Alright, we're entering another heavy Captain America Brave New World spoiler zone, I'm gonna spoil the end and shit so, again, read at your own risk!
I loved the movie, for a lot of personal reasons. It's far from perfect but it will stay one of my fav movie ever anyway.
But it's clear the movie changed a lot, from what we got in trailers, interviews, promotional leaked pictures and I thought it would be interesting to talk about "what could have been", how things changed, why maybe.
So let's go, it's big brain time!
Disclaimer : PLEASE note this is a theory post, it's not necessarly what happened, it's how I see things and why.
Also, I do not want people to use this post to shit on the movie. As I said, I love it a lot and I have a lot of respect (and parasocial love) for some people who worked on it, I only wish them the best.
And if anything, this movie is the perfect exemple as to why Marvel (and Disney as a whole) need to STOP listening to people of social media, because no matter what they do people will complain anyway. People were complaining about the first Sam design so they changed it, now they complain it's not it and should have been this one. People will hate anyway, it's a trend. So if they gotta hate, let them the story you wanted to tell and not the story people want to ear 'cause it's pretty damn visible that a lot of changes were made to please some losers who are just upset Captain America isn't a white dude anymore, it's not even a theory it's a fact backed up by people who actually worked on it and said Disney put a lot of pressure on them to avoid hurting these so called manly man who can't even take a goddamn Marvel movie.
So no, I do not wish to feed the haters who are responsible for this mess through this post, if you share it to say "LOOK HOW SHITTY THE MOVIE IS" you're a loser and the reason it's "shitty", be gone.
I'm also against the hate culture online. I feel no pleasure in hating shit, I don't care about whatever I dislike because it doesn't bring me anything but a loss of time and you shouldn't care either. I'm here to focus on what I love.
I don't have a lot of energy so I'll put it in passion and things I love.
And I love this movie A LOOOOOOT so it's time to talk about it and theorize about what could have been!
There's three big things I wanna talk about that I think changed A LOT from the beginning of the production to what we got, it's Serpent Society, Sam (Sterns) and the ending.
I'm gonna start with Sam because it's always a great pleasure to talk about him (even when it's about things I will never see in HD *sobbing*). And because I have nothing really relevant to say about Serpent Society other than they removed a character and replaced another one (wasn't looking at much news about them back then honestly because I'm not a Cap expert).
Let's start with this shot 'cause it's my biggest regret with this movie lol
Aaaaaaaaah, look how incredibly cool it was. Sam walking with a long coat, hood on, in an immaculate white place with inconscious body on the ground. The Death allegory is so strong and matches my boy so well... A pity they removed it. I wonder what it was for.
We can see Stark Industry on the wall so I have absolutly no idea of where and when it would fit in the movie.
Death Allegory Sam I will mourn you forever... BUT FORTUNATLY FOR ME FANARTS ARE A THING SO WATCH ME HYPERFIXATE OVER THIS 1 SEC CANCELLED IMAGERY AHAHA!
I'm wondering, considering the size of the hood (elongated), if they changed Sam's design during reshots. A lot of things are way too weird about it.
We got this official artwork, actual official MERCH using it (The Funko POP I already shared here and a plush I should get soon too), but the movie version is so different...
My personal theory on that is it was actually the design they took when they first shot the movie, but changed it for what we got through reshots. That would be why so many things were removed from the movie, because it's too complicated to reshot the exact same scenes twice for such a short amount of time and budget (because unlike what people think, NO, they did NOT shot the movie twice, reshots are a normal step of blockbusters' shooting but it's limited).
I'm personally glad they took the horror road instead of that artwork. It's not even a "more comics accurate" look, it's just more accurate to Google pics lol but among actual comics readers Sam is more known to be an horror freak through Peter David and Al Ewing's runs and in both he had totally different designs they created for the occasion, but do you see people complaining about it? No, because that's what comics Sam is about. It was comics accurate of them to come up with a totally new design in fact, everyone saying otherwise don't know shit about the character and just want to complain because it brings them the attention they crave. The only problem with both these design is the lack of orange in his outfit but the horror living sickness we got works way better for his story (like, his pain his physically visible) and on a live action movie. His elongated head is cool and my fav design in comics but in a live action it's way too goofy for the serious of his writing.
So it's a change I'm actually very glad they did, I think they made the right call, as annoying as it must have been if they did shot his scene with that first design.
Why I think they did? This shot :
I think it was incredibly DUMB to put it in the latest trailers given it was already cut off and replaced by something else but anyway. Check his coat and visible shoe. Same as the artwork.
You also have this back shot
Is it his hair we see on the left of his face? Hard to say, quality is too low but if so then it proves it is the first artwork.
Interesting to notice it's at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center or whatever it's called (I'm not from USA alright), so where he turns himself in and also where some reshots were, well, shot.
Seems like it was meant to be very different. He's pushing away people to step in so that's probably how he first turned himself in, most of these people have camera so he probably revealed himself in front of the media which is, imo, cooler than just turning himself in to Sam Wilson. Why did they change that? Well maybe to change the design to begin with, but why changing this reveal in front of people if they could afford to reshot in this hospital? Something change in the plot. Why would their be so many reporters for Joaquin? I wonder what they had in mind back then.
