For “Captain America: Brave New World,” director Julius Onah wanted his entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe to be rooted in the world of a political thriller.
Films like “The Day of the Jackal,” “Le Samouraï” and even “The Killing of a Sacred Deer” were among some of his inspirations. Composer Laura Karpman, who is no stranger to the MCU, having scored “The Marvels” and “What If?,” drew from experience. “There was a cue from ‘Ms. Marvel’ which goes over the train sequence, it starts and continues, and I thought ‘I want to do that, ‘I want to write a piece of music that starts the steamrolling and keeps it going,’” she says.
Karpman called on New Orleans drummers. “I put them in a room with no music, just rhythm, and one of the rhythms wound up being the conspiracy music. That whole thing is this combination of this New Orleans drum line that you would never know was a New Orleans drum line, and then this classic, a classic slash classical thriller music with very tight strings and contrapuntal writing,” she says. That fusion of sounds would become the driving force of the score.
In the film, Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson plays Captain America and finds himself trying to find out who’s behind President Thaddeus Ross’ (Harrison Ford) assassination attempt. As Ross tells the new Cap to reassemble the Avengers, it’s discovered that he’s taking gamma-radiated pills, and when he’s angry, he transforms into Red Hulk.
Overall, four themes anchored the film’s score: the conspiracy music, the hero’s theme that represents the edginess of Sam’s character at this moment, but also has the heart in it for Joaquin (Danny Ramirez) and for Isaiah(Carl Lumbly), Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson) theme and Ross’ theme.
Karpman wanted to write something that was almost presidential for Ross, but “not warm.” She says, “There’s a cold edge to it because you also don’t know what’s going on with Ross…the only thing you really know about him from the beginning is that he misses his daughter and he regrets their falling out.”
His cue evolves from simple chorale music, but as audiences start to get a clearer insight into President Ross, “By the time you get to the Hulk stuff, it becomes big-ass monster music. The choir comes out and sings,” she says.
The music behind “Captain America” is a family affair for Karpman — her collaborator and wife Nora Kroll-Rosenbaum is credited for additional music, while niece Kai-Lilly Karpman wrote the choir lyrics. Karpman explains the choral lyrics are based on “Deus Irae,” the science-fiction novel by Phillip K. Dick that translates as The Wrath of God. Says Karpman, “She took those words and manipulated them to tie in closely with what’s going on story-wise.”
Sterns’ music also has a family connection. His theme is composed of weird synths. Karpman reveals, “I used my mother’s analog radio in it, just spinning around (the dials) and getting those weird sounds – it seemed perfect for that character.”