Captain America: Brave New World (2025)

[00:00:03] This is a Bramble Jam Podcast Hi, I'm Bran and I love Marvel Mondays Hi, I'm Bran and I also love Marvel Mondays I'm Dan and I despise Marvel Mondays Oh, come on now This is Deck The Hallmark Podcast That's mean, Dave Wow Was it my tone?

[00:00:39] Home stretch, folks Home stretch Yeah Look at how excited Ry guys are watching on the YouTube Oh my goodness I got so excited So excited Three, four movies left? Four left Yeah, four kind of today Yeah, that's right We'll just watch Spider-Man in theaters at this point, right? I mean, we'll just go again Yeah, it's still around We'll watch it and we'll be ready to go I will say, let's see, it's almost October It's the final week of September

[00:01:09] Someone's getting married this weekend What? That's true How are you feeling about that? Guys Time out, this comes out when? On the 28th Oh, okay Yeah, it's the 28th, obviously I have heard a wise man once say that the final three weeks before marriage is the toughest stretch It's been great It's been great Okay Great Yeah, he's ready to go Are you excited? Dan and I are coming out in a couple days

[00:01:45] Yes, we both are It's crazy It's like, as I'm sure you both know, you've both been married It's like, it snapped and it was here And, you know, just hope everything comes together But in terms of like the marriage itself, we're very pumped Yeah, it's all, the actual ceremony and procedures all a blur It is what it is Yeah But you're still gonna be, I know you're going on your honeymoon But you're still gonna be here next week? For Marvel Monday You're gonna fly back from your honeymoon for Marvel Monday, right? Yeah, I think I'll just take it from Italy, honestly Great, awesome Yeah, that's fantastic And I, you're right, you're in a little bit of a different setup today than normal Correct

[00:02:14] A lot less going on behind you Is the Caboose present? No, no Caboose Okay I said, I said, you know what? It's a week before the wedding Let's go Echo, yes Caboose, no You seem Not Echo the Marvel Disney Plus show Yeah, I didn't want to say, but you did not seem Caboosted You didn't seem like you were really Yeah, like if, like, so this is the problem Like, like at home, if I didn't have the Caboose I think I'd be like here when I chat Yeah, yeah, yeah Now this chair's a little better Yeah You know, I'm in the, I'm in the war room Getting ready for the wedding

[00:02:44] What's interesting is I wonder what your space is gonna look like next week In Italy Yeah, it's gonna be wild In Italy I think they have, I think they have these in Italy Do you think they have, like, a marker board with like a ring light reflection In Italy? For next week, yes, but I think the only difference is next week it will say Italy above my head Okay, very good Wow, interesting I like that a lot, yeah As, as, as, if you What a promise to make before going to Italy Wow I just want it to be as, I wanna feel like, if you're gonna do this in Italy, I wanna feel Italian

[00:03:13] Yeah, of course If you can try to find a space that really shows off Italy That would mean a lot to me Will do We are talking Captain America I thought we were done with these We got Brave New World We got a Brave New World We got a Brave New World Brave New Cap Brave New Falcon Brave New Movie? I don't know I don't know This one originally premiered at the TCL Chinese Theater What a, what a theater On February 11th, 2025 Yep

[00:03:42] And then on Valentine's Day, Valentine's, February 14th You could go out, get your, with your new boo thing Eat some, get some chocolate, go for a nice dinner Cap things off with cap Brave New World How about that? Brave New World Valentine's adventure Brave New Relationship That's right Brave New Relationship Right And it went a little something like this Five months into President Ross's presidency

[00:04:11] Sam Wilson is settling into life as the new Captain America And he's got his hands full, Dan After a mission to Mexico Sam and his newly appointed Falcon, Joaquin Torres They recover some stolen government tech Joaquin is thrilled to be taking over the Falcon mantle While Sam is a little more hesitant about putting him in harm's way Because I don't know if you know this Neither one of these two Jokers have actual superpowers

[00:04:39] They've just got good tech Yeah And so look, you know, look it out for my boy Joaquin here Sam and Joaquin soon find themselves invited to the White House from President Ross So Ross wants to prevent a global arms race Which is a good thing, I would say And proposes a treaty An international treaty Seems pretty straightforward, right? Yeah No What? Things get complicated fast Because during the summit

