Captain America 4 Will Call Back to Major MCU Phase 3 Moment

This article contains spoilers for Captain America: Civil War

Even after half of all living things are snapped out of and back into existence, the Marvel Cinematic Universe can’t seem to escape the ramifications of Captain America: Civil War and the Sokovia Accords. She-Hulk: Attorney at Law may have shown us that the Accords have been repealed in a post-blip world, but that doesn’t mean that we’re through seeing the effects of them on the geopolitical sphere of the MCU. 

In an interview with Collider, Captain America: New World Order producer Nate Moore hinted at some possible tension between Secretary Ross, who pushed for the Avengers to sign the Sokovia Accords, and Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) in the upcoming movie saying “Harrison Ford is taking on the role of General Thaddeus ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross, and to see Sam Wilson and Thunderbolt Ross, which if you remember actually threw him in prison at the end of Civil War because he violated the Sokovia Accords. There’s going to be some natural sparks there, which I think are going to be really fun.”

Even though Sam didn’t spend much time at the Raft before being rescued by Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), the fact that he was thrown in jail in the first place isn’t something Sam would likely let slide. One of Sam’s biggest concerns in signing the Accords is that there was potential to be thrown in jail, even if they were doing the “right thing,” and this proved him right. Also considering the fact that Ross and the Accords forced the Avengers apart before Thanos’ arrival, it’s doubtful that Sam will be eager to work with Ross.

While the scope of the MCU may be increasing, we are in the Multiverse Saga after all, it will be interesting to see how Sam and General Ross’ more ground-level and political backgrounds will factor into Captain America: New World Order. The Falcon and The Winter Soldier has already set up Sam to take over for Captain America not only in name, but also in where his solo ventures go, with the series focusing on the post-blip geopolitics of the MCU. The world leaders of Earth seem to be in chaos as the world gets used to half of the population returning after five years, and not everyone wants to go back to how things were before.

Sam’s first appearance, Captain America and the Winter Soldier, has been highly praised for its melding of political thriller and superhero genres, and it seems as though Captain America: New World Order will also take inspiration from paranoid thrillers in Sam’s first official outing as the titular hero. Tim Blake Nelson’s return as Samuel Sterns will likely factor into Sam and Ross’ conflict with each other and whether or not they will be able to come together and face him. 

As one of the last movies in Phase 5, Captain America: New World Order has the potential to combine the ground-level, Earth-based action we’ve seen thus far with the more otherworldly elements at play in this saga. Just as Captain America: Civil War showed us where the majority of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes stood before Infinity War, New World Order could similarly show us whether Ross and his Thunderbolts will start off on good terms with Cap and his new team or not.