Former Marvel Studios VP Nate Moore recently revealed that filmmakers cut Eli Bradley, introduced in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, from Captain America 4: Brave New World. He stated that early drafts included Eli, but filmmakers removed him to avoid an overcrowded cast. Moore emphasized that the film focuses on Isaiah Bradley mentoring and training Sam Wilson. Including Eli would have taken away from that dynamic.
Nate Moore on why Eli Bradley isn’t in Captain America: Brave New World
Screen Rant interviewed former Marvel Studios VP Nate Moore, who revealed the reasoning behind Eli Bradley’s removal from Captain America 4: Brave New World. “There are early drafts of the script where Eli was in it,” Moore said.
“But we started to feel like there were too many characters to track, and we wanted to make sure that if a character is in the film, they have something to do,” he continued. “So we had to make the tough decision to just explore Isaiah and see how being pulled into Sam’s world may affect him.”
Elijah Richardson’s Eli Bradley, the grandson of super soldier Isaiah Bradley, played a key role in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Moore explained that removing Eli from Captain America 4: Brave New World sharpened the focus on Isaiah’s relationship with Sam Wilson.
“We also wanted Sam and Isaiah. We wanted room to build up their relationship without a third party kind of commenting on it,” Moore explained. “And so this film is very much about establishing that Isaiah has become not only a mentor to Sam but a training partner.”
Although Eli does not appear in Captain America 4, the character has strong connections to the Young Avengers in Marvel Comics, where he takes on the mantle of Patriot. His exclusion from this film does not rule out his future in the MCU.
Captain America: Brave New World hits theaters on February 14, 2025.
Originally reported by Anubhav Chaudhry on SuperHeroHype.
