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‘Captain America 4’ changing title shows how Disney and Marvel can cave even under hypothetical pressure

There was a backlash stirring, but it's now been cut off at the knees.

captain america the falcon and the winter soldier
Image via Marvel Studios

The Marvel Cinematic Universe dropped a surprising bombshell today when it announced the title of Captain America: New World Order had been updated to Brave New World. No reasons were officially given as to why, but a cursory glance at the internet makes it fairly clear that a lot of people are of the opinion the new nomenclature is nowhere as good.

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Of course, conspiracy theories are part and parcel of the biggest franchise int he business, so there are already widespread beliefs being espoused that Kevin Feige and Disney settled on the change in order to stave off any potential controversy and/or backlash ahead of Anthony Mackie’s solo debut landing in theaters next summer.

Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan as Sam and Bucky in 'The Falcon and the Winter Soldier'
Image via Marvel Studios

While in and of itself New World Order is fairly innocuous, it does have conspiratorial and political ties to various nations and underground foil hat-wearing groups if you do a little digging, and the Marvel/Disney machine simply does not wade into those sorts of waters. There was also an outcry when it was revealed that controversial comic book character Sabra would be debuting in the film, so perhaps the powers-that-be decided that one pre-emptive bout of backlash was enough.

Of course, maybe it’s all down to the fact Brave New World simply fits the content of the blockbuster much better than New World Order did, but where’s the fun in that? After all, it’s become par for the course for anything the MCU does to get roundly trashed, so it would be perfectly on-brand for the safest option to win out at the end of the day.