When Does the Film "Captain America: Brave New World" (2025) Take Place?
"Captain America: Brave New World" is a superhero film written by Rob Edwards with Malcolm Spellman, Dalan Musson, Julius Onah, Peter Glanz, and Matthew Orton [adapting "Hulk" #23 v2 (2010) by Jeph Loeb] that released February 14th, 2025. So when is "Brave New World" set?
It takes place on the Marvel Cinematic Universe timeline in the year:
We know this because Sam Wilson/Captain America says, "He's 110-years-old.", referring to James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes/The Winter Soldier and a display at the fictional Captain America exhibit in the real-world Smithsonian Institution (apparently specifically at the National Air and Space Museum) seen early in "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" (2014) lists his birthyear as both "1916" and "1917" on different places on the same wall. If either of these are accurate and Sam is not exaggerating, it would currently be 2026 AD or 2027 AD.
2027 AD
We know this because Sam Wilson/Captain America says, "He's 110-years-old.", referring to James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes/The Winter Soldier and a display at the fictional Captain America exhibit in the real-world Smithsonian Institution (apparently specifically at the National Air and Space Museum) seen early in "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" (2014) lists his birthyear as both "1916" and "1917" on different places on the same wall. If either of these are accurate and Sam is not exaggerating, it would currently be 2026 AD or 2027 AD.
1916 + 110 = 2026
or
1917 + 110 = 2027.
More specifically, early in the main action Isaiah Bradley's invitation to the White House's "Celestial Island World Summit" event specifically says it is being held "on Thursday April 16, 2027 at eight o'clock". So it's April of 2027 AD.
Furthermore, Samuel Sterns says, "Once Ross discovered how useful I could be, he kept me here for 16 years"... and he was seen free but in direct danger of being captured at the end of "The Incredible Hulk" (2008), which takes place entirely within 2011 AD.
2011 + 16 = 2027.
(HOWEVER, a television news report specifically tells us it's "Just 2 years after being exonerated for unjust charges, Bradley now"... Bradley's existence as a superpowered individual was revealed to the public during the TV series "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier" episode 6 "One World, One People" (2021), which takes place in early 2024 AD. That would make 'the present' of the main action in 2026 AD.
2024 + 2 = 2026.
It is entirely possible that after his public debut in 2024 AD a full exoneration took a further year.)
Additionally, there's a prologue in which a character gives a speech specifically described as a United States of America presidential election "acceptance speech" (which usually occurs every four years in November) by a TV news reporter. The prologue ends with a relative time setting title card superimposed over the footage that reads "5 MONTHS LATER" and therefore this prologue takes place in November of 2026 AD. The candidate assuming office is not President Ritson, the current US President during the TV series "Secret Invasion" (2023), which takes place in the MCU's 2025 AD. Therefore the prologue cannot be November of the year 2024 AD despite that being the timing of the USA presidential election for that cycle in the real world. It is safe to assume events [likely those depicted in "The Avengers: Infinity War" (2018) and "The Avengers Endgame" (2019)] have caused this cycle to shift in the fictional world (diegesis) of the MCU.
4.2027 - 5 months = 11.2026.
It is a chronologically late film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
