The Falcon and the Winter Soldier: Everything you need to know Preview, Breakdown, and Theories

   

    Welcome back to HLS Entertainment where we are breaking down everything you need to know going into Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Names, places, and new faces and all the wild theories you could possibly need going into Disney+'s second MCU show. I was proud how close we nailed most things going into WandaVision back in November but like always Kevin Fiege still gave us happy surprises. I do not claim to have any insider information behind the scenes, simply just a grasp on the information and story of MCU that makes even close family and friends go "ooo you know way too much about this". 

    Falcon and the Winter Soldier was supposed to be the very first MCU Disney+ show but due to covid and the show not being quite finished filming that order had to shift. If you watched WandaVision you saw the wild and wacky of marvel showing tv tropes by the decades that really turned certain people off the first couple episodes. But in Fiege we trust with the MCU and the show exploded in popularity as the weeks went along being the most watched thing on television, even crashing Disney+ when the penultimate episode came out. Falcon and the Winter Soldier will not be that same wild and wacky, F&TWS will be a much more straight forward back to the usual vibe and tone of the MCU that we have come to love the past THIRTEEN years. So if the weirdness of WandaVision wasn't your style this show will be.

    Now here in 2021 it has been two years since seeing our heroes where they were only in the story for merely a few quick scenes at the end of Avengers: Endgame. BUT to go back further to 2018 in Avengers: Infinity War if we look at it Sam and Bucky screen time they both had less than THREE minutes on screen in it. We really we have not seen much of Sam or Bucky since 2016's Captain America: Civil War. As this show is the extension of the Captain America storyline you can essentially think of this as Captain America 4: Falcon and the Winter Soldier. You can do so because we will have some familiar faces return from the Captain America film franchise. Let us go over the character we know are appearing and maybe a few that are secret that will probably pop up. Before we get going please hit that subscribe button at the top and sign up for email alerts for every time I post a new blog!

CHARACTER BREAKDOWNS

Sam Wilson aka Falcon: 

    Anthony Mackie plays Sam Wilson, the veteran United States Air Force Pararescueman who was first introduced in Captain America: Winter Soldier in 2014. Sam joined forces with Captain America and Black Widow to help track down and stop the Winter Soldier and Hydra as they overthrow S.H.E.I.L.D.. Sam obviously idolizing Cap and would do anything for him  ".. Dude. Captain America needs my help. There's no better reason to get back in." 

    The last we saw Sam was where we saw most heroes last in Avengers: Endgame at Tony Stark's funeral. But we then see Sam, receive a NEW shield from old man Cap Steve Rodgers after he chose to stay in the past and live out his life with Peggy Carter. The shield being new is important remember that. Sam was snapped/blipped away at the end of Avengers: Infinity War so he missed the five year window when half of life was erased. We honestly still do not know much about Sam Wilson's past aside from the one photo with him and his wingman during his Pararescue days. This show will be about discovering Sam's past and how that influences his future.

James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes aka The Winter Soldier:  

    Bucky was bestfriends with Steve Rodgers growing up and went to war while Steve was rejected, before being recruited for the super soldier program, and his infantry was captured by Hydra. During this time, something people forget about, Bucky was experimented on. Cap shows up breaks them free, then the two best friends reunite and form the Howling Commandos from some of the captured soldiers. Alongside the Howling Commandos Bucky fought across Europe taking out Hydra strongholds with Cap, until he falls off a train down into a ravine. Bucky was presumed dead due to the height but the experimentations on him were enough to help him survive the fall even though he also lost his left arm. 

   

     Bucky was found by Hydra and further experimented on including replacing his lost arm with a new robotic arm. Fast forward through decades of being brainwashed, frozen, thawed and woken up to be forced to commit assassinations multiple times we get to the 1990's, specifically December 16th 1991, Bucky kills Tony Stark's parents. Remember from the 40's-2010's Bucky was brainwashed frozen and woken up multiple times and had no control what was going on but the guilt is still their as he told Tony he remembers every single one of them. Bucky's story in this show will be about it is time to pay that debt, to get over his guilt by fighting for what is right.

Sharon Carter aka Agent 13:

    We are first introduced to Sharon Carter in a quick scene in Captain America: Winter Soldier, where she was an undercover S.H.E.I.L.D. agent posing as a nurse living across the hall from Captain America under Nick Fury's orders. We find out in Civil War that she is actually Cap's old sweetheart Peggy Carter's great-niece at Peggy's funereal. Sharon was integral to Cap finding Bucky before anyone else by giving he and Sam the report first about his whereabouts first so they had a head start. 

