'Captain America: Brave New World' teases Marvel future in post ...

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Anthony Mackie says Harrison Ford went all in on his Marvel stunts

Anthony Mackie reveals how Harrison Ford refused stunt doubles and went all in for "Captain America: Brave New World."

Spoiler alert! We're discussing key plot points and the ending of Marvel's "Captain America: Brave New World" (in theaters now), so beware if you haven't seen it yet.

Look out, world. There’s a new Hulk in town.

President Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (Harrison Ford) turns into a scarlet-skinned rage monster in “Captain America: Brave New World,” just one of many problems Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), the new Captain America, faces in the latest Marvel adventure. 

Ross and other world leaders are close to signing an important treaty surrounding the discovery of Adamantium, a valuable element mined from the remnants of a Celestial half stuck in the Indian Ocean (see: “Eternals”). Global peace is thrown into disarray at a White House summit when Sam’s close friend Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly) and other Secret Service members and soldiers are mind-controlled into trying to assassinate the president.

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The culprit turns out to be Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson), a gamma-irradiated scientist responsible for unleashing the Abomination on Harlem in “The Incredible Hulk.” After being arrested, then-general Ross imprisoned Sterns – who now sports a disfigured head, green skin and a superpowered brain – in a secret military facility and later used the scientist's genius and penchant for probabilities to help win the presidency. Ross didn’t give Sterns his promised pardon, so the baddie escapes when Sam finds and confronts him, then sets in motion a plan to destroy Ross’ legacy by starting a war between the USA and Japan over Adamantium.

Let’s dig into all the best spoilers, from the return of an old friend to a post-credits scene warning of a bigger threat.

What happens at the ending of ‘Captain America: Brave New World’?

When Sterns' World War III gambit is foiled by Captain America, the villain has a backup plan: Ross was diagnosed with a failing heart, and Sterns has been giving him pills secretly infused with gamma to build up radiation in his body (and make him Hulk-ready). Sterns turns himself into military police with one last surprise left to pull on the president: During a presidential news conference at the Rose Garden, auditory evidence is revealed that he and Ross have been in cahoots.

An enraged Ross turns into the Hulk and Cap arrives just in time for a fight that decimates the White House and a good swath of D.C. An outmatched Cap wins the showdown by talking Red Hulk into submission, and in the aftermath, Ross resigns and is sentenced to the underwater super-prison known as the Raft (where Ross jailed Sam and other heroes in “Captain America: Civil War”).

Does the new Marvel movie have any good cameos?

Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), aka the Winter Soldier, is one of the main characters of the next Marvel film “Thunderbolts*.” He first makes a stop in “Brave New World” to help Sam out in a crisis-of-confidence moment after partner Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez) is critically injured. Sam wonders if he should have taken the same super-soldier serum that made Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) and Bucky powerful, but Bucky explains that Steve chose Sam to be the next Cap “not because you’re the strongest but because you’re you.”

When he leaves, Sam’s ally Ruth Bat-Seraph (Shira Haas) shows some romantic interest in Bucky, who's also apparently running for Congress. “He’s 110 years old,” Sam says. “I can work with that,” she quips.

Is there an end-credit scene in ‘Captain America: Brave New World’?

'Captain America' Anthony Mackie suits up for 'Brave New World'

As Sam Wilson, "Avengers" veteran Anthony Mackie gets his first solo Marvel movie with the paranoia thriller "Captain America: Brave New World."

Rather than the usual two extra scenes in Marvel films, there’s just one at the very end. Like Ross, Sterns is now locked up in the Raft, and Sam visits him. “You want to know what’s funny?” Sterns says, though Sam’s not in the mood for jokes. “You killed a lot of good men trying to get your revenge. Trust me, we don’t share the sense of humor.”

Stern then issues a stark warning: “All you heroes protecting this world, do you think you’re the only ones? You think this is the only world? We’ll see what happens when you have to protect this place from the others.”

Just when you thought you were safe from the multiverse for a movie, they pull you back in: The scene acts as a tease to what’s likely coming in “Avengers: Secret Wars,” where our good guys have to battle heroes and villains from alternate universes to save the day. You only have to wait two more years for that payoff.