With the first episode of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier dropping later this week, what can be expected from the series? As we step further into Phase 4, it’s becoming clear that horizontal storytelling will give way to more character exploration. What do we truly know about these characters anyway? Sure, they have super powers, technologically advanced suits and other magic but they’ve all also experienced a plethora of trauma. We’ve seen Iron Man explore his PTSD, and we just wrapped up a series dedicated to Wanda’s grieving process (her own PTSD). This may be the new pattern for each Disney+ series, or at the very least it makes a lot of sense for The Falcon and The Winter Soldier.  

The Future Of Captain America On Display

As we saw in Spider-Man: Far From Home, Captain America is gone. We see Cap’s picture featured in the “In Memoriam” at the start of the film. This has to have grave mental effects on Sam Wilson and James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes, Steve Rogers two best guy pals. According to Kevin Feige, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, director Kari Skogland, and head writer Malcolm Spellman during Sunday’s press junket this will definitely be addressed in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier.

Anthony Mackie goes on to explain that Sam doesn’t want to continue the adventures without his friend, he doesn’t want to lose the camaraderie. Meanwhile Sebastian Stan mentions that Bucky is questioning who he is, what his legacy is, or if Bucky even wants a legacy. 

All About The Characters

The MCU has always been grounded in character experiences, a series just gives us more time to unpack those nuances than a film does. Kari Skogland added that “the movies they’re like the snack, and this is like the meal. You really can get involved with the characters in 6 hours in a way that you can’t in the film.”

With that said, lots of action adventure can still be expected in this series. According to Malcolm Spellman, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier series will take after 48 Hours, Lethal Weapon and Rush Hour giving us that buddy cop vibe fans have been hoping for.

“Our goal was not to mess this up,” said Anthony Mackie speaking on how the torch has been passed onto Sebastian and himself. “Steve Rogers would be proud our show does not suck.” 

Will there be more seasons? “There’s certainly ideas” according to Kevin Feige, but that’s not the focus right now. Feige went on to emphasize the current MCU game plan and added a reminder that these Disney+ series’ may feed into films that may feed back into another series. For now let us all enjoy the “meal” laid before us.

The Falcon and The Winter Solider premieres on Friday, March 19th on Disney+.

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