The first trailer for Captain America: Brave New World didn’t just reveal our first look at Harrison Ford’s Red Hulk, it also featured a short but key glimpse of another important Marvel Cinematic Universe character: Isaiah Bradley.
Isaiah Bradley, played by Carl Lumbly, first showed up in live-action on The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Disney+ series. In that series, Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) discovered that the same government that created Captain America has some skeletons in its closet, and one of them is Bradley. And now, in the Brave New World trailer, it appears that Bradley is attempting to assassinate Ford’s President Thunderbolt Ross.
So who is Isaiah? Let’s explore what we know and how this character exposes the dark truth behind the myth that is Captain America.
Isaiah Bradley: The First Black Captain America
Isaiah is the main protagonist of 2003’s Truth: Red, White & Black. Written by Robert Morales and drawn by Kyle Baker, the series reveals Steve Rogers was far from the only soldier the government attempted to transform into a superhuman propaganda tool. Because the formula for the Super-Soldier Serum is lost when Dr. Abraham Erskine is killed by a German spy, the scientists of Project: Rebirth have no choice but to attempt to recreate it through trial and error. They do so by experimenting on hundreds of African American soldiers, men seen by the eugenics-obsessed Dr. Josef Reinstein as expendable tools for the cause.
Steve Rogers was far from the only soldier the government attempted to transform into a superhuman propaganda tool.
The series draws heavily on the real-world Tuskegee Syphilis Study, an infamous program wherein researchers studied the long-term effects of untreated syphilis in hundreds of African American men without their full knowledge and consent. Similarly, Truth shows hundreds of soldiers being subjected to experimental serums without fully understanding what they’ve been recruited for or the significant risks involved. Isaiah is one of only five test subjects to survive the process. The remaining untreated soldiers and researchers are executed, ensuring only a handful know the origin of these new super-soldiers. And after his comrades are killed in the line of duty, Isaiah becomes the only survivor and the only living proof of this twisted attempt to create a new Captain America.
Isaiah’s fate is little better than that of his brothers, sadly. He’s eventually court-martialed and imprisoned, spending the better part of the next two decades as a government lab rat. That’s how his son Josiah is born – an attempt to clone the last known relic of Project: Rebirth and create a new generation of super-soldiers.
Isaiah is eventually pardoned by President Eisenhower and left to live out the rest of his life in obscurity. His body and mind also gradually succumb to the effects of his flawed Super-Soldier Serum. However, word of his exploits and sacrifices do begin to spread among the African American community. When Steve Rogers belatedly learns of Isaiah’s existence and pays him a visit, he sees a home filled with photos of Isaiah alongside 20th Century icons like Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, John Lennon and Nelson Mandela. His legend hasn’t been forgotten by everyone.
How Does Isaiah Bradley Fit Into Captain America: Brave New World?
In the Captain America 4 trailer, we see Sam Wilson, Joaquin Torres, a.k.a. the new Falcon (Danny Ramirez), Isaiah Bradley and others attending some kind of diplomatic event led by President Ross at the White House. As we reported in April, footage from the film was shown at Disney’s CinemaCon 2024 presentation. In that footage, we saw that Isaiah and “another agent” hear a high pitch “and it triggers them, and they start opening fire. Chaos ensues; even Ross throws a punch.” As Sam notes in the trailer, Ross’ “inner circle has been compromised.”
This is clearly taken from the same scene in the trailer, although the trailer version is shorter and it’s less clear what is driving Isaiah in his assassination attempt. It certainly seems, based on the CinemaCon footage context, that he is under some kind of mind control. Sam calls his name before he shoots, and the president is protected by some kind of glass shield which shatters as he hits the deck. The last time we see Isaiah in the trailer, he’s escaping by jumping through a window in the White House.
