When Captain America: Brave New World began filming in early 2023, Giancarlo Esposito was not involved with it in any way. This was back when he was still expressing interest in playing Professor X, but then when May 2024 came around, the Breaking Bad alum confirmed he’d be taking part in the Brave New World’s additional photography, more commonly known as reshoots. We’ve since learned that Esposito is playing Seth Voelker, a.k.a. Sidewinder, and Captain America 4 producer Nate Moore opened up about why the actor was added so late into the making of the upcoming Marvel movie, which boiled down to wanting Brave New World’s political thriller tone to be properly reflected.
In an interview with The National, Moore, who will be leaving his position as Marvel Studios’ Vice President of Production and Development next month, explained that prior to Brave New World’s reshoots, the movie had “tonal inconsistencies,” resulting in the creative team deciding to “focus on its political thriller ambitions.” Recruiting Esposito was one of several ways this was accomplished, with Moore saying:
I think one of the challenges of making these sorts of movies is making sure your tone is consistent. As we were making the film, we were really trying to find the perfect political thriller tone. And sometimes that means some of the stuff you shoot doesn’t quite work out in the way you intended. We knew we needed somebody like Giancarlo to help ground the tone even further into the world of the political thriller without it getting too heightened. The great thing about Giancarlo is that he can do stuff that is heightened, but you buy it. His character in The Mandalorian accomplished that. And I think he helped ground the tone of this movie in a way that really helped the movie writ large.
In the comics, Sidewinder is the leader of the supervillain group known as the Serpent Society, which has been antagonizing Captain America and his allies stretching back to 1985’s Captain America #310. Amusingly, when Captain America: Civil War was announced in 2014, the title was initially jokingly revealed as Captain America: Serpent Society, but now the time has come for several of its members to make their big screen debut. However, how they’ll be depicted in Captain America: Brave New World differs heavily from what the plan was for them during principal photography. In the case of the WWE’s Seth Rollins, his scenes as a Serpent Society member were completely cut from the movie.
Nate Moore’s explanation of taking steps to ground Captain America: Brave New World in its core political thriller vibe echo what director Julius Onah said earlier this week about how their came a point where things just weren’t working out with the “individuals dressed up as snakes and have snake-adjacent powers,” Once Giancarlo Esposito became available, that resulted in the stronger push towards the “grounded tone and vision” that Onah wanted for his movie. As things stand now, Esposito’s Sidewinder (whom we may see more of in the MCU) and Rosa Salazar’s Diamondback are the only confirmed Serpent Society characters appearing.
Obviously, though, Captain America: Brave New World won’t be lacking in fantastical elements, as evidenced by Harrison Ford’s Thunderbolt Ross transforming into Red Hulk and Tim Blake Nelson’s Samuel Sterns having transformed into The Leader since we last saw him in The Incredible Hulk. We’ll see how the final product turns once it opens in theaters next Friday, February 14.