Contains spoilers for “Captain America: Brave New World”

“Captain America: Brave New World” is the 35th motion picture in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (check out our review here) that started in May 2008 with the release of “Iron Man.” Given how long this saga’s been going, audiences across the globe understand the structure of these features like the back of their respective hands at this point. These titles don’t just wrap up once the credits begin rolling. Moviegoers are encouraged to stick around through the credits for a glimpse into teases for upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe features and possibly even a first look at new players in this multimedia saga. The post-credits scenes are a tradition at this point. “Brave New World” firmly continues this trend with a solitary sequence nestled after the credits, a departure from most post-2019 Marvel Studios productions like “The Marvels” and “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” that have dropped scenes much earlier or in the middle of the end credits.

With so many high-profile projects, including “Avengers: Doomsday” and “The Fantastic Four: First Steps,” on the horizon, there is a barrage of potential future Marvel Cinematic Universe movies that the “Brave New World” post-credit scene could connect to, and questions will undoubtedly linger over the larger implications of this sequence for the future of the endless Marvel Cinematic Universe. Ahead, let’s break down what happens in this “Brave New World” post-credit sequence and how it could offer a glimpse into some of the most hotly-anticipated Marvel Cinematic Universe projects coming down the pipeline.

Dr. Samuel Sterns aka The Leader (Tim Blake Nelson) has been captured and is currently residing in The Raft (the supermax underwater prison) in the “Brave New World” post-credit scene. It’s here he receives a visit from Sam Wilson/Captain America, with the green-skinned baddie taunting the patriotic hero with an omen of the future. The Leader’s whole gimmick is that his gamma-enhanced brain can see all probabilities for events that have yet to happen. Now, he’s using that power to cryptically tease Captain America of an upcoming fight that he can’t win. The Leader begins to speak of “other worlds” that will make Cap’s allegiance to fighting for our world crumble. More specifically, The Leader ominously asks Cap how he will fare facing “The Others.”

Given that “Brave New World’s” pre-credits runtime ends with Cap asking the new Falcon (Danny Ramirez) to join The Avengers, it’s clear this scene is meant to set up “Avengers: Doomsday” most of all. Those “other worlds” The Leader is talking about likely refer to the universe that The Fantastic Four inhabit in “The Fantastic Four: First Steps,” where Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom presumably lives. But who are those “The Others” that these characters will contend with?  It’s doubtful this means Thanos’ henchman The Other from early MCU materials is coming back. Nor is it likely that the obscure Spider-Man supporting player The Other is about to inform “Doomsday’s” entire plot. More likely, this post-credit sequence indicates that a recent rumor about “Doomsday” involving familiar MCU faces could be true.

Ever since it was confirmed the Avengers would next face off against Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom in “Avengers: Doomsday,” rumors have swirled online that other “Avengers” mainstays will also come back in villainous forms. This includes rumors of Chris Evans returning for “Doomsday” as some nefarious version of Captain America. Could this be the source of The Leader’s taunt to Captain America? This ultra-brainy foe can see the future and goads Cap with the possibility that his next villain will involve fighting his closest friends. Then again, “The Others” could just refer to The Fantastic Four and other multiversal superheroes brought to Earth as part of the expansive storyline encompassing “Doomsday” and “Avengers: Secret Wars.” This term could also indicate some other gaggle of baddies, like an evil version of the Starjammers, that we’re not even aware of yet. 

What is clear is that the MCU’s so-called Multiverse Saga is not dialing down the multiversal elements even after the failure of projects like “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” and self-deprecating jokes about these productions in “Deadpool & Wolverine.” If even a “grounded” action film like “Captain America: Brave New World” features a post-credit scene where a villain teases the importance of “other worlds”, then it’s clear Marvel Studios really is in for the multiverse for the long haul. These brief comments from The Leader offer a tease into a multitude of ways the multiverse could prove a world-threatening issue in “Avengers: Doomsday.”