Please be warned, there are spoilers here for both Captain America: Brave New World and The Manchurian Candidate, which we can’t erase with any brainwashing.
I finally had a chance to see Captain America: Brave New World now that it’s streaming with a Disney+ subscription. I missed it in theaters, and after reading the middling reviews, I decided I’d stay patient and avoid renting it. I’m glad I waited, but I am surprised by how much I enjoyed it. One piece of the plot that grabbed me was the continuing story of super soldier and Korean War vet Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly) and how it recalled The Manchurian Candidate.
In Brave New World we learn that Bradley, who was first introduced to the MCU in the Disney+ show The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, was brainwashed by the villain, Samuel Sterns, and is activated while visiting the White House and attempts to assassinate the now-President Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford). The plot took me back to the original The Manchurian Candidate from 1962, starring Frank Sinatra.
Brainwashed Soldiers In The Korean War
If you’ve ever seen The Manchurian Candidate (and I’m talking about the original adaptation of the stage play from 1962), you know it’s about a platoon of soldiers who are captured by the Chinese and North Koreans during a raid. The platoon is tortured and brainwashed for days before being released. The soldiers have no memory of the brainwashing, but instead believe the story told to them under hypnosis that they acted as heroes.
Sinatra plays Major Bennett Marco, a member of the ill-fated platoon, and now an intelligence officer in the army. Laurence Harvey plays Raymond Shaw, the hero of the fake story, who earns a Medal of Honor as a result of all the members believing the story of heroism. Harvey is, in fact, a sleeper agent who can be triggered into action by seeing the Queen of Hearts in a pack of cards. Eventually, he is activated and sent to kill a presidential candidate.
I Loved The Manchurian Candidate
I realized as I was watching that I’ve never actually seen the whole film. I thought I’d seen it, and I’ve definitely seen bits and pieces over the years, but I’ve never sat down and really watched. It’s fantastic. Even in 2025, much of the movie feels relevant in regards to the politics, and the Cold War stuff also scratches my itch for mid-century history.
The cast is wonderful. It’s led by Sinatra, but Angela Landsbury (who was nominated for an Oscar) steals the show as the movie’s true villain. Harvey is perfectly creepy, scary, and sympathetic as the brainwashed Shaw, and Janet Leigh is bubbly and delightful as Shaw’s love interest. The dialogue is impactful and well-paced, and overall, the movie, which you can watch with the MGM+ addition to your Amazon Prime subscription, is deserving of the high praise it has received over the years.
The Connection Is Obvious
I don’t think I need to talk much about the connection between Brave New World and The Manchurian Candidate. Both are about Korean War vets turned into brainwashed assassins who attempt to take the life of a politician. In the former, it’s a way to advance the plot and give Captain America a mission (and a purpose), but in both cases, the soldier is helpless without his friends helping him understand what it going on; to tragic results in the 1960s classic, less tragic in the modern superhero flick.
There is another Manchurian Candidate adaptation from 2004 starring Liev Schreiber as Shaw and Denzel Washington as Marco. That’s next on my list to revisit.
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