The first official trailer for Captain America: Brave New World has arrived, and while it shows off plenty of glimpses at Giancarlo Esposito's character, it still doesn't identify him by name. But the online rumor mill moves quickly, and some fans think they've figured out who he might be playing - and if it's true, it's a character who originated in the world of the X-Men.
If the guesses are correct - and there's every reason to think that's possible - Giancarlo Esposito may in fact be playing GW Bridge, a former ally turned enemy of none other than Cable, the leader of the original comic book X-Force team who was played by Josh Brolin in Deadpool 2.
So who is GW Bridge? And how does he connect to both the mutant side of the Marvel Universe, and to Captain America's larger mythos?
Despite not being a mutant himself, GW Bridge first appeared in X-Force #1 by co-creators Fabian Nicieza and Rob Liefeld. And yes, GW does indeed stand for George Washington, though he prefers to go by 'GW Bridge' to avoid comments about his name (as a person named George, I kinda relate - and that's even before you add the 'Washington').
Bridge was an ally of Cable's in Cable's pre X-Force days, when he was the leader of a mercenary team known as the Six Pack, which also included four other members, naturally: Kane, Hammer, Grizzly, and Domino (played by Zazie Beetz in Deadpool 2), some mutants and some not.
While on a mission for an arms dealer known as Mr. Tolliver, Six Pack was decimated by Cable's evil clone Stryfe, with Cable fleeing on his own, and leaving his five teammates behind to their fates. Though they all survived, several were critically injured.
Bridge turned to SHIELD, taking his mercenary skills and adding to them world class espionage training, making him a non-powered super agent with skills on the level of the Black Widow.
Bridge eventually left SHIELD and began working for Department K, the Canadian agency that bonded adamantium to Wolverine's bones and brainwashed him. While working with Department K, Bridge created a team called Weapon PRIME (PRototype Induced Mutation Echelon) designed to investigate and if necessary take down Cable's new paramilitary mutant team, X-Force.
Though the teams did clash, Bridge and Cable eventually made peace with each other, becoming tenuous allies, with Bridge leaving Weapon PRIME behind to rejoin SHIELD. He was last seen as an agent of yet another Marvel spy agency, JANUS.
If Esposito is playing GW Bridge, this puts him directly in the larger MCU Captain America mythos as a potential former SHIELD agent acting on his own in the wake of the spy agency being disavowed by the US government in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
The potential presence of GW Bridge in Captain America: Brave New World could also be a way to link the film to Deadpool & Wolverine, considering Bridge's closest Marvel Comics contact Cable was a big part of the preceding film Deadpool 2.
And the biggest potential wrinkle of all in possibly including GW Bridge is that he could in fact wind up being an ally of Sam Wilson, working against the apparent infiltrators of the US government. The trailer seems to frame Esposito's character as an antagonist to Wilson, but the way it's cut, it isn't actually definitive, so it could be one of Marvel Studios' patented misdirections.
We'll likely find out at least a little bit more between now and Captain America: Brave New World's 2025 release. But if rumors about Giancarlo Esposito's casting as GW Bridge hold true, the film could prove to be another step in integrating the large X-Men mythos into the MCU.
If you're itching for more action and you can't wait till then, check out the best Captain America comic stories of all time.