Notably, while we know that Tim Blake Nelson’s Samuel Sterns, a.k.a. The Leader, is finally returning to the MCU after last being seen in 2008’s The Incredible Hulk, at first glance he doesn’t seem to be in the trailer. But if you look closely, we think he is in there. A guy with a funny hat — which would be perfect for hiding a hideously gamma-deformed head — is briefly seen from behind, talking on the phone and saying “Global power is shifting. You’re just a pawn.” Who is he talking to? Sam? The president, who we assume will turn into the Red Hulk at some point? Isaiah? Maybe The Leader is finally making his presence known by using that massive brain of his to mind-control a bunch of different people…
Elijah Bradley: Young Avenger
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier also introduced us to Isaiah’s grandson Eli (played by Elijah Richardson), a character who may well be destined for big things in the MCU. In the comics, Eli is a founding member of the Young Avengers who takes up the mantle of Patriot and wields the same triangular shield once carried by his grandfather. His teammates naturally assume Eli inherited his super-strength from his grandfather along with that shield. But Eli is hiding a dark secret of his own. Because Eli’s mother was born before Isaiah was subjected to the super-soldier testing, he’s actually a perfectly ordinary human. He compensates for that by relying on mutant growth hormone, a super-steroid that can temporarily bestow incredible power, but at a terrible physical cost.
After coming clean about his deception, Eli rejoins the Young Avengers, only to be grievously wounded in battle. He winds up receiving a life-saving blood transfusion from his grandfather, one which has the added bonus of finally granting Eli legitimate powers. Since then, Patriot has continued to carry on his family legacy both alone and as a Young Avenger.
We wouldn’t be surprised to see some version of this origin story play out in the MCU eventually. But one thing is clear already – Eli shares his grandfather’s rage and resentment over the toll Captain America has taken on their family, and for good reason.
Recreating the Super-Soldier Serum
The Isaiah Bradley character is intended as a commentary on America’s bloody, racially charged history and the way the higher ideals of the country often mask the brutal reality faced by people of color. He’s also a tragic victim of one of the biggest conflicts in the Marvel Universe, one that’s played out over the decades since World War II ended. The creation of Captain America is a true watershed moment in this world. It sparks a superhuman arms race, with every major global power locked in a competition to develop newer and better super-soldiers to fight the wars to come. The fact that the science that made Cap possible was lost with Erskine only adds to their desperation.
This notion of the superhuman arms race is even more prevalent in Marvel’s Ultimate Universe line, which has inspired the tone of the MCU as much as anything else over the years. In the Ultimate Universe, practically every hero and villain can be traced back to Captain America and Project: Rebirth in some way. Even mutants in the Ultimate Universe are an artificial phenomenon. Wolverine is basically patient zero in that genetic breakthrough.
The Ultimate Universe’s Nick Fury and Black Panther both share a lot in common with Isaiah Bradley, as they too are Black men subjected to torture and experimentation in the name of superhuman science. While that plot point hasn’t carried over to the MCU, the general idea that ordinary soldiers (particular people of color) are mere pawns in an amoral system designed to build bigger and better weapons definitely has. You don’t get a hero like Captain America without leaving a long trail of death and misery behind him.
Project: Rebirth and Weapon Plus
Even in Marvel’s classic comic book universe, contemporary creators have worked to unify the many underground organizations and connect the dots between super-soldiers like Captain America, Wolverine and Deadpool. That trend really took shape during writer Grant Morrison’s New X-Men series. In a storyline called “Assault on Weapon Plus,” Wolverine learns that the Weapon X program isn’t named after the letter X, but the Roman numeral. As Weapon X, Logan is the tenth super-soldier in a larger program that dates all the way back to Captain America and Project: Rebirth.
In fact, Cap himself is Weapon I. That lineup includes other familiar Marvel characters, as well. Luke Cage is Weapon VI, Nuke is Weapon VII and Typhoid Mary is Weapon IX. Project: Rebirth was even revived for Weapon V, with several soldiers bonded to pieces of an ancient symbiote decades before Venom arrived on the scene. Even after this discovery, Weapon Plus continues to pump out new super-soldiers, including Weapon XV (an advanced Sentinel called Ultimaton) and Weapon XVI (a viral religion called Allgod).
Could Weapon Plus be used as the glue that ties together characters like Cap and Wolverine in the MCU? Now that the X-Men are finally under the Disney umbrella, it’s certainly possible.
Note: This story was updated on 7/12/24 with the latest information on Captain America 4. It originally ran on 3/26/21.
Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.
