Brave New World Post-Credits Scene Explained

On your left! This article contains major spoilers for “Captain America: Brave New World.”

Although already a mainstay in the Marvel Cinematic Universe for over a decade, Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) has finally received his first big-screen solo outing as the new Captain America in “Brave New World” … but, in its final moments, the focus is put squarely on what may happen next. Yes, the film itself left plenty to be desired, as you can read in my review for /Film. The circumstances are somewhat less than ideal for a film meant to set up, well, a brave new world where our hero positions himself as the leader of whatever form the Avengers takes in the years ahead. While the actual makeup of that team is yet to be revealed, the blockbuster doesn’t miss one last opportunity to tease the dangers they may face. MCU fans have been trained by now to stick around for the post-credits stingers to come, and this particular one in “Brave New World” may require a little more explanation than others in this franchise.

To set the stage, “Brave New World” unspools as one vast conspiracy centered on various conflicts: the tentative treaty crafted around the discovery of adamantium on the “Celestial mass” left in the Indian Ocean after “Eternals,” the personal misgivings between Sam and General President Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford), and one hidden grudge that has been brewing in the shadows for well over a decade and a half by now. The reveal that the mysterious “buyer” behind the curtain is none other than Tim Blake Nelson’s Samuel Sterns/The Leader from “The Incredible Hulk” may not have come as a huge surprise (at least, not for those who’ve been following the breadcrumbs all along), but what comes next is certainly bound to raise eyebrows.

The post-credits scene picks up mere moments after the end of the film. After his grand plan to unleash the Red Hulk as revenge against Ross is thwarted by Cap, Sterns ends up a prisoner on the Raft. His superhuman ability to process probabilities and anticipate the future, however, hasn’t lost a single bit of its potency. While talking to Sam, the villain drops an ominous foreshadowing about “the others” who will arrive presently and pose an even greater threat. Let’s dig into what exactly this might mean.

“It’s coming,” Samuel Sterns foreshadows in the post-credits scene of “Brave New World.” “I’ve seen it in the probabilities, seen it plain as day. All you heroes protecting this world, and you think you’re the only ones? Do you think this is the only world? We’ll see what happens when you have to protect this place … from the others.” For the majority of the runtime, the film hardly strays far from its (relatively) grounded tone. Sam and his sidekick/new Falcon Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez) only ever trade fists with various henchmen, minor antagonists like Sidewinder (Giancarlo Esposito), and, of course, the Red Hulk fully unleashed in the climax. Otherwise, the idea of fighting off alien invasions and other fantastical dangers is chalked up to the kinds of heroic feats that only Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers could handle.

So how does this abrupt and unexpected hint about the multiverse fit in? It’s a little hard to say, in all honesty. At no point does the script set up or even vaguely imply that any multiversal threat might be bearing down on our characters, until this moment. This is a far cry from the post-credits scene in 2012’s “The Avengers,” for instance, which left plenty of wiggle room to build up to that jaw-dropping reveal that none other than the Mad Titan Thanos had been pulling the strings in the background. But since the multiverse has played a larger role in recent Marvel movies and shows, it’s easy to interpret this moment as a warning of what’s to come: Robert Downey, Jr.’s Doctor Doom.

Of course, Sterns’ maddeningly vague warning isn’t referring to just one person, but a plurality: “the others.” That would mean the threat has to be far greater than just one person, even Doctor Doom. However, there might be an easy explanation for that, as well. 

Perhaps there’s a simpler explanation for why the “Captain America: Brave New World” post-credits stinger feels like it comes out of nowhere. Consider the possibility that this was originally meant to set up something very differently in the MCU, only to be repurposed once plans changed. There’s no hiding the reality that this sequel went through more than its fair share of behind-the-scenes reshoots, but what if certain readjustments were necessary through no fault of its own? One controversy looming large over the MCU for quite some time was the allegations of harassment and abuse surrounding star Jonathan Majors, whose legal conviction finally forced Kevin Feige’s hand to drop him altogether — and, with him, the entire storyline of Kang the Conqueror and the Council of Kangs.

What if all of this happened too late for “Brave New World” to fully account for? If fans parse Samuel Sterns’ final monologue as a dire warning of the Kang threat, which was established in the waning moments of “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” then his reference to “the others” certainly makes a lot more sense. But, since desperate times call for desperate measures, it’s relatively easy to imagine that Feige and director Julius Onah decided that the scene as originally intended still essentially works, this time as a broader call to arms against the multiverse as a whole. That way, it could still tease a host of multiversal threats (including Doctor Doom) that may very well be in the offing. Technically, that interpretation would make this the MCU’s first in-universe clue setting up the arrival of Marvel’s most popular villain ahead of “Avengers: Doomsday.”

For now, all we have are educated guesses and theories as to how this post-credits scene will factor into the overall MCU. Until then, “Captain America: Brave New World” is currently playing in theaters.