Giancarlo Esposito Reveals His Original Role in Captain America: Brave New World

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Posted 23 hours ago by inuno.ai

Giancarlo Esposito expertly brought Serpent leader Seth Voelker/Sidewinder to life in Captain America: Brave New World. However, the actor recently revealed that he was originally meant to play a different character.

Speaking to Empire via ComicBookMovie, Esposito said he was initially cast as King Cobra. But due to creative changes, he ended up with another role. “It was supposed to come out in March of 2024, and they decided they wanted to make some changes,” the actor explained. “I was on the phone with [producer] Nate Moore, who prepped me to be, possibly, a character called King Cobra, which I loved, because if I’m walking around the neighborhood, African-Americans go, ‘What’s up, King?’ I love it.”

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Giancarlo Esposito from Captain America Brave New World and Sidewinder from the comics

Giancarlo Esposito’s Sidewinder in Captain America: Brave New World, Explained

In Captain America: Brave New World, Giancarlo Esposito will be playing Sidewinder. Here is the history of his character in Marvel Comics.

“They call me King, baby! I mean, that’s the highest honor,” Esposito continued. “But as it turned out, there [are other Kings] in the Marvel world, and this was connected to the Serpent Society. They were going back to the comics and trying to figure it out, and Nate said, ‘We can give you all the characteristics of King, but we think he should be Sidewinder.’” The actor went on to share Marvel’s vision for Sidewinder, which was evident in his performance in the movie.

“They spoke about creating a character that was really grounded, in a mercenary fashion,” Esposito explained. “They wanted to ground the movie when they went back in to do some additional shooting, and their focus now was on this additional character. So it was a bit of a whirlwind for me. I focused myself and I went in there and knocked it out. And I’m hoping to be in this universe a little longer,” the actor added.

Marvel Wanted To Avoid A ‘Cartoonish’ Villain

Brave New World director Julius Onah previously talked about Esposito’s Sidewinder and how the creative team did not want to create a cartoonish version of the character. “This is another case of the grounded aesthetic and tone of the film,” he said. “Serpent Society had always been a part of the story since I joined, but as you are probably well aware, in publishing, these characters dress up in snake-like outfits and have snake-like powers.”

Giancarlo Esposito as Sidewinder and Gus Fring

Giancarlo Esposito Is Breaking a Major Career Trend in Captain America: Brave New World

Giancarlo Esposito recently opened up about playing Sidewinder in the MCU–and his comments are very good news for the actor’s career.

“Some of them are, you know, so over the top that they can even be a little bit cartoonish,” Onah continued. “As we were iterating through how to bring them into the MCU, we leaned into versions that were a bit more heightened and also versions that were a bit more grounded. We found that the more grounded version, though it didn’t have some of the really fun, cool stuff in publishing, just felt way more authentic to the film.”

Brave New World begins when Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford) is elected as the President of the United States. “Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) finds himself at the center of an international incident and must work to stop the true masterminds behind it,” the official synopsis reads. The cast also includes Tim Blake Nelson, Liv Tyler, Cal Lumbly, and Danny Ramirez. The film has earned almost $180 million in the United States, breaking the All-Time Domestic Box Office for Action Movies chart.

Captain America: Brave New World is currently playing in cinemas worldwide.

Source: Empire via ComicBookMovie