Marvel is promising to continue to enhance the universe it created in its films through its upcoming TV show on Disney+ featuring the titular duo of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. The show is about to release just as WandaVision has concluded.
The show had featured Wanda Maximoff creating an illusion to tackle her grief of losing her husband Vision. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier will feature two heroes who have been closely involved with Captain America. Now that Captain America has handed over the shield, this show too is expected to show us how these two live their lives without Steve Rogers.
Apart from the name, however, very little is known about The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. In typical Marvel fashion, the recently released trailer has increased the fan’s anticipation of what is to come and what can come. This will be the first time these two will feature without the Avengers being the main cast, as was the case with WandaVision. However, they have been quite influential in their own rights as far as has been shown.
Who Are The Falcon and the Winter Soldier?
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier will see Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan reprise their roles respectively.
James Buchanan Barnes, or Bucky, was originally the brother that Steve Rogers never had in his life. In the film, Captain America: The First Avenger, they had been the best of friends since they were children. They had enrolled for the military efforts during World War 2, during which Steve Rogers was transformed into Captain America by an experiment conducted by Howard Stark.
Bucky fought alongside his friend till the bitter end of the film when it was shown that he fell off a moving train. Soon after, Steve Rogers himself was frozen as a result of thwarting the plans of Hydra. As such, both Rogers and the audience were shown that Bucky had met his demise.
This was the case until he reappeared as a villain in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. It is revealed that Bucky had survived for all these years as well. However, he had since been brainwashed into being an assassin for the evil organization they had fought to bring down, Hydra. He had also been fitted with a prosthetic arm for the purpose. To Steve Rogers’ horror, evidence came out that Bucky was the culprit to have killed both Tony Stark’s parents along with President John F. Kennedy. However, after a brief stay in Wakanda, and a reprogramming by Princess Shuri, Bucky has featured for the good guys ever since.
The Falcon is the codename given to Sam Wilson. He was a part of the airforce and was involved primarily in rescue efforts. He was part of a secret experiment that tested a piece of equipment known as the EXO-7 falcon wings. He was a friend for Steve Rogers, in the current era, when Rogers was struggling to come to terms with the passage of time and people he was experiencing. Since then, Wilson’s wings have been upgraded with SHIELD’s help, and has featured as an aide to the Avengers known as the Falcon.
Both of them had been snapped away during the original Thanos snap. They were brought back in the reverse snap and had fought in the final battle in Avengers: Infinity War. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is expected to feature how their lives are going immediately after their final conversation with Steve Rogers.
What Might The Falcon and the Winter Soldier feature?
Interestingly, in the concluding scenes of Avengers: The Infinity War, the most important person in the duo’s lives, Steve Rogers, decided to go back in time and live out the life that he had missed. He met them again, aged and happy, and not in any state to carry on the duties of Captain America.
On Falcon’s disappointment, we see Steve hand over the shield, the symbol, to Sam Wilson. Bucky was also there. This should have meant that Sam Wilson would be the new Captain America. However, given that the title of the show is The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, the title of Captain America is expected to feature as a major plot point.
This is also the first time we will get to see The Falcon and the Winter Soldier teamed up, by themselves. They have so far been on the same side, that of Steve Rogers’, however, we have not been shown the dynamic between the two characters very much. All we know is that they don’t have the best of opinions about each other. Now with Rogers out of the picture, it will be interesting to see how the characters behave around each other.
On that point, Sebastian Stan has said in an interview that Bucky in the series is not the cool silent character that the fans have seen so far. He said that Bucky is now kind of a mess, without Steve showing him the way in the new world. Steve was also a helping hand for him to come to terms with all that he has been through so far. Furthermore, Bucky now has to find out what he is doing in life because he has no obligations towards being a hero.
Other Familiar Names In The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
There is a lot of conjecture on who will be the main villain of the show. Odds are on it being Helmut Zemo, the man behind Bucky’s brainwashing. He was last seen in SHIELD captivity. However, if the recently released trailer is anything to go by, he is back in some devious circles.
In the recent trailer, we also get to see Colonel James Rhodes or Rhodey. He is the pilot of The War Machine, a heavier and more militarized version of Tony Stark’s Iron Man suit. He was also the closest friend of Stark. With Stark’s death in the last Avengers film, fans will be happy to see him be involved.
There is also Sharon Carter. She is the niece of Peggy Carter, Steve Rogers’ flame. With Rogers living out his life with Peggy, it will be interesting how Sharon features in the dynamic of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier.
A more minor character so far to have been featured in the trailer is Georges Batroc. He is a mercenary from Algeria who had been involved in the film Captain America: The Winter Soldier. In the film, he had fought and had been miserably defeated by Captain America onboard a hijacked SHIELD ship. It remains to be seen what purpose he has in the TV show along with his exact motives.
The series is scheduled to air from March 19th on the Disney+ streaming site. It consists of 6 episodes and should follow a weekly release.
