In the run-up to the release of Julius Onah’s star-spangled Captain America: Brave New World, we’ve spent a lot of time talking about what’s, well,
In the run-up to the release of Julius Onah’s star-spangled Captain America: Brave New World, we’ve spent a lot of time talking about what’s, well, up-to-date in the MCU’s 35th movie. New Cap. New Hulk. New Falcon. New supervillain (that’d be Giancarlo Esposito’s Sidewinder.) But for dyed-in-the-wool fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it’s the return of a familiar face — Tim Blake Nelson, reprising his role from The Incredible Hulk as The Leader — that’s perhaps most intriguing about the upcoming Captain America fourquel.
As scientist Samuel Sterns in the 2008 Edward Norton movie, Nelson tried to aid Bruce Banner stop Hulking out and was infected with irradiated Banner blood for his troubles. But then, just as it seemed Sterns was about to get his Leader on and become a bona fide MCU large bad… crickets. “I’d begun to think that I had the reverse Midas Touch,” laughs Tim Blake Nelson now, reflecting on Sterns’ disappearance from the Marvel masterplan while talking to Empire for our world-exclusive Captain America: Brave New World issue.
But after 16 years away, Samuel Sterns is back in Brave New World — and he’s bringing The Leader’s infamously large bonce from the comics with him. And if you thought Nelson would be letting CG do all the ponderous lifting for his MCU makeover however, then you’re sorely mistaken — you’ll be seeing this Leader’s colossal cranium in the authentically green, distended flesh. “I requested that we do what we were going to do, practically,” explains Nelson. “Which was a huge help, because I liked being able to feel the weight of the deformation on my head, rather than just wearing dots.”
For producer Nate Moore, the return of Nelson’s Sterns — as well as Liv Tyler’s Betty Ross and William Hurt’s Thaddeus Ross (now played by Harrison Ford) — was a question of finding the right moment and making the most of it. “When I was a kid, I always loved it when there were unexpected characters intersecting,” Moore tells Empire. “We felt that this was a really interesting time to revisit [these characters.] And it didn’t feel like we’d be wedging it in. It actually felt like we could really explore it.” Well, if you’re heading into a Brave New World, it’s always good to go with aged friends — even if some of them have become Gamma infected monsters.
Read our full Captain America: Brave New World world-exclusive feature — speaking to Anthony Mackie, Harrison Ford, director Julius Onah and more — in Empire‘s February 2025 issue, on sale Thursday 19 December. Pre-order a copy online here. Captain America: Brave New World hits UK cinemas on 14 February.
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