Captain America: Brave New World Artbook Reveals Concept Art for The Leader
- The Artbook Collector
- Jul 1
- 3 min read
July 1st 2025
Marvel Studios' Captain America: Brave New World - The Art of the Movie releases on July 8th, coming with a slipcase, lithograph prints and 224 pages of concepts to pore over. As expected with another entry in the artbook series, it features a look at the art for the characters, weapons, locations, and key frames, with commentary from the development team and artists throughout. There are a lot of very interesting unused ideas in the book, but the most notable inclusion is a look at the early designs for The Leader.
The on screen design for Samuel Sterns, played by actor Tim Blake, was criticised by fans, as although it was originally planned to resemble his appearances in the comics, it was later changed to look more grotesque instead. Art for that original design has already been released online, as were the prosthetics that were created to make it work on-screen, but now more takes on The Leader have been revealed, even one that would be better suited to a horror movie.
As you can see in the images above from artist Ian Joyner, there were many different designs that explored The Leader's gamma infused brain and enlarged head. Some of the concepts incorporated technology and others, like those on the right, really pushed the size, almost resembling H.R. Giger's Xenomorph.
The concept art further on in the book reveals even stranger takes the villain, giving him a mechanical body suit and straight body horror designs that would fit right at home in a Resident Evil game. You can see that the The Leader's head actually splits open, revealing his exposed brain and a slimy tenacle-like appendage shooting out too.
These pages can be seen below, with art again from Ian Joyner, showcasing his ideas and also coming with the following quote from the artist about his intentions;
"My favorite stuff is creature work. One of my favorite movies is The Thing. So whenever I get to play in that world, I have a lot of fun… We don’t necessarily want to lean into the full-on body horror, but I was delighted with the more recent comic-book interpretation of the Leader in the Immortal Hulk run – where he literally absorbs people’s brains, intelligence, and souls and everything. My idea was, like, could we actually just do something that crazy? I was considering that The Leader might be able to control minds with his brain and even sucking the brains out of other people."
There are a good number of pages dedicated to how The Leader could have looked, some closer to what we got on screen, with others closer to what fans were likely expecting when it was revealed he would be the villain. That is the appeal of an artbook, getting to see the early and unused designs behind your favourite releases, with this one revealing more than expected, not just for the genius antagonist, but also for Red Hulk and the Serpent Society as well. Sam Wilson is of course featured too, though his concept art is a little less exciting, showing some small variations in his costume design, but this is not unexpected as he has been featured in multiple artbooks in the past.
Check out a couple more spreads below from the book, with art by Ian Joyner and Keith Christensen.
For those that aren't aware, Marvel have been releasing artbooks alongside every movie and most TV shows since the very first Iron Man in 2008. The releases that covered the Infinity Saga series came with a slipcase, but this was dropped early on for the Multiverse Saga, coming out as just a hardcover book. However, the slipcases made a return with added lithograph prints last year, starting with Marvel Studios' Deadpool & Wolverine: The Art of the Movie.
The artbooks showcase the incredible talent of the artists that work on the projects, consistently providing superb artwork and interesting insights. They don't come without their problems though, as the last 26 books in a row have been delayed, with two cancelled, some images are too dark and the price increase to $100 is a lot to ask fans for. The upcoming artbook, Marvel Studios' Marvel Studios' The Fantastic Four: First Steps - The Art of the Movie has jumped again to $150, but will be the first to come as a two book set, with one titled 'Portfolio', although little is known about what it will include.
Marvel Studios' Captain America: Brave New World - The Art of the Movie releases on July 8th and is published by Marvel themselves. It follows Marvel Television's Agatha All Along: The Art of the Series, which was released on June 3rd. You can read an in depth review for that book here.
Those interested in pre-ordering the upcoming artbook for Sam Wilson's solo movie debut can do so below;
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