[00:05:08] Several men, including super soldier Isaiah Bradley Suddenly opened fire on President Ross and other world leaders When they hear a little song The attackers are captured But none of them have any idea What caused them to actually open fire on the president Joaquin tracks a phone call to Camp Echo 1 A secret government base in West Virginia

[00:05:37] Born and raised There, they discover Dr. Samuel Stearns Do you remember Dr. Stearns? Oh, of course I do Shout out to Stearns From the... Was that the Incredible Hulk movie? That was the Incredible Hulk movie with Ed Norton That we don't even talk about anymore Tim Blake Nelson, yes He's back, folks Yes, he is Stearns gained enhanced intelligence after being exposed to Bruce Banner's blood Way back during the Rampage days

[00:06:05] And he's been using his smarts, his genius To manipulate people from behind bars As they race to stop Stearns They discover his real goal is to destroy President Ross' reputation By turning the president's own secrets against him And Ross has plenty of secrets Including the fact that he's dying from heart failure And has been taking these pills created by Stearns To keep him alive

[00:06:34] Ross refuses to release Stearns because he needs these pills Which gives Stearns pretty big reason to want revenge That revenge That revenge is, you know, pumping Ross full of gamma radiation via these pills Yeah So they are keeping him alive But they're also pumping him full of radiation So it's not one thing, it's another You know what I'm talking about You said it If it's not gamma, it's radiation I tell you You got it You said it Stearns eventually turns himself over to Sam

[00:07:03] But his arrest and his connection to Ross are revealed publicly during a press conference Which causes Ross to completely lose control and transform into Red Hulk What? They're red? Since when have they red? Well, it's all the gamma It's all the gamma That's exactly right Yeah And he destroys part of the White House And the White House down, if you will

[00:07:29] Sam manages to fight Ross long enough to get him To talk to him and remind him of the good times with the cherry blossoms and the whatnot And Ross finally comes back to himself Isaiah Bradley is officially released And Ross resigns before being imprisoned And just when you thought everything wrapped up nicely Stearns has one last warning to Sam

[00:07:56] Something is coming from other worlds What could it mean? That my friends was Captain America Brave New World Captain America 4 if you will The quattro If you will The quad I would say this is the Fantastic Four Oh, okay Interesting This is Fantastic Four Okay, so the Fantastic Four we're gonna watch in a couple weeks Not this It's different Different All together It's different Yeah, man We're the Fantastic Three We are That's true All right, let's take a break We'll come back

[00:08:25] We'll break this movie down here on Deck the Hallmark Deck the Hallmark Welcome back, everybody It's great to be here today Talking about Captain America Brave New World We got Captain America We've got Thunderbolts We've got Fantastic Four Yeah We've got Spider-Man And then we'll be all set for Doomsday And then we'll just do Doomsday Well, Dan, you're not even gonna see it till after Christmas probably, right? Why?

[00:08:55] Why would I see it till after? Why would it be after Christmas before I saw it? Because you're gonna see Dune 3 before Christmas Yeah, bro I mean, I'm gonna see them both I'll make time Okay I'll see them both That'll be I mean, I would be tempted to do it all in one evening Do we just drop a Doomsday? A Doomsday? Doomsday on Christmas Day? If I could do a 7.30, 10.30 combo on like a Thursday night, I would maybe do both and just stay up till 1.30 in the morning I haven't seen Dune or Dune 2 yet I gotta do that Well, Dune 1 is homework

[00:09:24] People say it's a real snoozer But Dune 2 is all payoff Okay Okay

[00:09:28] It's like they put all of the necessary like narrative in the first movie to make like do every scene in Dune 2 is like, oh, we get this scene like literally like you know how if you did you like when Star Wars was really hitting when there's two people and you see the lightsabers cross and the silhouette and you're like, oh, it's happening. That's literally over half of Dune 2. Like it's it is all like, oh man. Now this is happening. And it rules. And it is all like, oh man.

[00:09:58] It's worth it. I've still not made it all the way through Dune. Yeah. Dune is is a is a documentary on spice trade. It is so tough. We're talking spice folks. It's a tough watch. But Dune 2 is is is is all rise really great movie. All right. Let's talk cap. Let's talk cap. All right. Let's break this down. Let's start with a hot take so we're sure exactly how we felt about this movie. We do have a new Captain America. We got a new Falcon. Did we need it? Let's talk about it all. Ryguy, what do you think about this movie?

