After successfully conquering the TV world with WandaVision, Kevin Feige’s Marvel universe is back again this Friday with its second show: The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Like WandaVision before it, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier will try to satisfy both die-hard fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and newcomers who don’t know a shield from a S.H.I.E.L.D. This article has something for both.
If WandaVision was an examination of grief through the lens of classic American sitcoms, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier will attempt to examine American identity through the lens of buddy action-comedies like Lethal Weapon, Rush Hour, and 48 Hours. As it with WandaVision, Marvel and Disney+ have produced new installments of Marvel Studios Legends*—*four seven-ish-minute-long episodes covering the film arcs of some central characters from The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. They act, essentially, as a “previously on” for newcomers, but are more targeted toward anyone needing a movie refresher.
Here we’ve assembled our own primer, both for those who have never seen a single Marvel movie and those who don’t mind a little extra homework. For the latter: Toward the bottom of this article you’ll find some comic book recommendations, as well as some advanced speculation on what we might expect from this new show. Every week on Vanity Fair’s Still Watching podcast feed, Richard Lawson, Anthony Breznican, and I will be breaking down the latest episode of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier with both beginner-level and advanced analysis.
But if even those podcasts and the helpful Legends recaps leave you wanting more, feel free to start out by learning the basics. We’ll start with neither Falcon nor the Winter Soldier, but the reason these two know each other at all:
Who Is Steve Rogers? You really are new, aren’t you? We’ll keep this brief! Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) was a skinny kid from Brooklyn who, in the 1940s, was desperate to fight for his country. But he was too small. Look how small he is!
He snuck his way into the army anyway and, thanks to his heart of gold and courage to match, was selected for something called Project: Rebirth, for which he was injected with something called the Super Soldier Serum. (Basically, government-funded steroids.) One shot, and Steve went from scrappy and skinny to, well, this. Brace yourselves.
Steve was dubbed Captain America, given a shiny shield and a silly red, white, and blue uniform, and sent out in the world to fight for truth, justice, and the American way. (Whatever that means.) During a mission, Steve wound up frozen in a block of ice—but thanks to the special governmental steroids coursing through his veins, he survived in that ice until he was thawed out in 2011. He valiantly fought bad guys, grew a beard, shaved that beard, and, in 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, allowed himself to exploit a confusing time travel loophole in order retire happily back in the past with the love of his life, Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell). That’s the lovely lady in uniform up there testing out Steve’s new pecs.
So that’s it. Steve is (probably) not going to show up in another Marvel movie or TV show, mostly because Chris Evans seems very done with playing the role.
You Mean I Read All That, and He’s Not Even in the Show!? Yes, sorry—but it was important. You have to understand Steve or else you can’t understand…
Bucky: Actor Sebastian Stan plays James “Bucky” Buchanan Barnes, who was Steve’s best friend way back before the serum gave him pectoral muscles for days. Bucky was in the army with Steve and, at one point, was captured by some evil Nazi-types known as HYDRA and injected with a busted, janky version of the Super Soldier Serum.
That shot didn’t give Bucky outrageous muscles—but it did mean that when he fell into a freezing river in a way that definitely should have killed him, Bucky didn’t die! He instead lost his arm, was captured by HYDRA, experimented on, brainwashed, and turned into an ageless assassin forced to commit atrocities for decades. Which, yes…perhaps it would have been more merciful if he had died. The two HYDRA villains behind that little escapade, Red Skull (Hugo Weaving/Ross Marquand) and Arnim Zola (Toby Jones) have found their way back into the MCU in later movies. Will we see them again?
Anyway, Bucky’s fun bad guy code name was, you guessed it, the Winter Soldier. The new assassin gig came with a Soviet-branded metal arm, some emo hair, a lifetime supply of eyeliner, and trauma to spare.
During this time, the brainwashed Bucky assassin killed Tony Stark’s (Robert Downey Jr.) parents. Oops. Over the course of Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Captain America: Civil War, Steve helped his old pal remember himself. Bucky got a new arm (in Wakanda made of vibranium!)—and at some point before The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, he got a haircut, too, because now he looks like this. He’s essentially the hottest, most tortured 100-year-old man you ever did see.
Who Is That Running Behind Bucky? I’m so glad you asked. That’s Sam Wilson, a.k.a. Falcon (Anthony Mackie). Sam was also Steve’s friend. They happened to meet after Steve defrosted, while running around a reflecting pool in Washington, D.C. They do a lot of running in these movies.
