Xander Gallup- Staff Writer
On March 19, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier entered the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe). The show revolves around what Sam Wilson, AKA the Falcon, and Bucky Barnes, AKA the Winter Soldier, are doing after the events of Avengers: Endgame. There are four conflicts that the show seems to revolve around based on what we’ve received in the first episode. The four conflicts are Bucky trying to fix everything he’s done in his past life, Sam trying to keep his family fishing business afloat, a group of terrorists trying to create a New World Order, and finally answering the question of, “who will be the next Captain America?”
The first two are very personal toward Sam and Bucky, and don’t actually have any relevance to the antagonists of the show. However, the fact that the two conflicts are personal means that they will most likely have some relevance near the end of the show. As a plus, it is nice to see the citizen lives of these two characters that the MCU hasn’t emotionally and personally explored yet. Sam is especially nice to see, as the only time that we’ve ever seen him is either training on his own or in his falcon suit, so seeing him without the wings and dealing with his own life is a nice change of pace.
The third conflict is bluntly given to us around the beginning of the first episode, and even more so near the end. The antagonist group is known as the Flag-Smashers, and their ideals are to create a world without national borders. Doesn’t sound so bad, does it? Not until you take into account that the way they try to complete these ideals is through violence and chaos, as the very first thing they do is rob a Swiss bank. Not much else is known about them for now, but they will definitely be the main plot point of the series to come.
The final conflict is the question of “who will be the next Captain America?” If you’ve ever watched Avengers: Endgame, then you already know that Steve gave Sam the shield and named him the next Captain America. However, the series shows that Sam does not think he’s worthy to take up the mantle as Captain America, and instead gives the shield back to the government. The issue is left there for the rest of the episode until the very final scene, when the government names a new Captain America. Although his name is never actually mentioned in the episode, the name of the new Captain America is John Walker. If he happens to be based on the comic version of the same name, then John Walker is not a very nice guy. In the comics, John Walker is also known as Super-Patriot, who is basically meant to be the dark reflection of Steve Rogers’ Captain America. This could later be a problem in the series, and perhaps John might have a little hand working with the Flag-Smashers. Either way, he will most likely not be a very nice person in the series.
It’s sad that this series will only have six episodes in it, but I can say without a doubt that these six episodes will add much more to the MCU. With these four plot points converging in on each other, this show will definitely be the highlight of these weeks to come.
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