[00:10:28] So I desperately wanted this movie to be good. I love Sam as a character. I love Anthony Mackie as an actor, even though he wants to only spend time with fans like 2% of the time. Like I really liked the Disney plus show that is again, pretty much essential viewing for this movie. I didn't see it. Yeah. Like I and I think you would agree that there's a lot of gaps without it. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:10:54] And so I saw this in theaters and I really left the theater saying that was better than most people are saying. I wasn't saying it was really, really good. Yeah. But I was like, that was better than defending it. Yeah. Yeah. So I made a critical mistake, though. I went to see it in theaters again and in 3D. And I fell asleep halfway through and and realized that the movie is really bad. Fell asleep in the movie theater. That is the 3D glasses. It makes it darker, you know?

[00:11:24] And it was like a week. It was like a weekday afternoon. But if you're not used to wearing glasses, I feel like it takes time to get comfortable enough to where you can fall asleep wearing them. Their light is a feather. There's 3D glasses. And so like if I had only seen it once, I think I'd be coming here right now saying, well, I would have had to rewatch it for this. But I would have been like, yeah, I remember really, really enjoying it. This is two films put together and sadly, neither of them are particularly very good.

[00:11:50] There's a lot of problems with the film. So it's really hard to pinpoint where to start. But like the CGI is bad. The villain is bad. Bad. Bad. But again, it's also really inconsistent because plot changes. A lot was going on with this movie. And like there's just times, I believe Sean Fennessey from The Ringer said this, at times you can just literally tell where they were like, okay, we have to splice this here. And hopefully people won't notice that.

[00:12:16] Like, you know, it's also nobly, nobly attempts to reference the Eternals, which has been a big sticking point. Yeah. What a thing that they decided to do. And then they just make it a sequel to the Ed Norton Incredible Hulk. And although I think I like the swing, all of that just convolutes it a lot more. You know, it's the first 30 minutes or so until Sam visits Isaiah and lock up is like passable.

[00:12:45] I didn't hate that. But after that, the movie is just a total mess. It's it's also hurt by the fact that it wants to be why I was really excited about it is because I as you guys know, I love Winter Soldier. I have it number two overall, even over Black Panther. That is such a I still yeah. It's going to be OK, Dan. Yeah, it will be fine. It would be it would be harder for me if that's not a pretty prevailing opinion. Not over Black Panther necessarily, but Winter Soldier is regarded as one of the five best of these.

[00:13:14] And I don't have it in my top five anymore, but I did until this rewatch. Yeah. You know, that movie is six. So, I mean, you know, it's great. Right outside. I that movie is by and large a political thriller and mystery. But this is trying to do that same thing, except we all either know the answer to the mystery off rip or all the characters figure it out relatively quickly. So there's like nothing to latch on to in the second hour.

[00:13:40] We're just waiting for Harrison Ford to become Hulk, which if you watch the advertising you thought would have happened within the first, I don't know, 40 minutes of the film as opposed to the last 10. And the other bummer here is that Harrison Ford is really like not very good in this movie. I don't know if I agree with that, but I don't I see how you got there. I don't know if I agree personally, because I do think he meets the material where the material is.

[00:14:09] And he knew what he was doing, like in Han Solo or like, you know, but I see how you got there. Yeah. And so I just find it hard to believe that the best version of this movie, even if it wouldn't have been markedly better, was with Giancarlo Esposito being the main villain. Instead, this guy, this incredible actor, this very hot actor still, but especially when this comes out, is just wandering around aimlessly. We just forget he's in a cave literally by the end. Yeah.

[00:14:35] Like, you know, and again, I think the first version of the film, he was the big bad. But the third act of this film, once Red Hulk shows up, is just laughably bad. The worst CGI in MCU history, maybe the worst third act in MCU history. The pieces were here for a good movie, I think, but they don't materialize. I have this next to last, which sucks. Whoa. Because it's a movie I really wanted to at least have like 18th or 20th.

[00:15:03] But next to last, right before the Eternals, there's nothing good here. Wow. Maybe save for those first 30 minutes. That is bold. Wow. That's a lot. I thought I was going to be the lowest on this movie, but I don't think I am anymore. I really don't care about this movie in the slightest. It is insane to me that they brought back this guy from the Hulk movie they don't want you to remember they made.

