Before 2023, it would have been unthinkable for a Marvel Studios film to flop at the box office. Regardless, The Marvels failed to, well, marvel audiences, earning a bleak $206.1 million worldwide, while Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania disappointed the studio with only $476.

Brave New World to be a palate cleanser — one that remembers and builds on the events of Marvel’s other recent features. The film does a serviceable job of establishing a new status quo, but it struggles to articulate how this Captain America is different from his predecessor.

The screenplay of the latest movie in the MCU tries to be too many things to too many prior adventures, but at its core is a resonant story about Black heroism.