The Sam and Bucky Relationship
When it comes to the relationship between Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes, we’ve received very little up until now. We get hints of a tense back and forth between Steve Rogers’ pals in Captain America: Civil War, but it never goes beyond much more than that.
Falcon and The Winter Soldier will be giving us more time with this duo than we’ve ever had before and things could be better! The trailer opens to them sitting down for what almost looks like couples therapy and it appears that they’re not exactly a synced fighting team.
Expect their relationship to deepen as the series goes on, but it’s not just their own relationship that they’ll need to work out.
Spoilers for Avengers: Endgame ahead in the next section. Skip ahead past it if you don’t want to be spoiled
The Shield
The ultimate question that Falcon and The Winter Soldier aims to answer is who takes up the mantle of Captain America?
At the end of Endgame, an aged Steve Rogers passes the shield to his partner Sam Wilson with Bucky giving Sam a nod of approval. All signs point to Sam to still grappling with the decision to pick up the shield.
The trailer gives us a shot of Sam looming over the shield at what can only be assumed as a memorial for Steve Rogers, whether for the one we know or the one that has lived an alternate life with Peggy Carter.
Whether Sam can cope with the weight of the mantle or not will be a throughline throughout the series. However, Sam’s decision to take up the mantle may not just be his own. Not if the U.S. government has anything to say about it.
U.S. Agent
Needless to say, the U.S. government probably doesn’t feel too comfortable with leaving the legacy of Captain America in the hands of two opponents of the Sokovia Accords.
So what do they do? Pass the shield to someone they can control, and that someone happens to be John Walker. Not much is known about John Walker in the context of the MCU, and we only get a brief glimpse of him in the trailer.
In the comics, John Walker has been an abrasive villain and anti-hero. During a period where Steve Rogers left the mantle of Captain America behind, the government placed John Walker in the role in his stead. After a series of violent incidents and a degrading psyche, John Walker was eventually evicted from the role.
It’s clear that the U.S. Agent will be a source of strife for Sam and Bucky, but what is unclear is what role it ultimately plays in the grand scheme of things.
Zemo
One of the biggest criticisms of Captain America: Civil War is that its villain, Helmut Zemo, was never very pronounced. In fact, for the majority of Civil War, Zemo is very much the man behind the curtain, orchestrating the conflict between Tony Stark and Steve Rogers.
Zemo’s goal was to break the Avengers from within and if the trailer for Falcon and The Winter Soldier is any indication, his job is certainly not done.
We’re still not sure where Zemo’s been in the years since Civil War and if he was even dusted by “The Blip,” but it seems he has expanded his mission to the eradication of all super heroes. We also get a brief look at Zemo’s more comic accurate costume, purple sock mask and all!
The Flag-Smashers
The mysterious group causing our boys so much trouble are The Flag-Smashers, a group seemingly led by Solo’s Erin Kellyman.
The Flag-Smasher identity in the comics was held by a Karl Morgenthau, an anti-nationalist terrorist and frequent enemy of Captain America. Kellyman’s character hasn’t been named and whether she is an alternate take on Morgenthau or not is yet to be determined.
Is this group independent of Walker or Zemo? One thing is clear, is that they’ll be a real thorn in the side of our heroes.
Are you excited for Marvel’s next Disney+ series? Discern anything else from the trailer that we missed? Let us know below! While you’re here, check out the 7 Most Underrated Main Characters in Gaming and the 6 Best Anime To Watch on Crunchyroll This Winter Season (2021)!
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