After the debut of his thrilling movie Captain America: Brave New World, Julius Onah has faced significant scrutiny regarding character alterations (including Tim Blake Nelson’s Leader), additional filming, and the outright omission of cast members from the final cut. A noteworthy ensemble in this new saga that endured such editing was the Serpent Society—a faction of mercenaries mentioned during the film and headed by Sidewinder (Giancarlo Esposito). In a conversation with Variety, Onah discussed the reasons behind the exclusion of this antagonistic group.
“This is another example of the grounded aesthetic and tone of the film. The Serpent Society had always been integrated into the narrative since I became involved, but as you might know, in the comics, these characters typically don snake-themed costumes and possess snake-like abilities,” Onah articulated. “Some of them are, honestly, so exaggerated that they can even appear somewhat cartoonish.”
In addition to Esposito’s Sidewinder, one character featured was Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson as Copperhead, who confronts Sam at the beginning of the film. While both characters did not carry the same impact as their comic book equivalents, Onah recognized during the project’s development that this approach was safer.
“You always want to respect what fans adore, but concurrently, you need to ensure it’s appropriate for the film. So I wouldn’t assert it ever mirrored the comics entirely, but it leaned towards that a bit more,” Onah revealed. “As we progressed, it became evident that this needed to be in a [grounded] tone. I aimed to bring in influences like The Day of the Jackal and Point Blank, which are procedural, paranoid, and political thrillers, and having a Serpent Society that felt more grounded would be more sensible.” Learn all about the Serpent Society