    Sharon joined the CIA after S.H.E.I.L.D. fell and has been working for them ever since the end of Captain America: Winter Soldier. In this show she seems to still be working around the world doing jobs for the CIA and will be working alongside the government as they set up our next character...

John Walker aka US Agent:

    John Walker will be played by Wyatt Russell you may know him from movies like "Overlord" or "22 Jump Street" or the show "Lodge 49". John Walker is going to be the United States government answer to who should be the new Captain America  now that Steve Rodgers has retired. We  know nothing aside from speculation about him in the MCU so far so all we have to go off is the comics.

    In the comics the character is initially introduced as the villain Super-Patriot being the extremist version of a Captain America and I think we will get notes of that in this show. We will have an introduction of John Walker as this bright and shining good ole boy that can do no wrong but then on missions we will see him being crueler or more violent than what we are used to from Captain America. How Sam and Bucky react to this I believe is the kicking off point for the show. John Walker I do not believe will be a "bad guy" but will be an antagonist towards Sam and Bucky during the show.

Flag Smashers: Terror group bring down governments

    The Flag Smashers are going to be an anti nationalist terror group in the show based on the comic book character the Flag Smasher. To understand the group better here is a quick recap of who Flag Smasher is. Karl Morgenthau son of a very wealthy swiss banker turned diplomat was a peaceful man fighting for freedoms until watching his father get trampled and killed by a riot outside the Latverian Embassy (remember that for later) and came to the conclusion humanity needed to drop all pretenses of nations and nationalism and join together as one symbiotic group without nationalism. The way he goes about this is becoming a terrorist blowing up buildings and monuments in the United States and around the world. 

    I believe the Flag Smashers will be the same idealistically terror group trying to unite the world with no boundaries or nationalism through terror. The Flag Smashers will, seemingly, be led by our next character..

Melisa Gold/Karli Morgenthau aka Songbird?:

    Okay we do not know much about this character on purpose for the show, not even her real name. I have seen her called both Melisa Gold and Karli Morgenthau. Either way she fits as the leader of the Flag Smashers, maybe she is Melisa Gold and Desmond Chiam's character is Karl Morgenthau no way of knowing prior to the show. As of right now we do not know if there is a specific McGuffin the Flag Smashers are after, my theory is Melisa Gold is using some sort of hypnotic technology akin to her Songbird comic book counterpart that sends out a hypnotic sound wave to mind control people so they will be chasing down whatever that is.

Helmut Zemo aka the best MCU villain :

    Zemo was a Sokovian military commander whose family was killed as a result of the events of Avengers Age of Ultron. His family was killed and buried by the wreckage of the Avengers fight with Ultron and he blamed them for their deaths and sought revenge. Knowing he could never beat them himself he devised a plan to destroy the Avengers from within.

    He framed Bucky for the explosion killing T'Chaka Black Panther's father at the beginning of Captain America: Civil War. Framing Bucky made Cap go out of his way to try to defend Bucky from the world's governments because he believed his innocence. After pitting Cap versus Tony, Zemo led them to a secret base where the other winter soldiers were kept on ice killing them then he revealed to Tony Stark that Bucky was the one that killed his parents to finish driving the wedge between Tony and Cap. That divide would not be repaired for nearly a decade (in universe) later in the events of Avengers: Endgame. Black Panther who had secretly followed them there was able to subdue Zemo before he tried to take his own life after successfully breaking the Avengers.

    In this show I believe it will be revealed that Zemo either escaped from prison during the events of the Snap/Blip (I say both because in universe they call it the Blip but we are all used to referring to it as the Snap) OR we are seeing Zemo released on purpose by the US Government to form a special team but more on that later...

    Now we get to the group of characters that are NOT confirmed but are either rumored or just more than likely to show up in my opinion

Batroc the Leaper:

    George St-Pierre first appeared as Batroc in, you guessed it, Captain America Winter Soldier as the pirate that highjacked the ship that Cap helps retake to begin the movie. He is not captured on screen but is later said to have been caught by S.H.I.E.L.D. and has been assumingly been in prison ever since possible on the Raft shown in Civil War. His rumored appearance seems to point to him as a possible member of the Flag Smashers, or the team I believe is being formed before our eyes...

Isaiah Bradley aka the REAL original Captain America:

    Okay, to be forthright here I am about to mix what happens to comic book Isaiah Bradley to what I believe will happen on the show. This is a character we have never seen on screen before so there is no where we last saw him or anything to go on besides comics.