Sam is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force and has a pair of metal wings that he uses to fly around and fight bad guys. Hence his superhero name: Falcon. He’s also got a little drone buddy known as Redwing. When Steve decided to exploit that time travel loophole and retire, he gave his very special, very shiny star-spangled shield to Sam and essentially said: “You’re the captain now.” Sam wasn’t so sure.
Yes, that old man is Steve. Don’t worry about it.
Okay, So Falcon and the Winter Soldier Are Best Friends? Not…not really, no.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier will largely run on the sparks between these two. Think of it as Steve’s ex (Bucky) and his best friend (Sam) who hate each other, but have to spend time with together anyway. Should be fun!
So Is It Just Dudes, Or…? Kinda dude- and military-heavy so far, huh? Don’t worry. The show also promises to explore some profound territory about American (specifically, Black American) identity. At one point, at least, Bucky and Sam will be joined by another one of Steve’s friends: agent Sharon Carter (Emily VanCamp).
Sharon is Peggy Carter’s great-niece. (You remember Peggy, from the pec touching and the happily ever after?) Like her great-aunt before her, Sharon also smooched Steve during an ill-advised moment in Captain America: Civil War, which we prefer not to think about. But the point is that Sharon, like Peggy, is a badass agent who, after S.H.I.E.L.D. fell (long story), joined the CIA. Sam, Bucky, and Sharon, like Monica Rambeau in WandaVision, all got snapped out of existence during the events of the Infinity War, so they’re carrying around that extra layer of trauma. As if they needed it.
I’m Sorry, the Infinity War? All you need to know is that a big, bad purple guy named Thanos snapped his fingers and eliminated half of the people on Earth. It took the remaining heroes five years to bring them all back. Those five years are known, canonically, as the “ Blip,” and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier will grapple with what that all means on a global scale. Speaking of grappling! Let’s get to at least one of the bad guys. (And then we’re almost done, beginners, I promise.)
Wait, Is This Villain the Same Purple Guy? No. Listen, there are a lot of purple people in the Marvel universe. Baron Helmut Zemo (Daniel Brühl) is a guy with a personal grudge against the Avengers (they’re all the main superheroes), because he blames them for the death of his family in Sokovia after the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron. And you know what? He’s not wrong. That’s what makes him such a good villain. He worked behind the scenes in Captain America: Civil War to turn the heroes against each other and it was fantastic. He also happens to know a lot of things about the Winter Soldier.
He’ll be back, and I can’t imagine his mood has improved since half the population disappeared for five years. Still, Zemo is occasionally an ally in the comics, so we’ll see where he lands on the villainy scale this time around.
Speaking of Purple… We must not forget Batroc the Leaper (Georges St-Pierre), who appeared, briefly, in Captain America: The Winter Soldier to kick and, well, leap. He will be back in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and you will know him by his fancy purple and gold jacket. And the kicking and the leaping!
Is That It? Just two more quick things, beginners, then we’ll roll onto the advanced content.
What’s the Deal With the Shield? More than anything, Steve’s stars and stripes shield is a symbol. Passing it down to Sam is a very meaningful gesture. It was made by Tony Stark’s father, Howard, out of vibranium. If you’ve seen Black Panther (come on, you didn’t even see Black Panther?), you know vibranium is a very precious and incredibly strong metal. As I mentioned, Bucky’s new arm is also made out of it.
In the comics, a few different people carry both the shield and the Captain America name. Sam Wilson does, for sure. But so does Bucky. This new series is very interested in what it means to bear that name and hold that shield.
Okay, Fine—Tell Me More About the Serum: We’ll keep this so quick I promise. Basically, a scientist named Dr. Erskine (Stanley Tucci) created the serum, and the only one to really successfully receive a dose is Steve Rogers. But a lot of people have tried injecting imperfect or mutated versions of it. Some recipients include Bucky Barnes, the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), and a bunch of (now-deceased) scary HYDRA soldiers. That’s all we know for now, but there are some suspiciously strong masked men punching and kicking their way through The Falcon and the Winter Soldier trailer.
Advanced Reading
So you’ve seen all the movies and knew all of that stuff up there, and are ready for more? Let’s do it.
Seriously. With the running.
Which Movies Should I Rewatch? The Falcon and the Winter Soldier head writer Malcolm Spellman recommends Captain America: Civil War. Fair enough; that movie has Bucky, Sam, Sharon, and Zemo. But having watched the first episode of the series, I would say Captain America: The Winter Soldier might be even more important. The themes of governmental distrust sewn in that film will come back into play in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Plus, it has the most room for Bucky and Sam; by contrast, Civil War is a little crowded. If you want to be a real apple-polisher, you’ll rewatch Captain America: The First Avenger as well.
