I said I wouldn't talk about Brave New World unless Tim says something relevant but too many people keep asking me what I think of what we saw lately so here we go.
It will be my final post about Cap 4 here before the movie comes out, even if Tim gives another important interview. Though I'll probably mention them in later posts and in my BlueSky, but I will step away from internet very soon to avoid any spoilers so expect this to be my last post 'til the 14th haha.
Alright where to start.
We're having A LOT of spots (too much in my opinion so I haven't watched them all). I'll only mention two of them because they bring informations I didn't mentionned here yet.
I'll start with the latest :
There's two things to note here, first of all Sam is saying a new sentence (they usually use the same) "you have no idea what I have in store".
It's very Sam of him of course but to me he sounds kind of pissed off. His voice isn't lowered and slow like the other things he said. I enjoy this difference, Sam is a character who has a very hard time dealing with emotion, similar to Bruce but in an oppposite way. Bruce don't express his emotions, he doesn't know how to, Sam express too much emotions because he doesn't know how to either and so a good interpretation of Sam is a Sam full of visible emotions who tries way too hard to pretend he's cold and emotionless and so far, from what I heard, I suspect we're getting this.
Tim mentionned rage and to me who's used to hear Tim because I'm a simp and I saw a lot of his movies, I think Sam's rage is very visible through the way he talks.
Alright, then in this lil' spot we have a better view at Sam with this USA hat and I don't know if it was meant on purpose or not but it's the exact same pose (symetrical though) we see in Incredible Hulk 341.
We don't have the context yet but it's most likely a meeting because you see a lot of people with professional cameras and in Incredible Hulk 341 it also happened during a meeting.
Back then he was touching people on purpose to mind control them but I guess it's gonna be different here. Though I'm sure the mind control will be present at least through another method (his experiment, Winter Soldier program etc).
We also got that spot that is worth mentionning because it's Sam centered (I would suggest to put the video on full screen to properly see this new Sam detail) :
The interesting thing about this is how we clearly see Sam's green eyes glowing in the dark, which is something I LOVE that is barely present in comics or anywhere else so I'm very happy to see this, but if you pause at the right moment and slightly touch up the light you also see his face and most importantly his brain
I have no word to express how I love this shot and what we can see of his design (I HAVE A THING FOR GLOWING EYES ALRIGHT THAT'S WHY I ALWAYS DRAW HIS EYES GLOWING)
When Sam's eyes go black to show how it glows >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
— Lirhya ☢️ Gamma Freak (@lirhyapetitpain.bsky.social) October 5, 2023 at 11:17 AM
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But if this spot teach us one thing it's how Sam was edited in the previous ones so we can't tell if this design is final or not.
All I can say is DAMN, Tim's face matches Sam so much, I'm so happy he's the one portraying him.
But let's talk about design with what we got alright.
We don't know if this artwork is legit but even if it's not it's a good quality version of real legit merch leaks we got of his design (same pose and all). Same colors for the clothings (confirmed through the picture with the US hat I put above but also the Funko POP), the skin color is the same too (I'll go back to that skin color very soon) so no matter if it's fanmade, it's pretty close to the final result.
And the head is totally different. Yes it's confirmed by the now on sale official Funko POP but it's not the same head as the latest trailer so here're my hypothesis to this.
1) He will have a second mutation
2) It's a flashback and his mutation is now different
3) His more casual design is his "reverted back" design and the brain one the "gamma" one, like, he can't fully revert back like Bruce Banner (or don't want to)
Now let's talk about these two design :
For the casual one. Unlike most people, I love the skin color. It's the MCU, of course it wouldn't be a flashy green skin. But I love drawing Sam with a more "yellowish" kind of green to make him a bit different from Hulk, that's an idea I like a lot.
And yes, because the caucasian skin tend to be yellowish, it makes him looks "less green" or "more average white guy" if you will, but it's a color that does make sense and that looks very good to me so I'm all for it.
I don't mind the very casual grounded outfit either, it's common in Cap movies (Zemo, for exemple). But I would have loved if they kept his color scheme (either purple or orange/black with sometime yellow or silver). I would also have loved if his hair went darker, it's supposed to be dark green, not even black but a very dark shade of green so I would have liked it to be a shade of green instead of brown but these are just very minor things I would personally loved, it doesn't impact Sam in any way nor the way I'll love him so I don't really care (and I expect we might see orange considering how easy it would be to have him in jail or something with an orange jumpsuit) otherwise everything is fine to me. The size of the head, the beard, I like everything a lot.
For the second one now, it's hard to give an opinion. It's very dark. Is it edited again? Is it final? Who knows. For what I see I like the very creepy vibe with his bright green eyes glowing in the dark (,is there something wrong with his left eye? Seems weird to me). I like the visible brain, very McFarlane-ish of them, the lil' hair remaining remind me a lot of his Immortal Hulk era so I love that a lot. Can't judge the outfit, obviously so I'm not saying shit about it.
