Marvel Studios writer Rob Edwards disagrees with Captain America: Brave New World's critics, saying, "You guys missed it."
Captain America 4 opened to lackluster critical reviews, receiving a 'Rotten' critic approval score on Rotten Tomatoes (now at 48%). However, general audience members were more in favor of the sequel, resulting in a 79% audience score on the review consensus site.
Captain America: Brave New World Writer Talks Critics Response
The Direct recently spoke with Rob Edwards, one of the six screenwriters for Captain America: Brave New World, during which he shared his thoughts on how critics scored the MCU's 35th film.
While promoting his upcoming film The King of Kings at WonderCon this past weekend, The Direct asked Edwards if the difference between the audience and critical response to Captain America 4 surprised him. He admitted to us how the lukewarm reception was "weird" to him, saying how he told critics he knew who didn't give the sequel more positive reviews, "'I think you guys missed it:"
"I kinda did, kinda didn't. I think similar things have happened... with a lot of different projects. It was weird to me, because some of my friends who are critics, I said, 'I think you guys missed it. I think you guys got it wrong.'"
In further discussing the divide between theater-goers and critics on Captain America: Brave New World, Edwards noted that a positive audience reaction is "really what you want" instead of critics loving it and fans feeling differently, saying:
"When the audience's marks came in, everybody I saw said like, 'Not only did I love it, but I brought my family to the next week. I've seen it more than once. It's a thoroughly enjoyable film, and I don't know what everybody's talking about.' I mean, that's really what you want as opposed to the other thing."
Captain America 4 currently sits at 42/100 on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, while audiences awarded the film a "B-" according to CinemaScore's polling.
Rob Edwards's writing credits range from Full House and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air to Walt Disney Animation's Treasure Planet, The Princess and the Frog, and the soon-to-be-released animated film, The King of Kings, starring Oscar Isaac, Mark Hamill, and Kenneth Branagh.
Check out how Captain America: Brave New World broke an MCU tradition here!
Captain America 4's Next Audience Test
Marvel fans may be shifting their focus from Captain America 4 to Thunderbolts*, which arrives in theaters on May 2, but the question of Brave New World's fan reception isn't over just yet.
Ticket sales and critics' scores aren't always indicative of a film's success with audiences. That answer will come with how the film performs digitally and then later on Disney+.
Current predictions for Captain America 4's streaming release include a late April digital release date, followed by a mid-May expectation for the film's Disney+ debut.
The latter will be particularly telling of the film's success with audiences as subscribers will surely be hitting play due to Thunderbolts' theatrical release and anticipation for The Fantastic Four: First Steps, which "will go down in history" according to one of the film's mystery stars.
Confirmation concerning Captain America 4's streaming release is expected in the coming weeks.
Captain America: Brave New World is playing in theaters worldwide.