Which Comic Books Should I Read? A lot of good options here, none of them required. I’ll keep it brief. Spellman recommends the fantastic Truth: Red, White & Black. That recommendation has fascinating implications! (More on it in a bit.) Here are some other stone-cold Falcon and Winter Soldier classics:
A few more recommendations are tied to some extra characters we know will appear in the show, so let’s briefly touch on those.
The Flag-Smasher: In the books, this is a moniker used by two different super-villains, one of whom is named Karl Morgenthau. In The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Han Solo actress Erin Kellyman is billed as Karli Morgenthau. She appears to be part of a larger group called The Flag Smashers. If I had to guess, I would say she was their leader.
It’s unclear if The Flag Smashers will be clear-cut “bad guys” in this show. Given how interested The Falcon and the Winter Soldier seems to be in exploring the dangers of our pre-conceived notions of American/national identity, an anti-nationalist organization might be more sympathetic in this iteration than the terrorist known as The Flag Smasher was when he was introduced in the comics in 1985.
John Walker (No Relation): The very blonde Wyatt Russell will be playing a character known as John Walker a.k.a. U.S. Agent a.k.a. Super-Patriot a.k.a. Captain America. In the context of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, this is the man the U.S. government has deemed suitable to take up the Captain America mantle. If you’re throwing some side-eye over this white man getting the official stamp of approval when we know Steve Rogers hand-picked Sam, then, well, you’re probably on the right track. Steve Rogers has had reason to distrust Walker in the comics, but they’ve also been allied, at times. So we shall have to see if this John Walker is friend or foe.
The Bradleys: Both John Walker and Karli Morgenthau are confirmed to appear in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. What comes next is pure speculation.
Spellman, as you recall, recommended reading the 2003’s Truth: Red, White, & Black, a Captain America comic book that has nothing to do with Steve Rogers, Bucky, or Sam. This story, from Robert Morales and Kyle Baker, is about the first black Captain America: Isiah Bradley, who was one of 300 black soldiers the U.S. Army experimented on in order to perfect The Super Soldier Serum that eventually went into Steve Rogers. The comic was inspired by the chilling, real-life Tuskegee Study where, from the 1930s to the 1970s, black American men were lied to and experimented upon in an attempt to find a cure for syphilis. Many comic book fans think that Alias alum Carl Lumbly, who has been cast in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier in a mystery role, will be playing Isiah.
According to the book Authorship and Creation of Black Captain America, former Marvel comics editor-in-chief Axel Alonso was enamored by the inherent “politics of wrapping a Black man in red, white, and blue.” Malcolm Spellman expressed a similar sentiment to me when discussing The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. This new Marvel series could, like HBO’s Lovecraft Country and Watchmen before it, seize upon the opportunity to use genre storytelling to dig into some of the most shameful, racially violent moments in America’s history. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier could even, as Watchmen did, devote an entire episode to this hero’s origin story.
If you’re wondering why fans feel certain that the 69-year-old Lumbly is the man to be playing Isiah, that’s because in the comics, the Bradley family has an ongoing connection with the current heroes running around the Marvel pages. Isiah’s grandson, Elijah “Eli” Bradley, is a superhero known as Patriot, and a member of the comic book super-team Young Avengers. There is a very vague, unproven rumor that a young actor named Elijah Richardson has already been cast in this role.
While still all speculation, this storyline could serve multiple purposes in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. First of all: as many have noted, the films and Disney+ shows seem to be building towards a Young Avengers team by dropping a youthful hero or two in all the Phase 4 projects. (See: Wanda’s fast-growing twins in WandaVision, Hailee Steinfeld in Hawkeye, Iman Vellani in Ms. Marvel, Dominique Thorne in Ironheart, Xochitl Gomez in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness… the list goes on, and on.) The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, with its examination of nationalism and black identity, seems like the ideal spot to introduce Patriot.
Including the Bradleys would also give Marvel another opportunity to re-examine the institutions behind Captain America. This was done brilliantly in Captain America: The Winter Soldier with the revelation that there was a HYDRA rot at the core of S.H.I.E.L.D. But imagine a scenario that digs even deeper and further back. This, perhaps, could even give Marvel the opportunity to bring back Stanley Tucci’s Dr. Erskine—the inventor of The Super Soldier Serum—for another round in a flashback. Or maybe even his nefarious HYDRA counterpart Arnim Zola (Toby Jones). And what is a Disney+ Marvel show, really, if we’re not wildly speculating about guest actors to come?
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier debuts on Disney+ Friday, March 19.
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