Why The Falcon and The Winter Solider was Necessary For the MCU to move Forward

Friday April 23rd, 2021 marks the day that the finale for Disney+'s original Marvel TV show, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, was released. As most MCU content is, this show was action packed and emotional. Although the Marvel's shows are made intentionally so that someone who doesn't have Disney+ wouldn't need to watch them to enjoy the later films, the content provided in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier enhances the audience's perception of these characters and will contribute to the overall viewing experience.

A summary of the show that will be relevant to later points:

At the end of Avengers: Endgame, it was revealed that Steve Rogers had gone back in time to live a life with Peggy Carter, a girl he liked from before he went in the ice. This meant that in present day, Steve Rogers would be too old to hold the mantle of Captain America and passed the legendary shield down to his close friend Sam Wilson aka The Falcon (played by Anthony Mackie). Bucky Barnes, Steve's childhood best friend and ex-mind controlled Hydra assassin (played by Sebastian Stan), was aware of Steve's plan to give Sam the shield.

The Falcon and The Winter Soldier explores the idea that Sam did not feel comfortable with being the next Captain America. He decided to donate the shield to The Smithsonian so the shield would remain Steve's. However, the government betrays Sam and gives the shield to a military veteran with three medals of honor named John Walker (played by Wyatt Russell) and he is given the title of Captain America. Bucky is upset by this decision and joins Sam with his mission against the Flag Smashers.

Over the course of the show, we learn that John is nothing like Steve. Every time Sam and Bucky got close to completing their mission, to stop Karli Morgenthau (the leader of the Flag Smashers played by Erin Kellyman), John would intervene. The final straw is when John's best friend, Lemar (played by Clé Bennett), gets murdered by one of the Flag Smashers, causing John to violently use the shield to basically decapitate a different Flag Smasher.

Flag Smashers are a group who were deemed terrorists by the government who, in short, want the world to go back to the way it was after half of life disappeared. When Thanos snapped, it seemed like the world came together, opened up its borders, and did everything to help those who lost everything due to Thanos. When everybody came back when Bruce/Hulk snapped, the government tried to put the world back to the way it was by closing the country's borders and sending the refugees back to their original countries. Hence, the name "Flag Smashers" is born and their motto "one world, one people," as their fighting to keep the planet borderless and together as one.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, their motive was written to be completely different. The show was supposed to have a pandemic of its own and the Flag Smashers were supposed to be stealing vaccines, not soldier serum, because the governments around the world were failing to administer the vaccines. This was supposed to be why Mama Donya dies and why the Flag Smashers were fighting for their cause. However, because the COVID-19 pandemic was too similar to this supposed to be subplot, it was cut and the show changed.

The Flag Smashers, Bucky's story, and John Walker getting Steve's shield are vital to the progression of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

But why is any of this important to the progression of the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

The Flag Smashers

There will always be people upset with decisions the government makes and how the world is run. By having the Flag Smashers in this show, we got a taste of the political climate of the world that resulted from the blip.

This group was fueled by a desire for the world to stay together as one. Instead of resetting the borders so countries would split off into their own little worlds like they did before Thanos snapped, the Flag Smashers fought to keep the world borderless. They fought to keep the world open and free so people could come and go from any nation as they pleased.

But why is this an important topic to discuss for the MCU to move forward?

The time after the events of Avengers: Endgame consisted of fixing, rehabilitating, and returning the world to the way it was before. WandaVision only gave the audience a glimpse of what life was like when everybody came back. Outside of Westview and S.W.O.R.D., the audience got little to no details on the state of the world resulting from the events of Avengers: Endgame.

By having the Flag Smashers be a vital part of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier's plot, the audience learns more about what life was like before and after Hulk brought everybody who dusted away back.

The Flag Smashers are also all super soldiers who stole the serum from The Power Broker, who is revealed as Sharon Carter in the finale. Before this show, the last we see of this important character is in Captain America: Civil War. The audience finds out she was on the run from helping Steve Rogers, who was considered a fugitive at the time. In the finale, Sharon gets pardoned and reinstated in a U.S. government position, therefore having access to government secrets, projects, and equipment.

