'Captain America: New World Order': Is the Film's Title Hinting at the Red Skull's Return?

Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) made his official debut as Captain America in the finale of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier way back in 2021. An announcement was made shortly thereafter confirming that Sam would return as Cap in Captain America 4.

A year later, the official title of Captain America 4 was finally unveiled at San Diego Comic-Con — Captain America: New World Order. So what is the significance of the New World Order in the Marvel Comics?

The Red Skull was behind the creation of the New World Order in the comics. It was supposed to be an Avengers-esque-like setup — for super-villains. So what happened to the New World Order? Is the title of Captain America 4 teasing the Red Skull's return?

Here's what we know so far.

According to the Marvel Fandom, the New World Order didn't have a lot of luck succeeding in the villainy department. At one point the organization was successful in brainwashing the Hulk, nearly turning him against his fellow Avengers.

However, the Hulk was able to break free of the New World Order's brainwashing tactics. Everyone's favorite green guy helped the Avengers save the day.

Meanwhile, the Red Skull staged an incident to make it look like all of the members of the New World Order had perished.

So there's no Cap-centric comic book storyline that involves Cap specifically going up against the New World Order. However, it's an MCU world and we're just living in it, so Captain America 4 can definitely take creative liberties with the source material.

All right, so we know what everyone's thinking: Does the New World Order subtitle mean that the Red Skull is returning?

The Red Skull was trapped on Vormir for ages as the guardian of the Soul Stone after he touched the Tesseract in Captain America: The First Avenger. However, the Red Skull was technically freed from servitude after Thanos claimed the stone.

Was the Red Skull sent straight back to Vormir when Steve Rogers returned the stones to their rightful places in Avengers: Endgame? Did the Red Skull even leave when he had the chance?

Essentially, the Red Skull could possibly return in Captain America 4 to found the New World Order like his comic books counterpart. However, there's no rule saying another villainous candidate couldn't found the league of super-villains in Captain America 4.

Other intriguing potential candidates could be Baron Zemo (Daniel Brühl), Sharon Carter (Emily VanCamp), or even U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell). There's certainly a lot of options with great storytelling potential for the film.

Although details are scarce about Captain America: New World Order as of this writing, we do know the release date. The fourth Captain America film will hit theaters on May 3, 2024. That makes Sam's debut MCU film adventure as Cap officially part of Marvel Phase 5.

We can't wait to see him save the world.