All the changes made to Captain America: Brave New World during the rewrites and reshoots
We all know by now that the film's original script (and story) were written by Malcolm Spellman & Dalan Musson (writers of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) and polished by director Julius Onah & Peter Glanz, but went through a few rounds of rewrites after the writers' strike ended. First, Moon Knight writer Matthew Orton was hired to rework the script before its upcoming reshoots, but he wasn't credited in the final version of the film. Writer Rob Edwards on the other hand was not only credited as a writer, but also got a "Story by" credit, meaning his changes had a pretty significant impact on the final plot of the movie.
Then, the film had 22 days of reshoots during June 2024 and an additional round of pickups for a few days during November.
This is everything that changed from the original script/cut of the film to the final one we got in theaters:
The Serpent Society and the Airport Fight
The Serpent Society was initially supposed to consist of 5 actually serpent-related super-villains, led by Rosa Salazar's "Rachel Leighton/Diamondback"), who initially played a similar role to Giancarlo Esposito's Sidewinder. The other notable member of the team would have been "Klaus Voorhees/King Cobra") played by well-known WWE wrestler Seth Rollins. Rollins' role in the film was given to Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson who played a version of "Copperhead" (only named in the credits), the Serpent Society goon which Sam had a hard time with (relevant clip).
Below you can see a set photo Rosa Salazar and Seth Rollins in the original Serpent Society matching costumes when they were filming the opening fight sequence of the film, which originally took place in a Mexican airport instead of the Mexican monastery we saw in the final cut of the film.
The weirdest thing is that Rosa Salazar was supposed to remain a member of the Serpent Society even after the rewrites, since she was also spotted on the set of the reshoots last June, this time with her comic-accurate pink hair.
She even got her own McDonald's toy last year when McDonald's had to run their Brave New World campaign early because of pre-existing contracts which were signed before the strikes delayed the film's release.
The extremely reliable scooper CanWeGetSomeToast, who was sued by Marvel Studios last year for leaking promotional posters of Captain America: Brave New World, and was the first person to report both the inclusion of the Serpent Society in the original cut of the film as well as its exclusion after the rewrites, also revealed the other members of the Society and details about their powers.
The members of the Serpent Society in Captain America: Brave New World consisted of Diamondback, Constrictor, Rattler, Asp and Cobra.
They all would have segmented tattoos that would spread apart like seams to reveal cybernetic enhancements.
Together, they made the "Serpent".
-Diamondback (Rosa Salazar): She had diamondspike tattoos on her hands. She was able to shoot projectiles from her fingers.
-Rattler: Sonic Booms came from his legs that "rattled".
-Constricror: Charged coils that went up his arms
-Asp: Had light-up fire fists
-Cobra (Seth Rollins): Fangs came out of his mouth that spit out acid.
The rewrites also removed the other 3 members of this team as well as their unique powers, their most important characteristic that separates this team of goons from all the others in the Marvel Universe.
What's more, according to CanWeGetSomeToast, the original fight against the Serpents in the airport also included Isaiah Bradley fighting alongside Cap and Falcon in his own "Cap" suit, gifted to him by Sam.
The Leader and his Big Head
The Leader's look in the final cut of the film has been polarizing among fans, but that was also something that changed in the reshoots. Tim Blake Nelson had revealed 5 months ago that they basically shot "the movie twice", because his scenes were indeed all shot again last Summer, since Marvel Studios decided to change his classic Big Head from the comics, which was supposed to be his cinematic look as well in the first cut of the film, to the one we all saw in the theatrical cut.
Sadly, merchandise for the film also had to be released last Summer due to the pre-existing contracts they signed before the strikes and the film's delay, so there is tons of merch with Sterns' original look out there, including his Funko Pop.
There's also many pieces of concept/promotional art which show the original look of the character:
Adamantium's original properties, Cap vs Red Hulk fight, Ross' fate and the original post-credits scene
Once again according to CanWeGetSomeToast, Adamantium was supposed to be able to absorb gamma radiation in the original cut of the film. That would have been Cap's secret weapon to defeat Red Hulk, as he would use Adamantium to drain Ross of his power, which would eventually lead to his apparent death.
That would have led to the funeral scene they shot during the original production of the film, a set photo from which you can see below, featuring Sam and Leila. The day they shot this scene was the day Liv Tyler first came on set as well, with a paparazzo leaking her cameo in the film, prompting Marvel Studios to officially reveal her return through the trades that same night.
Well-known, but controversial leaker, MyTimeToShineHello had revealed in 2023 that the post-credits scene of the film would have featured Betty as well, but didn't give any more context other than that. Leaks from a person who had reportedly watched an early cut of the film before the reshoots during a test screening, revealed that the post-credits scene featured Betty seeing fiery footsteps in her backyard, followed by Red Hulk’s glowing red eyes before he vanished, revealing that he actually survived and is still out there in his Hulk form. Theories back then on the spoilers subreddit were that this was Marvel's way to keep using Red Hulk in the future without having to show Ross/Harrison Ford.
Amadeus Cho.. added in reshoots and removed again during pickups
In the original cut of the film, Sam never got the pills he found at Sterns' cell investigated. Then in the reshoots, they decided to add a scene where Sam and Joaquin visited Stark Industries to find "the smartest scientist working there" in order to have the pills investigated, and that scientist was Amadeus Cho), Helen Cho's son, played by Logan Kim.
Then, when Amadeus finds out the pills are coated with gamma radiation and tries to call Sam to inform him, The Leader shows up to stop him, but doesn't kill him like he did Dennis (Sam's Navy Seals friend).
This was revealed by another person who watched a test screening of the film, this time post-reshoots, and he got everything else right about the film, so we know he is legit.
During pick-ups however, they decided to scrap all that again and replaced Amadeus' scenes with Dennis' scenes. I'm not even sure if Dennis was even in the film before the pickups in November, because as of now, 2 out of his 3 scenes were NOT in the film, even after the June reshoots.
What's more, again revealed by the person who attended the test screening, the current post-credits scene we see in the film had a few additional lines in the beginning where Sam asks The Leader if he gave Amadeus "Hulk juice", setting up Amadeus as Brawn, his gamma alternate persona in the MCU. This is what the leaker said:
“Sam visits the leader in the raft, mentions some thing about giving hulk juice to Amadeus Cho, and Sterns goes ‘something big and bad is comin” and Sam is like ‘I’ll be ready’.
Ruth's mutant powers
According to the person who had watched the original test screening before the reshoots, Ruth had her mutant powers and used them to stop Isaiah after he attempted to assassinate Ross as well as to stop the brain-washed guards in the Echo One base. Then, after the fight, she talked to Sam about how she had those powers since she was a young child.
These scenes were removed after the reshoots and they made Ruth a regular ex-Black Widow.
Leave your thoughts below!