Your guide to the ‘Falcon and the Winter Soldier’ cast, characters, and villains. Plus, the Marvel movies to watch to catch up.
Streaming Your crash course on the new Disney+ show. When WandaVision premiered in January, many viewers found themselves drawn to the series for reasons beyond the usual action and superhero fare, like its classic sitcom references, examinations of grief and trauma, and catchy theme songs. It still moved Marvel further toward Phase 4, but it was also proof that the MCU’s upcoming slate of TV shows isn’t just for hardcore fans. And the next entry in the lineup, The Falcon And The Winter Soldier, should be just as easy for Marvel newcomers to dive into. You’ll just need this primer first. The Falcon And The Winter Soldier picks up in the wake of the events of Avengers: Endgame, about six months after the world’s mightiest heroes defeated the mad Titan Thanos. At the end of that film, Steve Rogers — aka Captain America — went back in time to return the Infinity Stones to their proper places in the timeline (long story) and decided to stay in the past so he could live the life he missed the first time around with his long-lost love, Peggy Carter. In the present day, a now-aged Steve passed his iconic shield to his wingman Sam Wilson, as Steve’s best friend Bucky Barnes looked on in approval. Now that Cap is too old for superheroics, it will be left to Sam and Bucky to carry on his legacy in whatever way they can — including perhaps facing a threat Steve thought he had already defeated. Already lost? Let’s take a step back and cover the basics. Played by Sebastian Stan, James Buchanan Barnes (known as Bucky) is Steve Rogers’ oldest friend — literally. They were childhood pals in Brooklyn in the 1940s until Bucky enlisted in WWII and left scrawny Steve behind. Thanks to an experimental serum, Steve became Captain America and led many missions against the Nazis, including rescuing Bucky from behind enemy lines. Unfortunately, Bucky was soon lost during a fight against Hydra… or so Steve thought. An injured Bucky was really captured by Hydra, experimented on, and turned into a brainwashed super-soldier assassin, codenamed The Winter Soldier. (Because he was put on literal ice between missions, Bucky is still basically the same age he was during WWII.) Steve learned that his best friend was still alive as he was fighting against Hydra’s infiltration of S.H.I.E.L.D. and managed to break through Bucky’s brainwashing enough to make Bucky start remembering bits of his old life. Thanks to the advanced science in Wakanda, Bucky was finally “cured” and fought alongside Steve against Thanos. He was one of the heroes lost when Thanos snapped his fingers and dusted half the universe, but he was returned to life along with the rest of the Avengers at the climax of Endgame. After Thanos was defeated once and for all, Bucky said goodbye to Steve, knowing his friend’s intention to stay in the past.