[00:15:30] They brought three characters back. It's crazy. Three. Crazy to me that they did that. I also like, I don't dislike Anthony Mackie as an actor. I don't find him remotely compelling in this role. I find him to be pretty boring. And I understand that Cap is always, Cap in general, is a pretty level. Yeah.

[00:15:54] But he doesn't have the same spark that I think Chris Evans kind of eventually made his way into having as Captain America. I really like whoever this kid is that's playing Falcon. I think he's really fun. Maybe that's something. I don't know if we're going to see more of him or not. I have no idea what's going to happen here with these characters. But, yeah, I found myself being really bored.

[00:16:21] And at least when, like, in other superhero movies you have the main superhero of that movie to keep you engaged. And I just couldn't. I couldn't with his Captain America. And I like him as Falcon, but we never got, like, enough Falcon to make me feel like it wasn't living or dying on the shoulders of Anthony Mackie's Falcon, if that makes sense.

[00:16:49] And so I found myself to be really bored. Yes, you're right. The CGI is truly awful. Red Hulk looks awful. So, yeah, not great. I did not love this movie, and I wanted to like it, but I couldn't. My letterbox just isn't loading right now, so hopefully I'll get to it when Dan is done with his. Real quick, Dan, real quick, Brian, to your point, the Disney Plus show allows Anthony Mackie to show a lot more range.

[00:17:19] And it's the far more interesting story for theaters, him grappling with the mantle of becoming Captain America. But even if this movie was good, there would still it would still just be another Captain America adventure without a lot of the audience having seen the journey to him. Like the Disney Plus show covers, you know, the racial aspects of a black man taking over Captain America. And like that stuff is here briefly.

[00:17:44] But like, yeah, like the Disney Plus show, which isn't for everyone, is, in my opinion, infinitely better than this. And it's a bummer because I think that stuff would have really worked as a film. OK, all right. Good to know. I'm not going to watch it, but good to know. Yeah. So I probably will be higher on this movie than you two, not because it's good by any stretch. But I do think that there are, Ryguy said it, there are two movies happening here.

[00:18:10] And one of them takes place in the world of The Incredible Hulk with Ed Norton, which is a crazy sentence to say out loud. All the way back in 2009 or whenever, like a movie they're trying to make us forget. We basically bring back that entire world, right? Now, Ross is no longer William Hurt. It's now Harrison Ford from one, you know, old classic white guy action movie hero or movie guy to another.

[00:18:35] Like Harrison Ford, you know, more than capable of delivering cheesy lines just like William Hurt was whatever 17 years ago. We have, you know, Tim Blake Nelson back again. Then we have Liv Tyler showing up at the end of this movie again. That movie, the movie that takes place in the world of The Ed Norton Incredible Hulk sucks. It's really bad.

[00:19:01] And I actually like The Incredible Hulk with Ed Norton better than both of you. The Ed Norton Incredible Hulk in my list of 36 Marvel movies is not in the bottom 10. It's 11th from the bottom in my list. It's not in the bottom 10. I think there's enough about that movie that would suggest that Ed Norton could have been a better Hulk than Mark Ruffalo. I know I'm the minority there. But like that movie is like not great by any stretch, but it's fine.

[00:19:31] But the movie that we get in Brave New World that takes place in that universe is so, so bad for all of the reasons these guys have mentioned. The CGI is bad. We don't care. As soon as Tim Blake Nelson shows up with the green head, it's all bets are off. This movie sucks. Any threat of something coming from another universe, nobody cares. I just don't care. The problem is that while I have not seen the television show, the first 40 minutes of this movie, I really dug.

[00:20:02] Anthony Mackie, not just grappling with what it means to be Captain America, but also we have a white president who has not been the best guy, has said that he has changed. We don't know if that's true or not. What it means for a black Captain America to put his face and his integrity, you know, his reputation next to this president, like that is very important.

[00:20:30] And setting up the tension of, you know, why someone would want to denigrate the reputation of a black Captain America is a fascinating idea for a story. Instead, 30 minutes in, it seems as though that story is completely abandoned in favor of returning to the Ed Norton Hulk universe. And that sucks. That stuff's really, really bad.

[00:20:58] And so I get 30 to 40 minutes of a movie that I'm very interested in and care about and want to see it play out. And it is hijacked by an hour and 30 minutes of a movie that is actively one of the worst three movies that we have in the MCU. So that is how I balance this out. I still like the first 40 minutes. I still dig it. I still stand up for it. I still think that it works. I think Anthony Mackie works early on. Now, later, I agree with you.

