section_path: Production/Post-production
section_name: Post-production
paragraph_text: Post-production
  
  By October 2023, there was potential for Brave New World to return to its May 2024 release date because it was further along in production than Marvel Studios' Deadpool & Wolverine (2024), which had taken over that date. However, this was considered unlikely, and Brave New World ' s release was instead delayed to February 14, 2025, following the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike 's conclusion in November 2023. Journalist Jeff Sneider reported that the film was not received well in an early test screening, that three major sequences were being cut, and that extensive reshoots were planned from January 2024 until that May or June. In December, Matthew Orton was hired to write additional material for the reshoots, which were then scheduled to last from early-to-mid-2024. Orton previously worked on the Marvel Studios miniseries Moon Knight (2022). The same day, Rosa Salazar was revealed to have been cast in the film, and was later reported to be portraying Diamondback, a member of the Serpent Society. This confirmed speculation that she was playing the character based on her appearance in set photos.
  
  Mark Ruffalo stated in February 2024 that he was reprising his MCU role as Bruce Banner / Hulk in the film. Adam B. Vary of Variety soon reported that Ruffalo was not appearing in the film, explaining that the actor had misspoken when he was asked about the film and had just intended to express enthusiasm for its upcoming release. Vary noted that there had been ongoing speculation about Ruffalo potentially appearing in the film due to the number of characters from The Incredible Hulk already included and Ross's transformation into Red Hulk. Onah said they considered including Ruffalo, but felt this would take away from Wilson's story.
  
  Giancarlo Esposito revealed in May 2024 that he had been cast in an MCU role and would be appearing "sooner rather than later", with his character being teased in a film before a bigger role in an MCU television series. He was confirmed to be appearing in Brave New World at the end of the month as part of the reshoots, which began at that time in Atlanta and were scheduled to last for 22 days. These were expected to be less extensive than the reshoots for the MCU films Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) and The Marvels (2023), focusing on new action sequences and integrating Esposito. Brave New World was also expected to be much less expensive than The Marvels, which cost more than $300 million; the budget for Brave New World was reported to be $180 million. Nelson returned to Atlanta for reshoots in June, and said they redid much of his original work. Mackie characterized the reshoots as just adding a few additional scenes to enhance the film and said there was no "retooling or remaking". Moore said the reshoots were focused on creating the "perfect political thriller tone", and the casting of Esposito was part of this. He believed the actor made the film more grounded despite his "heightened" material, similar to his role in the television series The Mandalorian (2019–2023). Ford and Takehiro Hira also participated in the reshoots. The film's post-credits scene, in which Wilson is warned about coming threats from the multiverse, was filmed during reshoots. Onah explained that they waited until writing on upcoming MCU films had restarted following the writers' strike before they determined an appropriate tease for future projects.
  
  Esposito announced in July 2024 that he was portraying Seth Voelker / Sidewinder, leader of the Serpent Society, and said he would return for additional reshoots in mid-November. Moore originally told Esposito that he would play King Cobra, and the actor enjoyed the notion of an African-American man being called "King", but the filmmakers ultimately decided that he would portray Sidewinder instead, in part because Sidewinder is the founder of the Serpent Society in the comics. Some of King Cobra's characteristics from the comics were given to Sidewinder for the film. The remains of Tiamut —the Celestial whose emergence on Earth was halted by the Eternals in the MCU film Eternals (2021)—were also revealed to be a focus of the film's story, allowing the introduction of the fictional metal adamantium to the MCU. Moore said Marvel Studios had been waiting to address Tiamut's remains in a story that could make the "best use" of them. Onah said the prior Captain America films had been used to establish aspects of the MCU, and they felt it was interesting to introduce adamantium as a "geopolitical football". The film originally ended with a climactic action scene on Tiamut's remains, referred to as "Celestial Island", but this was reworked. A dogfight near the island featuring multiple countries was also simplified to just feature the United States and Japan. Onah originally filmed the sequence in a thriller-inspired style like other scenes, but they found the action needed more camera movement and intensity. Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson was revealed to be part of the cast in December, when Marvel credited the film's story to Spellman & Musson and Edwards, with the screenplay credited to Onah & Peter Glanz and Orton. The next month, the film's final writing credits were revealed: Edwards received screenplay credit alongside the writing teams of Spellman & Musson and Onah & Glanz, with the story credited to Edwards, Spellman, and Musson. Additional off-screen literary material was attributed to Michael Kastelein, Jeph Loeb, Orton, and Zeb Wells.
  
