‘Captain America: Brave New World’ Footage Reveals Harrison Ford’s Red Hulk, Giancarlo Esposito’s Sidewinder at Comic-Con

“Captain America: Brave New World” was a huge piece of Marvel’s massive Hall H presentation at San Diego Comic-Con this year, with fans getting an exclusive first look at footage from the film.

From onstage Kevin Feige said, “There was a movie called ‘Captain America: Winter Soldier that was grounded, relatively grounded.” Feige said that they have returned to that “level of grounded action movie.”

Anthony Mackie, onstage with the rest of the cast, described Sam as being a “cerebral character,” linking his character to his first introduction in “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” when he was a counselor.

Also revealed on stage: that Giancarlo Esposito will be playing Sidewinder, the king of the Serpent Society, a comic book villain first introduced in 1980. (Incredibly, the character was added entirely during the film’s extensive reshoots.)

The movie, set to release in February, follows Sam Wilson (Mackie) as he fully embraces his role as the new Captain America. He struggled with the idea of taking the mantle from Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) in “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” but after John Walker (Wyatt Russell) took the super soldier serum and, well, became unhinged in the job, Sam finally embraced what his friend wanted for him.

Now the struggle is, President Thunderbolt Ross (Harrison Ford, taking over the role from the late William Hurt) wants to make Captain America an official military position. As the first trailer for the movie made clear, the two clash on this idea.

Of course, Thunderbolt Ross has superpowers of his own — he’s also the Red Hulk. In the footage shown at SDCC, Ford’s President is seen at the White House, hosting “a historic event.” It seems that Captain America (now Mackie) has recovered a stockpile of adamantium, the extremely valuable substance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. What’s more, Ford’s Thunderbolt Ross wants Captain America to “rebuild the Avengers.” “The threats show no signs of slowing down,” Ross said.

There’s an attack on the White House, Ross is freaked out. Cap springs into action. There is a lot of footage from the already-released trailer, but we do get more footage of Ford’s Red Hulk. At the end of the footage President Ross is giving a press conference. He leans down, the desk starts shaking and as he rises up the Red Hulk, looking very much like Harrison Ford, rises up.

As the footage wrapped up, Ford, who is notoriously averse to San Diego Comic-Con, showed up on stage.

“This is a character that’s based on a lot of history, developed with Bill [William hurt] who played the character previously, but now I am Thaddeus and I am delighted and proud to become a member of the Marvel Universe,” Ford told the delighted crowd.

The film also stars Danny Ramirez, Shira Haas, Xosha Roquemore, Carl Lumbly, Giancarlo Esposito, Liv Tyler and Tim Blake Nelson. “Captain America: Brave New World” is produced by Kevin Feige and Nate Moore. Louis D’Esposito and Charles Newirth serve as executive producers.

“Captain America: Brave New World” hits theaters on February 14, 2025.