Captain America: Brave New World Left Out A Key Character From A Future MCU Franchise

While Captain America: Brave New World featured the Marvel Cinematic Universe debut of Red Hulk and the Leader’s return, one character in particular was a natural inclusion and somehow didn’t make it into the finished product. One of the highlights of an MCU project is the anticipation of what characters or storylines will be set up in a project. For Captain America: Brave New World, that includes namedropping Adamantium, Sam Wilson leading a new team of Avengers, and much more. While seeing Red Hulk, Leader, and Falcon was cool, they don’t make up for the fact that a character that would have made all the sense in the world was missing from Captain America: Brave New World.

Captain America: Brave New World follows the events of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, the Disney+ series featuring Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) and Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan). The show featured Sam wrestling with the weight of taking on the mantle of Captain America and also introduced the first Black super-soldier, Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly). Isaiah helped influence Sam’s decision to become the new Captain America and even had a key role in the plot of Captain America: Brave New World. But where was Isaiah’s nephew, Eli Bradley (Elijah Richardson)? Eli’s absence was pretty conspicuous, as he’s a future member of the Young Avengers, going by the hero name of Patriot.

Captain America: Brave New World could have set up the Young Avengers

Marvel had plenty of storylines to juggle in Captain America: Brave New World, but one of the easiest was continuing to lay the groundwork for the Young Avengers. First introduced in 2005, the Young Avengers replaced Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in the fallout of “Avengers Disassembled.” The group has gone through several iterations over the years, but their loyal following has remained persistent. You could say it’s so persistent that Marvel Studios has started sprinkling candidates for the Young Avengers throughout the MCU.

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It all started with WandaVision, the first Marvel series to debut on Disney+. There we got the introductions of Billy (Wiccan) and Tommy (Speed), the sons of Vision and Scarlet Witch. Next came The Falcon and the Winter Soldier with Eli, the nephew of Isaiah Bradley who takes on the superhero moniker of Patriot. Other Young Avengers we’ve seen in the MCU include Kate Bishop in Hawkeye, Kid Loki in Loki, America Chavez in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and Cassie Lang in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, That’s not including Ironheart in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

Even though Ms. Marvel was never a Young Avenger in the comics, her character has started the process of forming the team in the MCU. The post-credits scene in The Marvels featured Ms. Marvel paying a visit to Kate Bishop to inform her that she was putting together a team, and that she also had her eye on Ant-Man’s daughter Cassie Lang. This all but confirms the Young Avengers will eventually join the MCU in some capacity, especially after Wiccan was revealed to be in the cast of Agatha All Along. That series ended with Wiccan and Agatha going off to find Wiccan’s brother, Tommy aka Speed.

Why did Captain America: Brave New World neglect to include Patriot?

Captain America: Brave New World featured Isaiah Bradley being used as a pawn in the Leader’s evil scheme of revenge against President Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (Harrison Ford). Isaiah went from being invited to the White House by Sam Wilson to being brainwashed by Leader and attacking President Ross, ultimately being arrested and sent to prison. Sam did visit Isaiah in jail, but there could have also been a scene with Sam checking in with Eli to see how he was holding up. We also got a training sequence between Sam, Isaiah, and Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez) that could have easily included Eli, if for no other reason than to remind fans that he does exist in the MCU, and is a potential candidate for the Young Avengers.

There are several potential reasons why Patriot wasn’t in Captain America: Brave New World. It could have come down to a time issue and trying to cram so many characters into the film. Or the creators behind Brave New World wanted to keep the focus on Isaiah’s journey without Eli getting lost in the shuffle. We also have to factor in the reshoots that inserted Giancarlo Esposito as Serpent Society leader Sidewinder, as well as scenes being cut. For example, WWE Superstar Seth Rollins played a Serpent member but his scenes were cut from the film. We don’t know if Eli was originally in Captain America: Brave New World and had his scenes cut, but if his role was left on the cutting room floor, it’d be a disappointing fact to learn.

Hopefully, the MCU will bring Patriot back sooner rather than later. Every hero that can possibly be a Young Avenger has already made it onto screens, so it’s just a matter of time before they star in a Disney+ series or feature film. It’s too bad Captain America: Brave New World didn’t help speed up that process, but the MCU Young Avengers will certainly need a Cap-inspired hero of their own to feel complete.

Captain America: Brave New World is in theaters: MCU movies and TV series can be streamed on Disney+.