It was also meant to be a nice hommage to comics so I'm leaving this here.
But is it why we had absolutly zero Tim Blake Nelson promotional pics and merch? Is it because it was changed too late to have anything ready?
I hope in the future we get some nice Sam stuff though.
Then we have this shot that got removed as well :
I'm putting a screenshot of another post I made because I'm also a lazy motherfucker who barely goes out so I'm too lazy to rewrite that part but that's the reason I like what we got in the final cut more than this shot. Having Sam spying them from his lab rather than being on the field makes more sense to me (also because it allows us to headcanon that maybe Sam never saw the Sun before Sam Wilson met him in Camp Echo One and I like this possibility lol), it's a change I like. Even if he was cute with his big-ass camera. I think it's creepier having him lurking in his lab than actually wandering here and there.
Then we have this :
It goes with Sam telling Cap (somewhat upset) "you like to play dress up and blindly execute the States' orders. You don't even know what this is" and "global power is shifting, you're just a pawn".
I think that's my biggest "disappointment" about this movie. Sam was clearly nerfed, his whole goal was shorten, if that make sense, maybe to make it more simple. But having Sam going after the USA as a whole makes more sense to me, to his writing. Tim Blake Nelson is a great actor and he did so well portraying Sam and was so excited at the idea of showing this anarchist side of him that it makes me sad it was lighten up. It's more of my love for Tim than my love for Sam that makes me sad they did, Tim talking about his rage toward Ross but also the system, calling him an anarchist and loving sharing that part of him.
Like, you have Sam saying "I'm the hero" in the final cut and you're just "bruh what are you talking about lol".
Same with Sam Wilson, when Ross tells him "you're not Steve Rogers" he was supposed to say "no I'm not", it's in literally every trailers so WHY was it removed? 'Cause that's the whole point, he's not Steve, he's his own character, a different symbol but equally worthy, the point of his arc is how he must be himself and not a Steve copycat so why was it removed? It makes no sense. But that's the thing with all these trailers, it feels like they advertised a different movie. It feels like Julius Onah had a different idea and vision and Disney went "lol no" and I said that in another post but considering how Disney is silently trying to remove minorities from their projects to please their new President it wouldn't really be a surprise nor a stretch to think the movie got censored. Maybe that's why Ross is so sympathic.
Which doesn't make sense to me, like, Ross killed way more people than Sam, destroy the life of Sam Wilson's friends, did Civil War and he's forgiven? Even if he's in the raft he still has an happy ending while Sam barely saw the Sun 5min and went back to another prison forever with Sam Wilson going to him to say basically "fuck you creep", like, c'me on. That's the problem with the movie, it's about Sam Wilson saying you can't follow the Gouv but actually PROTECTING IT and it has me wonder if they did that to avoid problems with the actual US Gouv 'cause it feels incredibly odd and even kind of a propaganda having a very criticized President "changing" and "being good". Having him say he wants his daughter to understand his love for the country instead of having him say I was wrong. It seems like Sam (Sterns) was meant to actually question Sam Wilson's allegeance to USA, kinda like how Steve Rogers had to question it in Winter Soldier but it's not here anymore and we will never know why because we all perfectly know why and they can't say it.
I think that's it for Sam, you also have some lil' difference in his dialogues, like the "who's playing who" was changed by "who's playing the music". I like "who's playing the music" more in the writing but I liked the way Tim played "who's playing who" with his lil' childish mockery in his voice better so idk what to think about this one lol. These are not big differences anyway. It's probably from the same shooting, like you take several shot of a same moment with slightly different dialogues, you get what I mean.
The prison scene with Isaiah and Sam Wilson is different in the trailer too.
In the trailer Sam Wilson says "you asked to see me?" and in the final cut no he didn't lol he told him to stay out of this and never comeback, you have Isaiah telling him "be careful", concerned about Sam Wilson, instead of never come back with his angry look. Again, it's a change I actually like, what we got with Isaiah keeping him out of his life to protect him is way better.
Let's talk about the end of the movie now.
It was teased through trailers but also behind the scene pic that we were meant to see an funeral. An "official" one, like, with the army and all the shit.
If you look at Sam Wilson in this moment, you'll notice that he has a strap on his shoulder
It's confirmed by this picture they took while they were shooting it
So through that detail you can tell it was meant to happen at the end of the movie 'cause he injured his arm during the fight against Red Hulk.
And so it has me wonder. Who was mean to die? Joaquin?
Well, I'll personally go for the Ross theory I wrote a while back. Different from what I wrote though because I thought it would happen before Red Hulk but seems like it was meant to happen after. Why Ross? Because of this pic :
Liv Tyler (Betty Ross) dressed in black in a cemetary the day they shot the funeral. Would she shows up for Joaquin? Maybe, it's possible but I think, considering how the movie is about her relationship with Ross, that it made more sense to have her shows up at Ross' (and more comics accurate also, like, it literally happened).