  Also in January 2025, Rollins said he would no longer be appearing in the film following the reshoots. Salazar's scenes as Diamondback were also cut. Onah said the film was "taking a swing" with its depiction of the Serpent Society and they felt this aspect needed to be "refined" to align better with the film's thriller tone. He said they decided to move away from the more comic-accurate versions of Serpent Society members portrayed by Rollins and Salazar, and the film's reshoot dates also clashed with a different project Salazar was working on. Both actors were replaced by Esposito, who serves the same purpose in the film's story but with a more grounded tone. Onah felt Esposito's inclusion was a "no-brainer" once he became available, and thought the actor brought the right level of gravitas to the film and the Serpent Society team, which is just called "Serpent" in the film. Jóhannesson plays another member of the group, Copperhead, alongside Esposito. Moore compared the group, described as a "violent special-ops team", to the more grounded version of the comic book character Batroc the Leaper that is introduced in The Winter Soldier portrayed by Georges St-Pierre. Onah said Esposito's role was "great setup" for further appearances of the Serpent Society in the MCU. Addressing public interest in the changes made to the film during reshoots, Onah said they were a natural part of the film's development and he pushed back against speculation that came from leaks and reports that he said were inaccurate. An example of this was speculation that Ross was originally supposed to die in the film, based on set photos and early trailer footage showing a funeral scene that was cut from the film. Onah said there was "never a version where he explicitly died", but there were versions of the film in which his fate was left unknown to the public. Onah added that Red Hulk is a "fan favorite character" from the comics, and said it is "not very easy for a Hulk to perish".
  
  Matthew Schmidt and Madeleine Gavin edited the film; Schmidt previously worked on The Winter Soldier and Civil War. Brave New World is the first MCU film to not feature an animated Marvel Studios opening logo, instead presenting the studio's logo in "no-nonsense black-and-white" without a traditional musical fanfare. Bill Westenhofer was the film's initial visual effects supervisor, but left the project to work on the film Moana (2026) and was replaced with Alessandro Ongaro. Visual effects were provided by Wētā FX, Digital Domain, Luma Pictures, Barnstorm VFX, UPP, OPSIS, and Outpost VFX. Digital Domain worked on the Celestial Island sequence. The same digital model for Tiamut from Eternals was used, but they "scaled it down a little". Wētā FX designed Red Hulk with Meinerding. Wētā visual effects supervisor Dan Cox said they did not want the character to just look like a color-swapped version of the Hulk. They hoped to make him more intimidating than the Hulk, with a more upright, athletic posture. Onah wanted the character to feel more tactical and methodical due to Ross's military background, and referenced a bear for poses where the character is on all fours. Ford's facial features were incorporated into the design based on scans of his face. The climactic confrontation between Red Hulk and Captain America in D.C. has more than 300 visual effects shots. Ford and a stunt double provided motion capture for the character. Ongaro said Ross's transformation into Red Hulk was originally meant to look more "disgusting. You could see the skin tearing and breaking on his hand, bones popping off", but they decided to pull back on that aspect. They also planned to show the full transition from Red Hulk back to Ross, but Onah felt it broke the "peacefulness" of the moment and instead chose to focus on his shadow during the transition. For Sterns, who also features a monstrous look, Onah said they always intended to use visual effects to augment the practical effects that were used on set. Ongaro said the practical effects for Sterns were replaced with an "all- approach" by Luma.
  
