upset when a few rogue players come back into the picture – Sam and his buddies Nat and Steve. Thaddeus also gets blipped.
- Avengers: Endgame (2019)
- Sam Wilson comes back from the blip and helps save the world.
- Thaddeus Ross comes back from the blip and attends Tony Starks funeral.
- Old man Steve Rogers passes on the Captain America shield to Sam Wilson.
- Eternals (2021)
- We learn that Earth is the host of a Celestial named Tiamut. During Tiamut’s emergence, he would consume Earth and all of its inhabitants. The Eternals were able to stop this process from happening. However, part of Tiamut’s head and hand had already visibly emerged from beneath the Earth.
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