#FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER SERIES#

He has long since become a symbol of the theoretical ideals of the United States, and a critic of how far the country is from meeting those ideals in reality. As the sliding time-scale of the Marvel Universe expanded his time in the ice from 20 years to 75 years, Steve has been increasingly removed from his time and has been cleverly used to comment on today’s values. He emerges into a changed America, one that does not quite match his wartime idealism. In that issue, he is found after being frozen in a block of ice since the end of the war. His popularity waned in the ‘50s, but he is reintegrated into Marvel Comics in Avengers #4(March 1964). Steve is turned into a super-soldier and fights Nazis during the Second World War. Steve Rogers/Captain America and his young partner James “Bucky” Buchanan first appear in Captain America Comics #1 (March 1941). The question of a successor to Steve Rogers as Captain America has been explored several times in the comics. Unfortunately, it really struggles to coherently address them.

#FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER SERIES#

More specifically, what is the image that governments like to present to the world, and what complicated, difficult truths are they hiding? What was heroism in the 1940s, when Steve Rogers became Captain America, vs in the 2020s? How much, if anything, has changed in those 80 years? If Steve Rogers was a perfect, lightning-in-a-bottle hero for the world, what should his successor look like or be like? These are fascinating issues that the series raises. In the case of Falcon and the Winter Soldier, besides providing a well-earned vehicle for Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan, as Bucky/Winter Soldier, it is an opportunity to examine ideas of race, identity, and heroism in America. But these shows are also providing an opportunity to spotlight the secondary characters and actors that have made the MCU seem so vibrant. A cynical view of this opportunity amounts, simply, to “more content”. But the Marvel Studios shows on Disney+ provide the Marvel creators an opportunity to fully realize some of these side adventures. A lot happened to characters between the events of previous MCU films, and viewers were satisfied with the odd hint or dialogue that implies a more fleshed-out MCU. These stories are not exactly essential viewing. And, in this case, audiences can experience the uncertainty of Sam’s journey to becoming Captain America in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021). Audiences can follow a rogue version of Loki who escaped the timestream during the time travel shenanigans of Endgame in Loki (2021).

Now audiences can see the story of Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch dealing with her grief and trauma in WandaVision (2021) between appearances in Endgame and Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness (Raimi, 2022). But the MCU has changed, expanding to include single-season television series designed to tell worthwhile or unique stories that occur in-between the films. After Endgame, audiences expected to next see Sam Wilson as the new Captain America in a film set a year or two later.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is a sprawling interconnected narrative that has jumped from film to film for over a decade now. Sam has a moment of hesitation but, at Steve’s urging, he accepts it. Towards the end of Avengers: Endgame (Russo Brothers, 2019), an aged Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans) passes his signature shield, the symbol of everything Captain America represents, to his friend and partner Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie).

Falcon and the winter soldier