  By October 2023, there was potential for Brave New World to return to its May 2024 release date because it was further along in production than Marvel Studios' Deadpool & Wolverine (2024), which had taken over that date. However, this was considered unlikely, and Brave New World ' s release was instead delayed to February 14, 2025, following the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike 's conclusion in November 2023. Journalist Jeff Sneider reported that the film was not received well in an early test screening, that three major sequences were being cut, and that extensive reshoots were planned from January 2024 until that May or June. In December, Matthew Orton was hired to write additional material for the reshoots, which were then scheduled to last from early-to-mid-2024. Orton previously worked on the Marvel Studios miniseries Moon Knight (2022). The same day, Rosa Salazar was revealed to have been cast in the film, and was later reported to be portraying Diamondback, a member of the Serpent Society. This confirmed speculation that she was playing the character based on her appearance in set photos.
  
  Mark Ruffalo stated in February 2024 that he was reprising his MCU role as Bruce Banner / Hulk in the film. Adam B. Vary of Variety soon reported that Ruffalo was not appearing in the film, explaining that the actor had misspoken when he was asked about the film and had just intended to express enthusiasm for its upcoming release. Vary noted that there had been ongoing speculation about Ruffalo potentially appearing in the film due to the number of characters from The Incredible Hulk already included and Ross's transformation into Red Hulk. Onah said they considered including Ruffalo, but felt this would take away from Wilson's story.
  
  Giancarlo Esposito revealed in May 2024 that he had been cast in an MCU role and would be appearing "sooner rather than later", with his character being teased in a film before a bigger role in an MCU television series. He was confirmed to be appearing in Brave New World at the end of the month as part of the reshoots, which began at that time in Atlanta and were scheduled to last for 22 days. These were expected to be less extensive than the reshoots for the MCU films Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) and The Marvels (2023), focusing on new action sequences and integrating Esposito. Brave New World was also expected to be much less expensive than The Marvels, which cost more than $300 million; the budget for Brave New World was reported to be $180 million. Nelson returned to Atlanta for reshoots in June, and said they redid much of his original work. Mackie characterized the reshoots as just adding a few additional scenes to enhance the film and said there was no "retooling or remaking". Moore said the reshoots were focused on creating the "perfect political thriller tone", and the casting of Esposito was part of this. He believed the actor made the film more grounded despite his "heightened" material, similar to his role in the television series The Mandalorian (2019–2023). Ford and Takehiro Hira also participated in the reshoots. The film's post-credits scene, in which Wilson is warned about coming threats from the multiverse, was filmed during reshoots. Onah explained that they waited until writing on upcoming MCU films had restarted following the writers' strike before they determined an appropriate tease for future projects.
  
  Esposito announced in July 2024 that he was portraying Seth Voelker / Sidewinder, leader of the Serpent Society, and said he would return for additional reshoots in mid-November. Moore originally told Esposito that he would play King Cobra, and the actor enjoyed the notion of an African-American man being called "King", but the filmmakers ultimately decided that he would portray Sidewinder instead, in part because Sidewinder is the founder of the Serpent Society in the comics. Some of King Cobra's characteristics from the comics were given to Sidewinder for the film. The remains of Tiamut —the Celestial whose emergence on Earth was halted by the Eternals in the MCU film Eternals (2021)—were also revealed to be a focus of the film's story, allowing the introduction of the fictional metal adamantium to the MCU. Moore said Marvel Studios had been waiting to address Tiamut's remains in a story that could make the "best use" of them. Onah said the prior Captain America films had been used to establish aspects of the MCU, and they felt it was interesting to introduce adamantium as a "geopolitical football". The film originally ended with a climactic action scene on Tiamut's remains, referred to as "Celestial Island", but this was reworked. A dogfight near the island featuring multiple countries was also simplified to just feature the United States and Japan. Onah originally filmed the sequence in a thriller-inspired style like other scenes, but they found the action needed more camera movement and intensity. Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson was revealed to be part of the cast in December, when Marvel credited the film's story to Spellman & Musson and Edwards, with the screenplay credited to Onah & Peter Glanz and Orton. The next month, the film's final writing credits were revealed: Edwards received screenplay credit alongside the writing teams of Spellman & Musson and Onah & Glanz, with the story credited to Edwards, Spellman, and Musson. Additional off-screen literary material was attributed to Michael Kastelein, Jeph Loeb, Orton, and Zeb Wells.
  
