SPOILERS AHEAD: In sharp contrast to WandaVision, Marvel Studios presented the much-more grounded The Falcon and the Winter Soldier season one on Disney+.
Five years ago Thanos snapped half of every living creature out of existence. While the shock probably had not worn off, the remaining people had to move forward with their lives. This resulted in all manner of impacts on housing, labor, banking, health services, agriculture, etc. When the people unexpectedly reappeared, there were a lot of adjustments necessary. Multiple nations join to draft the Global Repatriation Act to handle moving people around to where they belong…not always with their consent.
A group called the Flag-Smashers formed to stop the passage of the GRA, believing the world was better when a smaller world population created a sense of global unity. It was not touched on deeply, but a smaller number of people might have led to a reduction in income inequality and more prosperity for the disadvantaged. In normal circumstances, this would not have proven to be a serious threat to a powerful, international group of nations with political, military, and economic resources at their disposal.
But here is where things get complicated.
The Flag-Smashers stole a quantity of super soldier serum from the Power Broker, a mysterious nogoodnik operating a black-market for weapons and assets. Some of the group take the serum themselves, becoming more dangerous than normal special ops forces can deal with. Even when confronted with the combination of Sam Wilson/The Falcon (Anthony Mackie), Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), and John Walker, the new Captain America (Wyatt Russell), and his sidekick Lemar Hoskins (Cle Bennett), the Flag-Smashers more than hold their own.
I won’t get into every detail of the series, there is a lot going on for only six episodes. There are personal subplots for Sam and Bucky and a surprise character introduction, but probably the one over-arching theme is how symbols like Captain America meant to inspire the best of us can sometimes get twisted in the hands of imperfect people.
Even if you have never seen any MCU content before, this show works very well as a buddy action adventure, with solid chemistry between leads Mackie and Stan. The visual effects are quite good, but they are used to punctuate what is at heart a drama about two men united by their connection to the original Captain America, Steve Rogers — and finding a bond without the moon-based Rogers involved.
