Captain America: Brave New World arrives to an even weaker reception than its LEGO sets

Captain America: Brave New World finally arrives in cinemas around the world today, but does so to an even more tepid reception than its tie-in LEGO sets.

The fourth Captain America movie – and the first with Anthony Mackie in the title role – is the latest instalment in Phase Five of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and sees Sam Wilson succeed Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers as the silver screen’s most patriotic superhero. But while the first three Captain America movies are generally considered to be among the MCU’s best, this one is reportedly a little more lacklustre.

That’s according to early reviews of Captain America: Brave New World, which are decidedly mixed – leaving it with an overall critics’ rating of just 53% on Rotten Tomatoes. By comparison, Captain America: The First Avenger is sitting at 80%, while The Winter Soldier and Civil War both reached 90% favourable reviews. Many of the reviews for Brave New World aren’t bad, per se – they’re just mediocre.

We’re seeing a lot of two-star and three-star ratings across the board, with phrases like ‘somewhat watchable’ and ‘underwhelming’ being thrown around. In short, it sounds forgettable. Clapper’s Carson Timer sums it up: “It feels destined that Brave New World will fade away into the void of MCU projects without much thought or attention. A deserved fate for a film so unwilling to craft something new or meaningful.”

All that leaves the new Captain America movie’s two tie-in LEGO sets in an increasingly familiar place: they’re actually better-regarded overall than their source material. That wasn’t always true for MCU films and their corresponding LEGO sets, especially when the movies were flying high in Phase Three, but as their quality has dipped post-Thanos, the scales have started to shift in favour of the bricks.

That’s not to say 76292 Captain America vs. Red Hulk Battle and 76296 New Captain America Construction Figure have both proven to be home runs with LEGO Marvel fans. Our own reviews took both sets to task for different reasons, and some of those concerns are echoed by reviews in the wider LEGO community – namely the sky-high price of 76292 Captain America vs. Red Hulk Battle and an underwhelming approach for 76296 New Captain America Construction Figure.

There are certainly things to enjoy about both sets, though – the more expensive of the two features a smattering of printed pieces, three exclusive minifigures and a new Red Hulk bigfig; the buildable action figure serves the core audience for those sets well enough – and the end result is that you might just end up having a more enjoyable time with the LEGO than watching Brave New World on the big screen.

Or not: the audience score for Captain America: Brave New World is currently 80% on Rotten Tomatoes, which is much higher than the critics’ score, so you could end up enjoying it more than you’d expect. It’s in cinemas now if you want to check it out for yourself, while 76292 Captain America vs. Red Hulk Battle and 76296 New Captain America Construction Figure are both available now. Check out our reviews of both sets below.

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