[00:21:27] It becomes something that it is just not, this movie didn't, just didn't need to be. And I don't know, no one, you know, there's a few people out there that were maybe clamoring for answers about the thing in the middle of the sea from the Eternals. No one was clamoring for more Ross and Tim Blake Nelson from the, from the Incredible Hulk. No one. And so to bring that back in, just feel like it felt like a really missed opportunity. And they just didn't serve Anthony Mackie very well here at all or give him good material.

[00:21:55] With all of that being said, it comes in at 29 for me. So that is what? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eighth from the bottom. But I mean, give me this over Ant-Man and the Wasp. I'm in the, I know that I'm probably in the minority there. Give me this over Guardians 2. Give me this over Thor The Dark World and Thor Love and Thunder and Ant-Man Quantum Media and Multiverse of Madness and obviously Eternals.

[00:22:19] So, yeah, I mean, it's a missed opportunity in the last hour and a half of this movie can leave a real bad taste in just about anybody's mouth because it's not good. I have it at 32. 32. Okay. I have it at 35. 35, yeah. Dan, you know what would be interesting? And Brandon, you're more than welcome. We should watch the Disney Plus show at some point, Dan. I think you'd really dig it. I want that. Listen, you sold me. I'm here for it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's get to our feels. What in this movie? Movie. I almost got an episode.

[00:22:48] What in this movie gave us feels? Right, guy? Up until like literally the last few minutes, it was just that I think that Cap's suits are really cool. But they're cool. But the last scene of the movie between Sam and Falcon is actually quite nice. My problem with it is that even that feels mostly unearned. Like I agree. Like the kid playing Falcon. I apologize. I can't think of his real name or his character's name. Like I think he's got a lot of charisma and is fun in the role. But like just nothing's developed.

[00:23:18] So the exchange and the performances were very nice. But I don't know if the movie earned that moment. But I still enjoyed it. Danny Ramirez plays Falcon. Danny Ramirez. Danny Ramirez. Yeah, he's a bright spot in this movie. Yeah, yeah. I've seen him in other things. He's very good. I think he'll return for Doomsday as best I know. All right. I haven't seen it say it on the screen. So there's no way for me to know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's the only way we can figure that out. Harrison Ford yelling.

[00:23:48] I'm going to censor it. But just know he throws out a GD here. I'm dying, gosh darn it. Dude, so funny. It's worth watching this movie for. For that scene alone, it is peak Harrison Ford. When you think that he's just skating through this movie, he throws out that humdinger. And you're like, oh, there he is. There's Harrison Ford. Really like that delivery. Strong delivery from Harry Ford. My feels is also Harrison Ford.

[00:24:18] Like, there was a, I believe it was Kimmel or Fallon had him on and was like, do you ever think this is ridiculous when you're in the red suit and you're smashing things? And he goes, I hate to tell you, kid, that's what the money's for. The thing I love about Harrison Ford so much is he really is one of the greatest living actors. Like, if you've not seen Shrinking, the dude knows how to give a nuanced, character-driven performance. He also knows when he's in schlock. He knows when he's in schlock.

[00:24:46] Han Solo was amazing because everybody thought in the movie thought it was laughable. They thought the script was bad, so they had fun with it. He is chewing through this incredibly inane dialogue so brilliantly, in my opinion. I can see how you got to he's bad. For me, he knows he's Red Hulk and he's getting paid $15 million or whatever he's getting paid. Like, he knows. He knows it. And he's not going to make sure he earns it. He's not going to show up and be like, okay, well, I'm just too good for this. He's an actor. He hates Han Solo.

[00:25:16] He wanted you to kill Han Solo. He's an actor. He doesn't have any personal attachment to any of these characters. He shows up. He's going to give you every bit of what he's got. And in this movie, I don't think he takes a second off. I don't think he takes a play off. And it's so poorly written and such a dumb storyline to have this guy who is so respected within the acting community, not never letting off the throttle.

[00:25:44] I think is the, aside from the first 40 minutes, is the one redeeming factor of this movie. In my opinion. What's a fun thing I always think of when I think of this movie, or in this unfortunate case, watched it. Before it was 100% known that he was playing Red Hulk, but everyone kind of knew. Someone TMZ or something was like, Harrison Ford, what's it going to be like playing Red Hulk? To which he responded, what's Red Hulk? Dude.

