SURREY, ENGLAND–Legendary author Aldous Huxley has spoken out from beyond the grave to protest Marvel’s upcoming film Captain America: Brave New World. Huxley, best known for his 1932 dystopian novel Brave New World, has filed a lawsuit claiming that the film’s title infringes on his intellectual property.
“There’s been a clear trend of superhero movies ripping off classic dystopian novels,” Huxley told Marvelous Movies in a posthumous interview. “First you had Wonder Woman 1984 a few years ago–and now there’s Captain America: Brave New World. What’s next–Fahrenheit Fantastic 451?”
“Come to think of it, the title isn’t the only element that’s been infringed on,” Huxley continued. “I wrote about a society where people are enslaved to their own pleasures–where sex is divorced from relationship or pregnancy, people take mood-altering drugs to keep them constantly happy, and anyone who doesn’t go along with the status quo is ostracized from society. Looking around now, it seems like all of modern society has ripped off my ideas.”
Early looks at the film have revealed some details of its plot. The Leader finally unveils his villainous vision for a new humanity: growing humans artificially in test tubes, conditioning them from birth, and controlling them through indoctrination and chemically-induced emotions. John Walker, Sam Wilson’s predecessor as Captain America, will become a character called “The Savage,” a lone voice of resistance against the Leader’s new world order.
Despite Huxley’s claims, Disney officials have denied committing any copyright infringement. “We already own the rights to Brave and to “A Whole New World,” said CEO Bob Iger. “Like most Disney content these days, this too is just a shameless rehash of our existing properties.” Few movie fans have raised any objections about the storylines’ similarities–because who really reads books anymore anyway?
“Look, even if the movie was influenced by some novel, I don’t see the big deal,” said actor Harrison Ford, who also stars in the film. “This dystopian society worships Ford as a god, and I’m honestly okay with that.”
At publishing time, William Shakespeare had also returned from beyond the grave to sue Huxley for borrowing the phrase “brave new world” from his classic play The Tempest.
Captain America: Brave New World hits theaters in 2025.
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