Everything you need to know about ‘The Falcon And The Winter Soldier’

Thanks to the outrageous success of WandaVision, the bar for the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Disney+ shows is officially in the stratosphere. Coming up next on Disney+ is The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, a show about Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes living their best (or worst) post–Captain America lives. 

As with WandaVision, Marvel has kept most of the details surrounding this show super secret, but here’s what you need to know about the Falcon, the Winter Soldier, and the state of the MCU before you watch. 

First up: the trailer. 

Say I’ve forgotten who The Falcon and the Winter Soldier are. Hypothetically. What would you say to that? 

If you hypothetically needed a refresh on the Falcon and the Winter Soldier, I’d offer this hypothetical response: 

The Falcon is the Avengers codename for Sam Wilson, an ex–Air Force airman who performed pararescue missions with the EXO-7 Falcon winged harness. He met and befriended Captain America after Cap came out of the ice, and now Sam flies around on metal wings looking badass. 

The Winter Soldier is James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes, Captain America’s childhood best friend. Cap thought he died in World War II, but surprise! He did not. Bucky survived because Hydra took him captive, enhanced him with experiments, gave him a metal prosthetic arm, and brainwashed him to become the deadliest assassin of the 20th century. He killed JFK but he’s been cool ever since Shuri from Black Panther deprogrammed him and gave him a low stress job on a goat farm. 

Both Sam and Bucky were victims of Thanos’ snap, so they were busy being dust during the five-year time jump between Infinity War and Endgame. Bruce Banner’s snap brought them back in time to fight alongside Captain America in the final battle against Thanos. 

Sorry, did you say Bucky killed JFK?

Yeah…but he was brainwashed! A mindless tool in the hands of the enemy! It really wasn’t his fault. 

Which Marvel films should I watch to find out how they justify that? 

I’m going to pretend this question is “which Marvel films should I watch to get Sam and Bucky’s complete stories.” There are five films you need to watch to understand The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. 

The first is Captain America: The First Avenger. This is Captain America’s backstory and introduces Cap and Bucky’s friendship. It’s also the one where Bucky “dies.” 

Next is Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Cap meets Sam in this one as well as, quite obviously, Bucky’s brainwashed alias the Winter Soldier. 

Sam shows up for a little bit in Avengers: Age of Ultron, but it’s not as important for his character development. The next big plot point is in Captain America: Civil War, which is all about the lengths Cap goes to protect Bucky even in his brainwashed state. 

Next up are Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, the two-part end of the MCU’s Infinity Saga. Sam and Bucky aren’t in those two films as much, but Cap’s finale reappearance as old man Steve directly sets up The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. 

When does TFATWS take place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe timeline? 

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier takes place after Avengers: Endgame. Whether it is concurrent with, takes place before, or occurs after the events of WandaVision is currently unknown. 

We do know from the trailers that Sam Wilson has the intact vibranium Captain America shield that old man Steve gave him at the end of Endgame, and Bucky appears to have the shiny vibranium arm T’Challa gave him in Infinity War. Now they are vibranium bros and that’s very cute. 

Wait, if Captain America gave Sam his shield, doesn’t that make Sam the new Captain America? 

That appeared to be old man Steve’s intent in giving Sam the shield, yes. When Sam expressed disappointment that he’d have to “live in a world without Captain America,” Steve replied “oh, that reminds me” and told Sam the shield belonged to him now. 

As to the reason why Sam is still calling himself the Falcon instead of taking on the Captain America name, that’s probably going to be a big plot point in TFATWS. Steve Rogers’ legacy is a lot to live up to and he probably has some feelings to work out before he’s comfortable taking over his best friend’s title. 

And Bucky was fine with Steve, a man he’s known for a hundred years, handing the shield over to a guy Steve met less than a decade ago? 

Kind of. Probably. Bucky gave Sam the head nod of approval when Cap handed the shield over in Endgame, but that doesn’t make Bucky and Sam friends. 

In fact, even though Bucky and Sam both love Cap to bits, they’re never really gotten along. Cap met them at two very different times in his life and by the time Bucky and Sam spent any time together their rivalry was written in the stars (and stripes). Bucky thinks Sam is an asshole, Sam thinks Bucky is weird…and now they’re co-stars in their very own Disney+ streaming miniseries. 

If they don’t like each other, why are they teaming up? 

Great question, we don’t know. TFATWS trailers show that one of the villains in this series is Helmut Zemo, who was also the secondary villain of Captain America: Civil War (the primary villain was the threat of government oversight). Since Sam and Bucky both have history fighting Zemo, perhaps his rise to power is enough to get them working together again. 

Including Zemo, are there other Marvel characters expected to show up in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier?

There are. Here’s the rundown. 

Helmut Zemo  

In Captain America: Civil War, Helmut Zemo schemed to tear the Avengers apart by activating Bucky’s Winter Soldier programming. He was captured at the end of the movie and we haven’t heard from him in a while, but that’s clearly Zemo in the trailer for TFATWS. He seems to have made some terrorist friends and gotten really into purple balaclavas since last we saw him.

Colonel James “Rhodey” Rhodes, aka War Machine

Oooh, another Avenger! Fancy. We don’t know why Rhodey is involved in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier but we’re very happy he’s here. 

Sharon Carter

Not only is Sharon the iconic Peggy Carter’s niece, she’s also an intelligence agent who’s come in clutch for Captain America on more than one occasion. Now that Steve has traveled through time to retroactively marry Sharon’s aunt, she’s teaming with with Sam and Bucky for whatever Falcon-y, Winter Soldier-y shenanigans they’ll get up to. 

Georges Batroc

I know what you’re thinking: Who the hell is this guy? He is Georges Batroc, an Algerian mercenary who appeared in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. In that movie, Nick Fury hired Batroc to hijack a SHIELD ship for…honestly some really complicated reasons. Batroc fought Cap on the ship and got his butt handed to him. He’s apparently fine though, since he’s in this TV show now. 

Sounds like a party. Where can I watch this and when? 

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier premieres on Disney+ March 19 and will run for six episodes. If this series follows the pattern of previous Disney+ originals, new episodes should drop at midnight PT, or 3 a.m. ET.