‘Falcon and Winter Soldier’ Boss Malcolm Spellman on Making the MCU’s Heaviest Story: “Marvel Never Blinked” Brian Davids
[This story contains spoilers for
To turn Sam Wilson into Captain America, Malcolm Spellman knew that he had to take the Marvel Cinematic Universe into uncharted territory. What resulted was
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Marvel Studios’ heaviest and most violent story to date. Whether it was the inhumane treatment of Black super soldier test subjects such as Isaiah Bradley or the lingering effects of PTSD in Bucky Barnes and John Walker, Spellman didn’t pull any punches as head writer, and he’s still amazed by the lack of resistance along the way.
The rest of the series? A tiny bit muddled. Most superhero stories suffer from a too-many-villains problem.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier had a too-many-storylines problem. You had Sam Wilson s journey to becoming Captain America, Bucky Barnes recovering from his time as the Winter Soldier, whatever the hell was going on with Sharon Carter, and the Flag-Smashers wreaking havoc with hard-to-place motivations. And that s just a few of the plot hits! Now, thanks to the team over at New Rockstars, we might have an idea why
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier s story was occasionally tough to pin down. Their theory? That the show originally featured a subplot related to either the use of a bioweapon or the spread of a virus. So when the pandemic hit,
Some parts of
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier just don’t make sense. That’s not unusual for superhero media, where suspension of disbelief is key. But in this case, those troublesome details mostly exist in one area: the Flag-Smasher subplot. Featured Video Hide
According to a popular fan theory, there’s a reason for that: The show originally included a pandemic storyline, which was later deleted due to COVID-19. Advertisement Hide
In the first two episodes, many viewers noticed that the Flag-Smashers were stealing “vaccines” with no mention of what those vaccines were actually for. We also see Karli Morgenthau’s mentor Donya Madani die from tuberculosis. But in general, this worldwide refugee crisis (and related issues involving medical care and disease control) is thinly written. It feels as if we’re missing chunks of the story, especially involving Karli and the Flag-Smashers’ goals as a political group.
Source: Marvel Studios / Disney
This week’s episode, no. 4 of 6, of
The Falcon and The Winter Soldier opens in the past, six years ago to be exact. A one-armed Bucky, then going by his African name White Wolf, sits around a fire in a Wakandan forest, and that alone tells us we’re in for some treats.
SPOILERS AHEAD.
Meanwhile, Ayo begins to recite the trigger words that Zemo used to transform Bucky into the mindless killer version of the Winter Soldier. We see a montage of scenes that remind us how ruthless the Winter Soldier was when he was under HYDRA control. Buck begins to cry as he realizes that Shuri’s (Letitia Wright,
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