Who Is Giancarlo Esposito's Captain America 4 Villain? Our Comic Book Expert Explores The Options

Gus Fring's war with Walter White may have blown up in his face, but Giancarlo Esposito walked away from "Breaking Bad" with a revitalized career. He's one of Hollywood's greatest working heavies, with his roles as Moff Gideon on "The Mandalorian" and Stan Edgar on "The Boys" to prove it.

As a result, he's been fancast as countless Marvel characters — and those wishes finally came true. The recently released trailer for "Captain America: Brave New World" dropped a look at Esposito's character, and he's a ruthless, gun-toting mercenary/terrorist clad in sunglasses and a leather trench coat.

Much of the trailer includes our new Captain America, Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), talking with President Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford). They talk about how much supervision the U.S. government can have over Captain America's work. Esposito's character seems likely to be a first act villain (a la Batroc the Leaper in "The Winter Soldier" and Crossbones in "Civil War") who Sam's Cap can defeat and get his conversation with Ross rolling.

But who is this character? Sorry X-Fans, but if you wanted to see Esposito as either Professor X or Magneto, you're going to be disappointed. Likewise, Norman Osborn/The Green Goblin generally favors pumpkin bombs and business suits, not AR-15's, so that seems out too.

Which Marvel characters could plausibly debut in a "Captain America" movie and fit Esposito's description? Let's explore some options.

George Washington "G.W." Bridge is currently the running favorite to be Esposito's role. Frankly, this isn't a character who will excite people beyond Marvel die-hards. It might be that Esposito's role is unnamed in press material less because it's an Earth-shattering secret and moreso because it's actually not that big.

Debuting in "X-Force" #1 (by Fabian Nicieza and Rob Liefeld), Bridge is a former mercenary turned S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. He's traditionally associated with the time-traveling X-Man Cable; Bridge was part of Cable's "Six Pack" team along with Deadpool and Domino. Since Bridge is usually in the X-Men's orbit, it's plausible that he's a character Marvel Studios only got the rights to use after the 2019 Disney/20th Century Fox merger.

Bridge isn't a bad guy, so Esposito's fierce appearance in the trailer and villainous onscreen reputation may be misleading audiences. Or the movie could be the start of his character arc; he begins as a mercenary but will become a government agent.

Industry scoopers have suggested that Esposito's role is Bridge, while the character's co-creator Liefeld tweeted out something suspicious around the time set photos of Esposito were leaked:

I love me some G.W. Bridge. pic.twitter.com/CHziwF4GRS

— robliefeld (@robertliefeld) June 1, 2024

This may not be hugely exciting news except for you dozen G.W. Bridge fans out there (I'm counting Liefeld in that number), but if this is who Esposito is playing, it's a reminder the MCU is on the verge of mutating.

The runner-up theory at the moment is that Esposito is playing Raoul Bushman, arch-enemy of Moon Knight (aka Marc Spector, aka Steven Grant, aka Jake Lockley). Bushman is a mercenary leader, and his gang's ranks once included Marc Spector before he became avatar of the moon god Khonshu.

Bushman debuted in "Moon Knight" #1 (by Doug Moench and Bill Sienkiewicz), when Moon Knight's origin was retold. Bushman and his gang raid an archaeological dig site; Spector objects to executing their captives, so Bushman beats him to near-death. This creates the opening for Marc's deal with Khonshu.

Bushman was mentioned but unseen in the rather self-contained first season of "Moon Knight," where the eponymous hero (played by Oscar Isaac) instead fought cult leader Arthur Harrow (Moon Knight). At the Phoenix Fan Fusion event, Esposito said his character will appear in a Marvel TV series after a "tease" in "Brave New World." 

Esposito's "Brave New World" weapons-packed costume looks like it could be Bushman (minus the white skull tattoo). Plus, Esposito as the big bad of "Moon Knight" season 2? He's one of the only actors who could match Ethan Hawke's energy.

Marvel Comic books are soap operas (and the MCU is finding out how difficult that sort of convoluted storytelling can be). What's more soap opera-ish than an evil sibling?

Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) is a staple of the MCU. Movie-only fans might not know though that he has a brother, Jacob "Jake" Fury, who is a terrorist rather than a secret agent. He debuted in Jim Steranko's run on "Strange Tales" (a S.H.I.E.L.D./Nick Fury comic even it wasn't called that) and has been a thorn in his brother's side since. The younger Fury brother has also served the role of Scorpio in the criminal Zodiac gang — if the MCU can get astrology followers on board maybe it can reclaim its cultural dominance.

Jackson and Esposito appeared in plenty of Spike Lee movies together during the 1990s, so having them play brothers could be a fun reunion. Only problem? Jackson hasn't been reported to be in "Brave New World." If Nick Fury's brother was a villain, you'd expect him to play a big part.

From Ross debuting as the Red Hulk to the long-forgotten mad scientist The Leader (Tim Blake Nelson) being the big bad, it feels like "Brave New World" is more of a Hulk movie, not a Captain America one.

Who says that Esposito's character has to be a Captain America villain? I'll pull a theory from my back pocket and suggest that he could be Moses Magnum. The character is an Ethiopian weapons dealer who has sonic, earthquake-creating powers. The character (created by Gerry Conway and Ross Andru) is a minor villain who's fought most Marvel heroes (Spider-Man, Punisher, the X-Men, Black Panther, etc.) He's the type of villain who keeps popping up but isn't tied to one hero because he doesn't have any personal vendetta against one of them. An easy fit for a cold open villain!

Esposito's character looking like an armory sprouted legs fits with Magnum's terrorist background. As for him showing no signs of powers? Well, he's only in the trailer for a few shots.

"Captain America: Brave New World" is scheduled for release February 14, 2025.