[00:26:09] Which is funny in its own right, but then also it's like, he also, even though he did this film, might have no idea what Red Hulk is about. No, I love, like this guy is 80 some years old and he's in great shape and he is the purest form of what an actor is. He is there in service of the material someone else has written and directed and it's their baby. He knows it's their baby. He never thinks it's his baby, ever.

[00:26:36] In shrinking, he's like, this has been the most rewarding experience of my life. It's probably the first time he's wanted to come back and hang out with a cast again. This guy shows up and he is giving every bit of his bucket of energy and effort towards something else every time he shows up. And also, we have to say this, this is not the first time this guy's played a president.

[00:26:59] He has spent the last 20 years, 30 years, after Air Force One, a truly insane movie. You want to talk about a good replacement for Marvel Mondays? Harrison Ford Hersday's or whatever we call it. Like, Harrison Ford Friday. Harrison Ford Friday. Ford Friday. Ford Friday. Like, Harrison, like, dude, Air Force One's one of the dumbest movies I've ever seen. But his line, get off my plane, is iconic.

[00:27:26] He says the line, get off my plane in this movie and it's crazy. And so, he knows that that movie has become a caricature. So, why not double down and play the president again and this time make it even loonier? Like, I just think he's great. Big fan. And he's been in some bad movies. Dude, he has a Russian accent. He plays a Russian submarine captain in a movie called K-19 The Widowmaker. It's embarrassing and he never gives it up. He never once winks at the camera.

[00:27:55] He is all in on his Russian accent. Hysterical. Ford Fridays. Ford Fridays. Bring it right now. Vroom, vroom to you. All right. Let's take a break. We'll come back. We'll get to the Wait What and the What-A-Marvel here on Deck the Hallmark. Ford Fridays is right there. I said Harrison Ford Herst Day. Like a dummy on Herst Day. I mean, I didn't dislike what you said. All right. Thank you. Let's get to the Wait What.

[00:28:24] It's where we talk about what in this movie is going what. I'll start with you, Ryke. Hi. Neither of you have watched the show, but the great Carl Lumley is a big part of the Disney Plus show. And so when Isaiah Bradley shows up here for his first scene in this and Danny Ramirez goes that he has, he was like, oh, I didn't know that that was Isaiah Bradley. There's like no way that'd be possible. Like he's a historical figure. He would know what he looked like. So it's really. Yeah.

[00:28:53] That was a, that was a tough part of this movie for me is, is I liked that guy's performance, but I didn't feel like I had any of the background to know. There's no way. Yeah. Why he was getting the treatment he was getting. Right. And also the movie loses him in the second hour. Like when he gets let out at the end of the film, I was like, oh, I forgot. Yeah. I forgot he was in the movie. Yeah. He was in a better movie that was happening an hour and a half ago. Yeah. Yeah. It's so dumb that no one thinks something is awry after the cell phone thing makes Isaiah lose his mind.

[00:29:23] Like so much has happened in these movies now, like the country, the world, the galaxy, other galaxies have been greatly impacted by really wild bleep. Like there's no, like, oh yeah, like clearly a cell phone mesmerized them to do some terrible things. Um, this Ruth character is one of the strangest additions in MCU history. I think she's clearly a victim of the changing plots.

[00:29:49] And I, I could imagine that maybe in the first version there was more purpose to her. It's, you know what it reminded me of? Um, it's, uh, uh, Finn and the third star in the rise of Skywalker where he's in the whole thing, but had nothing to do at all. And they want you to think at the end, they give him this hero moment and they're like, oh yeah, like we, we gave Finn the rub as we say in the wrestling business.

[00:30:13] Whereas like, um, we should stop saying, we should probably stop saying we gave that along to the team. Yeah. And in, in context, in context, it's fine. But, um, to your point though, I didn't even put Ruth in the synopsis. I didn't know. I also like, I do think that she is capable and a good actor, but the problem is, is one, what you said, right guy. And two, she's our third widow on screen. And the first two happen to be Scarlett Johansson and Florence Pugh.

[00:30:43] That is an impossible follow. And why are we, why are we doing? It's just, it's just another thing. Now we're referencing black widow's backstory and incredible Hulk's backstory. We're barely referencing the Disney plus show, which should be essential viewing to getting us here. Everything's backwards. You set her up for full failure. Yep. Um, really bad writing here. Isaiah insists he's never going in the box again as they casually walk him to the box. That's right. Moments later, he'll be in.