    Isaiah Bradley was married to Faith Bradley and we will see they spent their honeymoon visiting New York City to the Stark Expo seen in Captain America: The First Avenger. Soon after he will be drafted into the army where his now pregnant wife will be lied to saying that he was killed in action or went crazy and ran. In reality, mirroring the Tuskegee Experiments, Isaiah and other black soldiers were selected to be used as Guinea pigs for the US government to test the Super Soldier Serum that will eventually be used to turn Steve Rodgers into Captain America. Being the only survivor Isaiah will be used without caution by the Army as the first Captain America thrown into the most dangerous suicide missions during the war. Once the war is over he will be framed for something and be sent to prison. 

    I believe we will see old man Bradley similar to old man Cap in this show where Sam will learn his story (possibly be related to him or be from the same town in North Carolina?), and it is here we will learn about Isaiah having a (great?) grandson named...

Eli Bradley aka Patriot:

    Eli Bradley the (great?)grandson of Isaiah Bradley we will come to find out has been locally working as vigilante superhero Patriot even though he is a high schooler. He just wants to follow in his grandfathers footsteps and be a hero. They have been sowing the seeds of the Young Avengers for some time and I believe this show will end in a way that gives us a new hero...

NEW CITY TO KNOW

    

    Madripoor is a fictional city/island in Marvel comics that it seems will be introduced in this show. It is located in southeast Asia near Singapore and it is divided into the Hightown and Lowtown by class and wealth. This city sitting outside of the world's governments reach is a safe haven for all sorts of criminals and pirates. Not that I expect them to show up in this show but the city does have a strong connection to The Hand, the ancient criminal organization from the Daredevil Netflix show.

   

PLOT BREAKDOWN AND THEORIES

 

    I believe this show opens up with Sam and Bucky working alongside one another working with the government going on missions but together they are deciding who should be the one to take up the mantel of Captain America because Sam does not feel like he is worthy to do so but also is more comfortable fighting with his wingsuit. This long on going debate will be ended by the US Government stepping in and saying they have selected who should be the new Captain America, US Agent John Walker. During this time Sam and Bucky will go on missions with him to stop the Flag Smashers. The Flag Smashers and Melisa/Karli are trying to steal a piece of tech that will let her hypnotic sound waves take out and hypnotize people for miles. During the time working alongside US Agent Sam and Bucky will become uncomfortable with him taking up the legacy of Cap's shield and will eventually steal it and go on the run. 

    

   THEORY 1: 

     I believe they will have a mistrust of the government possibly caused by them releasing Zemo to form the Thunderbolts, a group of Heroes and "former" villains (Batroc?).

    Sam and Bucky deciding to go on the run the pair will need somewhere to hideout. Maybe they were already in North Carolina for the mission when they went on the run I am not sure but they will go back to Sam's home and we will meet his family. While here see the Wilson family business running fishing boats and we will see the pair training with the SHIELD but neither really getting a hang of it or feeling comfortable using it. Bucky believes the horrors he was forced to do while brainwashed by Hydra completely eliminate him from the running to take over the Captain America mantle.  

    THEORY 2: 

    The shield that Cap gave Sam at the end of Endgame is clearly a new shield because his was broken in half by Thanos and this one will not be made out of Vibranium but introduce the idea of Adamantium, this will be part of the reason why the pair struggle using the shield. 

   

    THEORY 3:

     This where be where we are introduced to Isaiah Bradley.

    The pair will find out what the Flag Smasher are really up to and will need help stopping them so they reach out and find Helmut Zemo who is now on the run back in Sokovia. Zemo will be able to take them to Madripoor where they are trying to beat the Flag Smasher there to get the tech that was stolen and now being sold there. This is where we see the scene in the trailer of them in a club where I believe there are Skrull heads on the wall shown in the trailer. The sonic device will be activated and they will have to escape (possibly being able to steal it).

    While escaping this is where Agent Carter and US Agent will show up to stop them at the ship yard, where there will be a three way fight between US Agent and his team, Sam Bucky and Zemo, and the Flag Smashers where I think Sharon Carter could betray US Agent to help Sam and Bucky escape but maybe they lose the sonic device and the Flag Smashers recover it and flee.

     THEORY 4: This will be when Zemo betrays Sam and Bucky revealing he is working with the Flag Smashers to form the Thunderbolts

   

    We will get a final confrontation between everyone where Sam and Bucky reconcile with US Agent and Sharon Carter to stop Zemo and the Flag Smashers. But the show will end with them deciding none of them are worthy to take up the mantle of Captain America but Sam will say he knows who should. As we see them return to his hometown and we get Sam giving the shield to Eli Bradley. 

        I have two out of left field crazy theories for this show:

    - Bucky by the end of the show will decide to join Zemo as a member of the Thunderbolts

    -Latveria will be set up hinting at its ruler Victor Von Doom

Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed it please subscribe at the top for email updates for every time I post a new blog and share with your friends! As always I would love to hear your thoughts so follow me on twitter and lets talk about theories for the show!