Also because Ross visits his wife at a similar place (btw I was wrong, I said it was probably Betty here because of the similar outfit and haircut but turns out it was Xosha Roquemore), so it makes sense to me to have Ross' funeral where his wife is, would also give more sense to that scene.
So why did they change that? Was it to re-use Ross later? Maybe, but in comics Red Hulk happened after Ross was dead so you could still use him even after a "death". Was it because it was too brutal? Was it because of real life events? Maybe, he's the President, as I said so maybe they didn't want to kill him off in fear of whatever trumpists would think about it after the assassination attempt.
Maybe in the OG version he stopped taking Sam's pills and died instead of ending up in the Raft, as an ultimate proof of his redemption, idk, we'll never know and it's sad. I often wonder "what could have been" for a lot of Marvel movies, not just this one but others. What would have been if it wasn't for COVID? What could have been if Chadwick Boseman was alive? What would have been if-
I get why we will never know but I think it would have been interesting.
There're two others shot in trailers that aren't in the movie
I don't know what this one is about but it would have been nice to have more of Xosha Roquemore in action, maybe it was during the Celestian flight because the doors and all reminds me of the warship. Ruth's outfit matches that theory. Maybe they had mind controlled soldier on the ship too, not just on planes.
This one, I would say it's when he visits Joaquin in hospital. I don't know if it's common to have flags in hospital in USA but given it's a military hospital it makes sense to me. Maybe that's where he was first meant to see Bucky.
I'm probably missing stuff but it's hard to say without having the movie under my eyes to check it out lol (I did see it twice already though but still).
And you see, people keep creating fake news about reshots and complaining about it "there were 72 reshots and it lasted 5 years" and shit. To me it's the other way around. I don't think the reshot were that heavy (though certainly heavier than usual, especially if they changed their antagonist's whole design lol) but rather they cut off a shit tons of stuff. When you look at everything I point out it's even more obvious. It's not "changed", it's "missing". And I so wish we could know and see what was removed.
It's not relevant in the way that it didn't happen anyway since it was cut, but to me who loves drawing, day dreaming and even write stories (that I never share unlike what I draw) it's so much inspiration material lol, so I don't care if it's "not canon", I can make my own stuff in my mind anyway, it won't hurt anyone. But it would have been so interesting to see. In a "I love this thing so I want to know more about it and see more it" way.
I wanted to talk about all that's because I find it fascinating somehow. Unlike his comics self, MCU Sam's history is very short so I'll take whatever I can to feed myself lol, even if it's flaws. I'm not a weak-ass bitch who uses their taste to get a social statut or engagement or whatever so I don't care if what I like is flawed, mid, "bad" even, for what it means. It's weird how people refuse to accept flaws of what they like, get angry when someone point it out or dislike even. I hate this constant need for perfection. It's dumb anyway, if you're a perfectionist like me then you should understand the need to understand weakness and flaws in anything you like without having it ruined for you (though I do agree that getting unsollicited criticism or irrespectful one is annoying). Aknowledging flaws won't make me dislike this movie. In fact everytime I talk about it, I love it more and more. That's why I don't care about reviews, I don't need someone to tell me how to feel about something. But I do enjoy reading about people's passions, because it's a good way through their mind and theirs heart. It's easy to understand someone and what they are through why they like something. Not what, but why, that's what truly matters and why reviews are irrelevant. I know there's a whole industry to please and shit, it's part of my job too. But before being a professional, I'm passionate and my goal and purpose as a passionate artist isn't to be appealing nor to make money but to make people dream, to give them feelings. So it doesn't matter if something is "a failure", as long as it touches someone's soul and resonated in their heart then its existence is worthy, even if it doesn't appeal to me personally or to the great audience. And that's what this movie did with me, it resonated in me. For a lot of reasons that's I'll explore later. I know I said all that already and I'll say it again because in a World where hatred is normalized and rewarded, it's important to keep living through love. Let it be passion or compassion. So I'll use this very small plateform of mine to invite you to learn to truly enjoy things. Not to follow a trend, not for a social statut but for yourself. To create and take care of that personal intimate connexion to fiction that keeps us alive.
I'm kinda sad this is all over already. I wish Tim could have talked more about Sam, I wish he had more screentime. It's probably the end of him now. Marvel did leave an open door and yes, everything point out to a Hulk movie so who knows. After all it's a typical Sam thing to turn himself in and escape after that, I can see him escape after Secret Wars. But two movies with the same villain? Two movie about a dude I'm the only one who cares about? It's hard to think it will ever happen. If Tim ever comes back with Mark Ruffalo I'll be the happiest but until then I'll be happy with what I got but even if it sounds way too unrealistic I want to believe in that lol. That's also why I made this post. I want to prolong my fun.
We're entering a sinister era as Sam simps, we went from Immortal Hulk to Brave New World and now there's nothing anymore for years, probably decades, as always.
It makes me sad that Cap 4 era is over for me, I went through so much for that moment and in a blink it was over.
But I'll do my best to stay here and have a long life because I want to be here to see how Sam and Tim will keep growing in their separate way. And who knows. Maybe one day they'll be reunited.
I'll wait, like I always did, I'll wait for a hope. But this time I'll be able to live while I wait.
So, until next time, enjoy~
