Black Panther Easter Egg Explains How Captain America Can Fight Red Hulk in Brave New World

The new Captain America is taking flight with some old tricks. Captain America: Brave New World pits star-spangled Avenger Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) against the raging Red Hulk, the hulked-out alter-ego of U.S. President Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford). As shown in 2021’s The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Sam turned down taking the serum that transformed Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) into a super soldier — a serum that a former HYDRA scientist was able to recreate using the blood of Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly), the first Black super soldier.

While the replicated serum empowered Karli Morgenthau’s (Erin Kellyman) Flag Smashers and the U.S. government-sanctioned Cap John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Wilson’s winged Captain America was able to hold his own with an upgraded version of his EXO-7 Falcon flight suit created by the Wakandans.

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Outfitted by the Wakandans, the suit’s mechanized collapsible wings were reinforced with near-indestructible vibranium, the strongest and rarest metal on the planet that absorbs and reflects kinetic energy. It’s stronger (but lighter) than steel, bulletproof, and vibration absorbent, and has been used in everything from Captain America’s shield to the Winter Soldier’s (Sebastian Stan) vibranium arm and T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) and Shuri’s (Letitia Wright) Black Panther armor.

New footage from the Marvel Studios movie (above) shows that Captain America’s new Wakandan-made suit has the same kinetic absorption capability as Black Panther’s suit, which can contain and redistribute that energy into a powerful, purple shockwave (first seen in 2018’s Black Panther.) This is made possible due to nanotechnology and kinetic disbursement embedded in the armor.

“With the serum, you can fight anybody. When you don’t have the serum, you have to be smart and engineer different ways of defeating [enemies],” Mackie said during Disney’s APAC Content Showcase in November. “With Sam, him being a counselor, he uses more of his brains than his brawn. He uses more of his wit than his fist.”

After all, it will take more than brawn to fight the Red Hulk, who retains Ross’ intelligence while transformed (unlike his green-skinned counterpart).

“It’s a high-tech suit,” Mackie added of his helmeted flight suit. “I went to Wakanda, met with everybody in Wakanda, we had dinner. It was a great time. They threw me a welcome party. It was dope. But when I was leaving, they gave me a suit, right? I put it on. I can kick harder, I can fly faster, and it gives me the ability to be more agile in my skills, so it’s taking all my skills to a completely different level.”

In the comics, Red Hulk’s weakness is his susceptibility to overheating. When the Hulk gets angry, he gets stronger; when Red Hulk gets angry, he gets hotter, and he’s able to disperse absorbed gamma radiation as fiery heat. So Red Hulk may be stronger, but Sam Wilson is smarter.

Tickets are now on sale for Marvel Studios’ Captain America: Brave New World, which opens in theaters Feb. 14.