When audiences last saw Steve Rogers at the end of “Avengers: Endgame,” the original Captain America had relinquished his shield to have the dance (and life) with Peggy Carter that he always wanted. The now elderly Rogers passed his shield over to Sam Wilson, otherwise known as Falcon, suggesting that Falcon has become the new Captain America. The question is: does Wilson want to carry the mantle, and if so, is he up to the responsibility?
Fans will find the answers to these questions in “The Falcon And The Winter Soldier,” the latest MCU series to hit Disney+. The six-episode miniseries will follow Falcon and Bucky Barnes, Rogers’ best friend and the ex-brainwashed super-soldier named The Winter Soldier, as they team up on a mission to take down an anarchist syndicate called The Flag-Smashers. As Falcon wrestles with the burden of taking on Captain America’s legacy, he’ll also have to reckon with old foes as well, like Baron Helmut Zemo.
Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan headline the cast as Falcon and The Winter Soldier, respectively. Daniel Brühl reprises his role as Zemo from “Captain America: Civil War.” Other returning characters from the Captain America films include Emily VanCamp as Sharon Carter and Georges St-Pierre as Georges Batroc. Wyatt Russell, Erin Kellyman, Adepero Oduye, Desmond Chiam, Miki Ishikawa, Noah Mills, and Danny Ramirez are also part of the cast.
While most of MCU’s Phase 4 movies and series will showcase wonkier deep cuts in the Marvel back-catalog, showrunner Malcolm Spellman promises a more grounded aesthetic for this series. Derek Kolstad, best known as the creator of the “John Wick” movies, is also on the show’s writing team. Both writers have stressed a return to the real world, spy thriller aspects of “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” for the series, with the central duo’s odd-couple relationship adding a buddy-comedy twist.
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“Falcon” will boast a large budget, too. The estimated $150 million budget comes out to $25 million per episode. That’s on par with budgets for early Marvel films, just cut up in an episodic format.
Like all of Marvel’s Phase 4 projects, “Falcon” had its production schedule halted by the ongoing COVID pandemic. The show was initially supposed to premiere last August on Disney+ as the opening title of Phase 4 before shooting shut down in the Czech Republic last March.
Now, fans can tune into Wilson and Barnes’s further adventures on March 19, exclusively on Disney+.