In the penultimate episode of ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’, Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) finally gets back Captain America’s shield and chooses to accept the mantle.
“What would be the point of all the pain and the sacrifice if I wasn’t willing to stand up and keep fighting?” he says before a training montage that shows his growing mastery of the shield.
Since premiering last month, the Disney+ series has explicitly confronted the complicated legacy of what Cap’s shield represents and the complexities of what it means to be a Black hero in America.
Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier, Daniel Bruhl as Zemo and Anthony Mackie as Falcon/Sam Wilson in The Falcon and Winter Soldier