  Also in January 2025, Rollins said he would no longer be appearing in the film following the reshoots. Salazar's scenes as Diamondback were also cut. Onah said the film was "taking a swing" with its depiction of the Serpent Society and they felt this aspect needed to be "refined" to align better with the film's thriller tone. He said they decided to move away from the more comic-accurate versions of Serpent Society members portrayed by Rollins and Salazar, and the film's reshoot dates also clashed with a different project Salazar was working on. Both actors were replaced by Esposito, who serves the same purpose in the film's story but with a more grounded tone. Onah felt Esposito's inclusion was a "no-brainer" once he became available, and thought the actor brought the right level of gravitas to the film and the Serpent Society team, which is just called "Serpent" in the film. Jóhannesson plays another member of the group, Copperhead, alongside Esposito. Moore compared the group, described as a "violent special-ops team", to the more grounded version of the comic book character Batroc the Leaper that is introduced in The Winter Soldier portrayed by Georges St-Pierre. Onah said Esposito's role was "great setup" for further appearances of the Serpent Society in the MCU. Addressing public interest in the changes made to the film during reshoots, Onah said they were a natural part of the film's development and he pushed back against speculation that came from leaks and reports that he said were inaccurate. An example of this was speculation that Ross was originally supposed to die in the film, based on set photos and early trailer footage showing a funeral scene that was cut from the film. Onah said there was "never a version where he explicitly died", but there were versions of the film in which his fate was left unknown to the public. Onah added that Red Hulk is a "fan favorite character" from the comics, and said it is "not very easy for a Hulk to perish".
  
  Matthew Schmidt and Madeleine Gavin edited the film; Schmidt previously worked on The Winter Soldier and Civil War. Brave New World is the first MCU film to not feature an animated Marvel Studios opening logo, instead presenting the studio's logo in "no-nonsense black-and-white" without a traditional musical fanfare. Bill Westenhofer was the film's initial visual effects supervisor, but left the project to work on the film Moana (2026) and was replaced with Alessandro Ongaro. Visual effects were provided by Wētā FX, Digital Domain, Luma Pictures, Barnstorm VFX, UPP, OPSIS, and Outpost VFX. Digital Domain worked on the Celestial Island sequence. The same digital model for Tiamut from Eternals was used, but they "scaled it down a little". Wētā FX designed Red Hulk with Meinerding. Wētā visual effects supervisor Dan Cox said they did not want the character to just look like a color-swapped version of the Hulk. They hoped to make him more intimidating than the Hulk, with a more upright, athletic posture. Onah wanted the character to feel more tactical and methodical due to Ross's military background, and referenced a bear for poses where the character is on all fours. Ford's facial features were incorporated into the design based on scans of his face. The climactic confrontation between Red Hulk and Captain America in D.C. has more than 300 visual effects shots. Ford and a stunt double provided motion capture for the character. Ongaro said Ross's transformation into Red Hulk was originally meant to look more "disgusting. You could see the skin tearing and breaking on his hand, bones popping off", but they decided to pull back on that aspect. They also planned to show the full transition from Red Hulk back to Ross, but Onah felt it broke the "peacefulness" of the moment and instead chose to focus on his shadow during the transition. For Sterns, who also features a monstrous look, Onah said they always intended to use visual effects to augment the practical effects that were used on set. Ongaro said the practical effects for Sterns were replaced with an "all- approach" by Luma.