Warning: The article contains spoilers for Captain America: Brave New World.Captain America: Brave New World’s villain design complaints have convinced me that theMCUtook the wrong lesson from one previously controversial character adaptation. Whilethe MCU timelinehas already brought a huge number of iconic Marvel villains from the comics onto the big and small screens, the nature of the colossal history of the franchise means there’s still a staggering amount of major antagonists who’ve yet to make their appearances.
The MCU is rightfully associated with bringing some phenomenal villain stories to the general public, with figures like Thanos defining the franchise’s success and launching characters into being some of the most famous movie antagonists of all time. However, with such a goliath franchise there also has to be some less successful moments to learn from, and the MCU has plenty of these when it comes to its villain adaptations. Unfortunately, it seems trying to learn from past decisions may have actively hampered one villain’s story in the first movie in theMCU’s 2025 release roster.
Captain America: Brave New World’s Leader Design Has Received Criticism
Captain America: Brave New Worldhas received divided reception from audiences thus far, with this being especially clear when looking at its dividedRotten Tomatoesscores, which come in at a 49% Tomatometer (critic score), and 80% Popcornmeter (audience score) respectively. There are a range of criticisms that have been levied at the fourth Captain America movie, including complaints about its story pacing, its script, and the decisions made regarding the various villains that appear throughout the film’s plot.
Interestingly, The Leader has received a fair share of these complaints since the movie’s debut, with many of them directed at the character’s design. While Samuel Sterns' body is shown to have been changed as a result of the Hulk blood his wounds are exposed inThe Incredible Hulk,this altered look is decidedly different to his conventional comic depiction. The MCU iteration has a far smaller head than the extended cranium of his comic counterpart, and has an appearance more resembling the flesh of his brain being exposed and inflamed slightly above where skull would be, rather than extending his head upwards.
The MCU Leader’s Design Suggests Marvel Learned The Wrong Lesson From MODOK
The decision to make The Leader’s MCU design more realistic - and avoid the potential for an uncanny valley appearance that mirroring the comic character’s larger head presents - seems especially notable givenCaptain America: Brave New Worldcomes only 2 years after one of the most criticized MCU villain designs of all time, which bares some key similarities character-wise. 2023’sAnt-Man & The Wasp: Quantumaniasaw the debut of not only Kang but also prolific Marvel villain MODOK, who is naturally a trickier character to bring to live-action because of his own larger-than-lie proportions and head size.
Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania’s worldwide box office comes in at around $400 million, marking a lower result for the franchise that would theoretically warrant future releases trying to avoid any potential missteps the movie could be seen to have made.
However, the decision to lean into MODOK’s comic design by simply stretching Darren Cross' face to fit the different dimensions of the MODOK look didn’t go down well, as the approach fell flat with viewers who felt it made the villain look more surreal than simply fully leaning into the less lifelike aspects of the design. This wasn’t helped by the MCU iteration of the villain’s story, which changed things drastically by not only having Darren Cross be the person who becomes MODOK, but also by having the character be little more than an awkward comic relief peon to Kang before the movie kills MODOK off.
Given just how unpopular the decisions with MODOK proved to be for the MCU, it stands to reason there may have been hopes to avoid repeating this with The Leader via giving him a more grounded design adaptation. With The Leader set to be a far more serious villain in a movie where regarding him as a genuine threat is paramount to the story’s success, it would thus be par for the course to ensure all steps are taken to ensure he’s perceived as legitimately as possible, which would naturally equate to avoiding a more classic comic design for the character.
However, the MCU has proved over the years that there’s plenty of room for comic-accurate designs, even when these make characters seem less realistic.The particular issue with MODOK was arguably the methodology used to adapt his design into live-action combined with the other unpopular alterations made to him, and not that his comic design was less realistic to begin with. Following a similar vein, it seems The Leader could have pulled off the character’s classic comic design in the MCU, especially since many had been waiting to see this come to fruition sinceThe Incredible Hulkteased Stern’s fate.
How The MCU Could Still Make A More Classic Comic-Accurate Leader Design
Captain America: Brave New Worldleaves the path open for future stories featuring both Red Hulk and The Leader by locking both in The Raft, as shown by the ending of the film. Indeed, theCaptain America: Brave New Worldpost-creditshaving The Leader warn Sam Wilson of an impending multiversal threat sets up the prospect that he could appear in upcoming Multiverse Saga movies, since Captain America would be likely to go back to the supergenius who first flagged whatever danger is incoming to him if he can.
Given we know Samuel Sterns was dosing Thaddeus Ross with gamma in the medication he made for him in order to increase his power level by making him into the Red Hulk,it could stand to reason that he could be willing to up his own gamma dosage if the opportunity arose, to increase his intellect and probability-based prediction skills. As such, changing the character’s look could make sense here, as further exposure to radiation would warrant further changes in Sterns' appearance and powers, allowing him to also appear as an evolving threat for the franchise’s heroes.
Either this or the rest of the setup for the final chapters of the Multiverse Saga could follow up onCaptain America: Brave New Worldand allow the MCU to address these complaints - since a different multiversal Avengers could justifiably call The Leader up to help them. Whatever the case may end up being, the reaction to the character’s MCU design creates a fascinating possibility for the franchise to go all-in on building a more classic comic-accurate look for The Leader, much as Marvel brought Wolverine’s yellow costume intoDeadpool & Wolverineafter years of it being absent from screens.