[00:31:13] I'm not going. Yeah. Uh, and then last one, uh, I don't even remember. I don't either. Cause it froze. I don't remember either. Look at shop. Go. Oh, you're back. Boy. What'd you say? Check, check, check. Yeah. Very good. Uh, uh, somebody gets, somebody gets shot when they open a door and near before the third act, um, which is RIP to that guy, obviously. Yeah. But like his wife, half a second after he opens the door goes, Hey honey, who's at the door?

[00:31:43] Nobody would do that. Like, you know, it's like the door's already open. You're rude. And now, and now you've both been murdered. So that's it for me. Now you've both been murdered. Um, you know, sometimes we get tech in movies, uh, and you're like, well, we'll never see something like that. But then sometimes you see things and you're like, what, why are we not already doing that? And I will say when Ross goes to give his big speech and he's got like glass on either side

[00:32:10] of him that has the images projecting up, but you can still see him. And it's a three 60 situation. What are we doing? Yeah. That's a, like, uh, if you want to make me engaged when I'm watching like a speech on TV or something, do something cool like that. What are we waiting on? With bulletproof glass all around him. I know. Come on. This is what, what are we waiting on? What are we waiting on?

[00:32:34] To make, to make bulletproof glass also be a screen that you can have stuff on. It seems like a no brainer and it does seem like we should already get there. It seems like we should already be there. That or smell, smell a vision first. What do you think? Oh, good question. That's a toss up, toss up. I'm going with my thing. Yeah, probably. Smell a vision is no longer your thing. You're out on smell a vision. Smell a vision is crazy how quickly he just sold. Me and dry guy.

[00:33:04] I'm selling. Um, and then I just, I, why, why does red Hulk look so? So bad. Is it the, the red of it all? Why does he look so bad? Like we have, we have had a lot of practice with Hulk and like, we've gotten to the point to where Hulk did look good. He started looking better towards the, towards, uh, like love and thunder or what, which one was that? I got a Ragnarok maybe. I don't know if they just like forgot, like they forgot what to, how to do it. I don't, I don't know. I don't know if it's because he's red.

[00:33:34] Why does red Hulk look so bad in this movie? Yeah. I don't know. Looks bad. But it's crazy how bad he looks. Dan? Um, so, uh, we talked about this with Steve Rogers and winter soldier, but it's even more egregious here. Just shoot at captain America's legs. Just shoot at his leg. Like he's not even crouching. Like he has the shield here. There's at least three feet, two feet.

[00:34:01] If you have any sort of marksman at all, or just spray one across there, you're going to take out his kneecaps. No one even tries it. Every bullet bounces off that shield. Aim somewhere else. Gang Giancarlo Esposito forgotten bad guy. Who's just wandering aimlessly till he's caught. The only thing he's worse at it than bad guy is negotiating. Uh, cap goes to see him and he has information that's going to help cap out.

[00:34:28] And he says that caps like, give me the information. Giancarlo Esposito says, I want full immunity. Cap says, no. He says, I want to reduce sentence and my own cell. Great bargain. Cap says, tell me what you got first. So promises him nothing. Esposito goes, all right, here's what I got. Fair deal. Buddy, he didn't cap. Didn't even say you were getting anything.

[00:34:57] You gave it all away for nothing for absolutely nothing, dude. Like be better. Get a verbal, get some sort of commitment from Captain America. Before you give the one piece of evidence that you have. That's going to help you get that reduced sentence. You need it. You need it written down. You need a written contract. Yo, gavel, gavel style. Yo, gavel, gavel style. And last but not least, um, the end credit scene in this movie has Tim Blake Nelson saying, you think this is, uh, the,

[00:35:22] he says this line as the big cliffhanger and the air quotes. Couldn't be more massive in that. I'm saying he says, you think this is the only world. That's the worst threat I've ever heard at this point in the MCU. We know it's not the only world. We've already seen it. Guys, we've already done all. We've had a movie with three Spider-Men. Guardians of the Galaxy, Infinity War, Endgame.

[00:35:51] Even, even like, even, uh, multiverse thrown out. We have, uh, at the very least other planets with people. Other worlds. Yeah, the poorly written line. It's so, it is the weakest. We have a God. The, literally the only, if he says that to end a movie to make me want to watch more, it better be the first movie in the MCU. Not the 35th movie in the MCU. You think this is the only world?

