“The Falcon and The Winter Soldier”(TFAWS) was released on Disney+ on March 19, 2021. The show was anticipated by fans and was well received.

 The show follows Sam “The Falcon” Wilson and James “Bucky” Barnes, who is The Winter Soldier. The show fits in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) after Endgame and after half the population Thanos “snapped” away for five years came back. The show tells that America’s beloved Star Spangled Man, Captain America (Steve Rogers) is dead. Before Steve died he gave his shield to Sam. Sam, who is played by Anthony Mackie, gives Captain America’s shield to the Smithsonian museum. 

Sam was known as Falcon and was introduced to the MCU in “Captain America The Winter Soldier.” Falcon has no real superpower other than the robotic wings he uses to fly. Sam also now works with the Air Force to help take down who he can. Sam also helps his sister, Sarah, and his nephews run a boat their parents owned.

“I think the development of Bucky was probably my favorite; he truly becomes a much more caring character and finally finds his own family,” Lillian H. ‘21

 Bucky, who is played by Sebastian Stan, is in therapy, and he tries to adjust to the real world after not having a break since the 1940s. Bucky was Steve Rogers’ childhood best friend. In the 40s he was captured by Hydra. Hydra is a criminal organization seeking world domination through terrorist acts and wants a fascist New World Order. Hydra brainwashed Bucky into being an assassin, whom Hydra named The Winter Soldier. Bucky tries to make amends with the people he harmed as The Winter Soldier.

“It was such an attention-grabbing show. I love the friendship dynamic between Sam and Bucky. I would love to see more arguments between Sam and Bucky. They’re absolutely hilarious,” Mattisyn S. ‘24 said.

 At the end of the first episode, we see the government give John Walker, played by Wyatt Russell, the shield. Walker is a former Captain of the U.S. Army’s 75th Rangers Regiment. A highly decorated soldier. Walker is named the new Captain America. 

 Neither Sam nor Bucky are happy with this new Captain America.  Bucky and Sam team up to fight the Flag Smashers, despite their quarrels with each other. The Flag Smashers were an anti-nationalist group of super-soldiers that aspired to return the state of earth to the way it was prior to the Blip. The Blip is what the MCU calls the five years where half the population was gone. 

Their leader is a girl named Karli Morgenthau who is played by Erin Kellyman. In the comics, the leader of the Flag-Smashers was named Karl Morganthau and was older, but Director Kari Skogland wanted the leader to be a younger female.

 Sam and Bucky go after to stop The Flag-Smashers throughout the six episodes. Constantly running into John Walker and his “sidekick” Lemar Hoskins, who is also called Battlestar. Over the time of this team-up. Bucky and Sam had a lot of disagreements over what is right and wrong. Sam agrees with The Flag-Smashers cause but just does not like the way they are fighting for that cause. The two try to track down where this new super serum is coming from. Bucky has the idea to talk to Zemo. 

Zemo is the villain from “Captain America Civil War.” He did a ton of extensive research on the serum because of Bucky. Zemo became the criminal mastermind who sought his revenge against the Avengers after losing his family and became obsessed with destroying them.

 The three try to track down the serum and The Flag-Smashers.  Also on the three journeys, they run into an old friend Sherron Carter who is played by Emily VanCamp.

Carter is usually depicted as a secret agent, an ex-field agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. under Nick Fury, and a love interest of Steve Rogers. She is also the niece of Peggy Carter who helped Steve in the 40s and was Steve’s main love interest. Sharren gets a bigger story arc in TFAWS that had many fans shocked and begging for more in the seasons to come. 

  “I really enjoyed the season!! It was so fun to see the characters being developed beyond the movies, and I enjoyed all of the callbacks to the other marvel movies. I want to see more cameos in the other seasons,” Lillian H. ‘21

The filming of the show got pretty difficult because of Covid-19. The show began filming before Covid started. The cast and crew had to shut down production when quarantine hit. After quarantine, the team started filming as soon as possible, but they did have to cut down on crew and filming locations. International travel became extremely hard, but the team managed to travel as much as they could. In between shots, the cast would have to put a mask back on and all the crew had to be masked. 

The show was postponed because of Covid but the postponement was unannounced to the public at that point. Fans are excited that the MCU is already setting up for other seasons of the show in years to come.