Captain America: Brave New World (2025) review

New U.S. President Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford) asks Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), also known as Captain America, to reassemble The Avengers, but behind the scenes a gnarly-looking biologist named Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson), an expert in mind control, has many individuals under his possession (by playing certain sounds), and attempts to start a war with Japan over the alleged theft of adamantium, a rare metal alloy.  Even by Marvel standards this is underwhelming as it inexplicably tries being more of a "political thriller" - Ford's basically re-doing his character from Air Force One - than an "entertaining" comic book flick, and the few action sequences are quite mediocre, especially the "final showdown" involving a very irate Ross - who crouches at the podium like Emperor #47 during his suspicious "assassination attempt" - morphing into cherry-red version of the Hulk.  Although it made a nice return at the box office, some die-hards were disappointed by it, so everyone else might want to chug an energy drink before attempting to sit through it.  But for me, considering the times we're stuck living in, it does raise two questions: (1.) Is there something "going on" between the Captain and his young assistant Falcon (Danny Ramirez) that the movie isn't directly telling us?  And (2.) is Sterns a stand-in for Steve Bannon?