I don't mind the size of the head, having the brain visible make it Sam enough to me. The size of his head is more of an artistic interpretation, it always change. Sometimes it's very big, sometime it's very small. I like it big because I love the Trimpe era a lot but I really don't mind anything else.
I'm more "frowning" at the lack of facial hair in this shot lol I won't complain if he doesn't have a mustache or a beard in this version but I'd like it if he does . I think it could make a lot of sense depending on why he has this form (because if his hair falls it makes sense that he doesn't have facial hair either I guess idk) like getting too much exposed to gamma, similar to why his McFarlane design is different (too much radiation).
I can't say I absolutly love these design yet, I need to see how it looks like on screen of course but so far I really enjoy them, especially creepy Sam with his brain out and I have absolutly no fear nor concern about it.
Now let's talk Tim very quick, he didn't say much, as always because he seems very worried about the idea of accidentally spoiling but he did say interesting things.
Because that's what I want to see, I want to see people's own interpretations. I would NEVER think about Icarus by myself (probably because I think about Eternals, which is dumb 'cause Marvel also have their own Jekyll and Frankenstein and Mephisto and it didn't prevented me from thinking about the og story to talk about him lol) and yet it makes soooooo much sense.
I feel genuinely blessed to have Tim portraying Sam. Because he's someone who cares but also a very cultivated person so he brings a new perspective to my boy, with a lot of care, of love and respect and I just love that. I hope he'll keep talking about Sam after the movie is out and he's allowed to say more.
We all have a different education, different references, that's why it's so interesting to listen to different people's interpretation of something. I hope the MCU will bring me people to talk about Sam and to add to my always evolving vision of him haha.
These are the same interview from a press tour happening like two days ago. There's another part where Tim praises Anthony Mackie and I love how the whole cast take his defense because Anthony will breath and somehow white supremacist will find a way to make a drama over it. But anyway, I don't wanna spend time on idiots so back to Sam.
Here Tim is once again mentionning how he's glad it took this long, he said that in pretty much every interviews. I don't know him so I'm just making interpreting stuff but I think it's his way to properly forgive Marvel and move on with his life, not being able to "finish" Sam seems to have left lil' scars in his heart so I'm glad he's now at peace with that and I guess he needs to give a sense to that by repeating how it's better this way. Or maybe I'm just projecting 'cause that's what I tend to do LOL. But we're not here to make a psychoanalysis of Tim (would be incredibly disrespectful anyway), I just pointed it out because ot me it just add to the genuine care he shares about Sam. I see at a proof of his sincerity.
The important thing is how he talks about Sam, hyping him up. Tim is no liar, everything he says is very honest and when he has something negative to say he'll either say it with a lot of care to stay respectful or say nothing at all (good rule that most people should apply btw). So I trust him when he says Sam is beautifully written.
He also mentions that Sam is driven by a sense of justice through anarchy and that part made me go FERAL (positivly). Sam is a character who deeply cares for justice and people, even in comics. His ego is merely the result of decades of psychological abuse and of having to see humanity destroying itself and so, he's driven by this rage and ressent toward the humanity he used to love. His hate is born of a deep genuine love for people. And his Leader is the result of that, it's kind of Sam's "vengeance". He felt personally betrayed (understandable for an abused child) and he's here to "make things right" and to unleash his rage. And if he gotta burn the World down to save it, then he will. That's why he's egocentrical, it's not a "villain" boring trait, it's a common trait among people who had to deal with abuse. They'll either think they worth nothing or in the contrary see themself as better than everyone else and hurting in the process. So I hope we'll have this lil' touch of "I know best" typical egocentrical Sam anyway but I'm glad it's not the main focus.
Sam took the name of the Leader because he wanted to guide people to salvation. Most of his goal revolve around turning people into gamma mutated because it's A GIFT. He wants to ENHANCE humanity and while that sounds very supremacist (it kinda is lol) he wants to give that chance to everyone, no matter their origin, no matter their sexuality/gender, no matter their social ground, he gives no shit about that.
From Tales to Astonish to Immortal Hulk, Sam was always anti Gov, saying they only fight for their own interest, blaming them over their fault.
Hulk vol2 23 (2010) writing Jeph Loeb, pencil by Leinil Francis Yu
The best way to write a good Sam without his obsession for Bruce was to mention his obsession for knowledge (Immortal Hulk) and his sense of justice and anarchy (Fall from the Hulks/Peter David era).
A good Sam is Sam obsessed with salvation (for himself but also humanity). He's about thinking he's greater than the odds and than God BECAUSE he thinks he's the embodiment of salvation, it's an important part of his personality and the best and most modern way to do that is through a sense of justice.
Enjoy~