[00:36:19] That, that threat is like, maybe we should call Ant-Man. Like, maybe we should rope Ant-Man in to help Cap as a sidekick. That, that is such a, the potatoes are so small you can't see them. I, I've never, like, they just were like, well, we gotta do something. What if Tim Blake Nelson says you think this is not the only world, this is the only world? No, Tim, none of us. Timmy Jim Jam, I don't know where you've been. None of us think it's the only world.

[00:36:45] We've seen 35, we've watched 80 hours of Marvel movies. We know there are other worlds. It's terrible. It's embarrassing. They should have just had him sing, we are the world. Yeah, that would have been better. I'd have been in on that. There you go. It's time for one of Marvel questions we have. Productions for the future, whatever. It's an all play. Ryguy, what you got? Again, I love Sam as a character, but what could we possibly expect him to do against Doom in December? Nothing. So Doom can stop.

[00:37:15] Now, Doom can stop Stormbreaker with two fingers, as we've learned. Now, they touch on it here. It's a big part of the Disney plush show. The plush show. I heard it both ways. It's a plushie. You gotta sew that plush right on up. You know what I mean? It's, you know, you gotta cuddle with it at night. That he doesn't take the super soldier serum. And, you know, it's more developed in the show, whereas here it's literally just a throwaway line or two. But without the super soldier serum, Captain America,

[00:37:45] especially Sam, who didn't have his power before, was that he had wings that anybody can have and learn how to operate. He's as street-level a hero as there is. Hawkeye. Yeah. Yeah. Hawkeye's the best. But at least Hawkeye, no offense to Sam, had a tangible skill. Danny Ramirez has learned how to operate these wings. That's right. Scarlett Johansson is the best widow of all time. Like, you know, it's like, what's this guy gonna do against doom? But I digress.

[00:38:15] He's gonna run the computers, be the tech guy. Yeah. It's like, he's on your left! Yeah. Yeah, I mean, you mentioned that this movie is, like, multiple movies. And, like, I'm sure I could find this answer, but, like, what was the original plan for this movie? Do you know? There's no way this was it, right? I believe it was, I believe it's Giancarlo Esposito as the big bad. Yeah, that makes a lot more sense to me. Yeah. And I don't remember if there was a director change. They definitely just didn't.

[00:38:44] Now, to be fair, which is hilarious, because this movie sucks, but Disney saw, you know, the dailies or saw the first cut of the film and they were like, we gotta do this over. This isn't working. But I still just find it hard to believe that, at least that movie would have been coherent, even if it was bad. So, but, yeah. Right, right. Dan? President General Ross. In the comics, his nickname is Thunderbolt. Thunderbolt Ross. That's his nickname.

[00:39:11] And it turns out it's just because of when he was in war years and years ago, he moved so quick like lightning, like a thunderbolt. It has nothing to do at all with the Thunderbolts, the movie we're going to watch next. It is just absurd that that is a thing. Who gets their nickname from a peewee soccer. Spoiler. That's right. Yeah, that Thunderbolt thing makes no sense. At all. Whatsoever. Whatsoever. Thunderbolt. Speaking of Thunderbolt, we're going to do Thunderbolts. Nice.

[00:39:42] Asterisk. Yeah, during, Ryan will be in Italy on his honeymoon, but he said he's joining us. He said that he's going to watch it on the plane ride over. He's going to watch it four times over. It's like an eight-hour flight. Yeah. Wow. So it's going to be really good. So coming back for that. Until then, maybe the first to wish you a Merry Christmas. Deck the Hallmark is a Bramble Jam podcast produced by Brandon Gray. And yeah, that Greenville, South Carolina. For more information on the show, you can go to deckthehallmark.com, add deckthehallmark on the socials, leave us a five-star rating review on Apple Podcasts, if you please.

[00:40:09] And then head on over to Bramble Jam Plus to find the best corner of the internet, become a double-decker, get ad-free podcasting, live video watchings, movie chats, and so much more. That's bramblejamplus.com. You're about to hear some ads that help keep the lights on here in the old studio. Thanks for listening or don't listen. It's really up to you at this point. It's at the end of the show.

[00:40:38] I mean, you're listening to me. Hi. But here they come. I promise they're coming. Yep, here they are. Happy day.