Through the Flag Smashers, the audience gains a sense of where the globe is at politically during this time, learns that the super soldier serum can be recreated, and that Sharon has become a double agent (and theorized to be a Skrull).

This information is sure to become vital in the MCU's future.

Bucky

Bucky Barnes' time as The Winter Soldier was going to catch up with him sooner rather than later. After spending time in Wakanda where The Winter Soldier programming was removed from his brain, Bucky was finally free to be a normal civilian and lead a normal life. But what did that mean for Bucky? He had to attend court mandated therapy, and for his own mental health, he needed to make amends.

But why is this an important topic to discuss for the MCU to move forward?

It is clear that Bucky was going to struggle with his past now that the programming was removed from his head. Part of his character development for this show was having the courage to tell his new friend, Yori Nakajima, that The Winter Soldier had murdered his son.

To move forward with Bucky's character in the MCU, it was necessary to share with the audience how much he struggled with accepting his past. In this scene where Ayo is testing The Winter Soldier words that are used to mind control him to see if they still work, he is clearly triggered by the words and terrified that once she finishes he will become the assassin forced to comply with whatever instructions are given to him.

Bucky's ties with Wakanda also brought Wakanda briefly into the show, as Bucky had gotten Zemo, the one who killed the king of Wakanda, out of jail. This show seemed to have closed out Zemo's storyline by having him be put in The Raft, a high tech prison in the middle of the ocean, although with the MCU it is hard to say if someone is ever really gone. By bringing Wakanda into the show, the audience got a closer look at the Dora Milaje and could have been a teaser to Black Panther 2 or the Disney+ Wakanda series that has been planned.

The Shield

The end of Avengers: Endgame sparked questions. People debated whether or not Sam or Bucky would be better off being the next Captain America after seeing old Steve give Sam the shield. At the time, the audience and the characters were oblivious to John Walker.

During episode 4, the Dora Milaje and John came face to face in a battle and the Dora Milaje effortlessly beat him. "They weren't even super soldiers" John said, feeling defeated. After failing in this moment, he was less hesitant about consuming the super soldier serum he had found on the ground when Zemo thought he had destroyed them all. The super soldier serum is known to enhance a person, and to make them more of what they already are. John Walker felt as though he needed an extra boost from the serum after failing against The Dora Milaje.

The next time we see John, he is fighting the Flag Smashers. His best friend gets murdered, and then John brutally murders someone in public with the honorary shield he was given. This is when Sam realizes that he has to take the shield back. However, when Sam does get the shield back, his first instinct is to take it to Isaiah Bradley, an older super soldier who existed in Steve's time that was put in jail for actions that Steve had also done. Isaiah wants nothing to do with the shield.

Isaiah Bradley tells Sam "they will never let a Black man be Captain America, and no self respecting Black man would ever want to be." Does "they" in this quote refer to the government or does it actually refer to many members of the audience?

Why is this an important topic to discuss for the MCU to move forward?

Well, that's for the people who have the same mindset as Isaiah, or agree with the implications of his statement. Sam knows that he will not be as widely loved, respected, and cherished as Steve was. Many people will hate on him for taking Steve's place and/or for doing so as a Black man. For the MCU to move forward and to also address the reality of racism in real life, the audience needed to see Sam become ready for this new responsibility. There couldn't have been the next MCU piece that had Sam already accepting this new responsibility as Captain America when it's clear there was going to be a struggle with it. The world needed to see the raw struggle of how hard it was for Sam to feel comfortable as Captain America for his character to move forward. This show provided a smoother transition into how Sam's character will develop in later films as Captain America.

"I'm a Black man carrying the stars and stripes. What don't I understand? Every time I pick this thing up, I know there are millions of people out there who are gonna hate me for it. Even now, here, I feel it. The stares, the judgement, and there's nothing I can do to change it. And I'm still here. No super serum, no blonde hair or blue eyes. The only power I have is that I believe we can do better." - Sam Wilson, episode 6

Stay tuned for another piece I am working on about WandaVision's contributions to the progression of the Marvel Cinematic Universe that will be released a week from now.

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