We’re finally here. Six weeks after it’s premiere, Falcon and the Winter Soldier has reached its final episode. The whole series has been leading up to what transpires in this final episode. The show has had a long and winding path to get to this. Featuring themes and topics such as race, social inequality, it’s stumbled in some moments in keeping a consistent theme. Still though, the show has successfully integrated the mythos and history of Captain America as something of a metaphor for America itself. The shield at this point represents the flag, and our country, flaws and all.
So now we’ve come to the conclusion of the story they’ve aimed to tell. Sam has spent the entire series struggling with the mantle of Captain America. His decisions and struggles in the series have elevated the character to new emotional depths. While the series may be inconsistent with scattered themes, it’s still used the circumstances to add depth to Sam. Moreover, his decisions regarding the shield and mantle of Captain America come to their natural conclusion. This is a legacy character that doesn’t feel forced or rushed. This episode is the best indicator of that.
Sam also makes his debut as Captain America in true cinematic fashion. Seeing him with the shield and in one of the most comic accurate costumes the MCU has to offer makes this entire series worth it. This episode highlights what makes Sam different than Steve Rogers from character to physicality. Watching a Captain America that can take flight and use other resources than super strength shows respect for the differences in the two iterations.
This final episode also manages to wrap up several character arcs in a way that doesn’t feel rushed. Here we have characters like John, Bucky, and Karli reach their natural conclusions. Walker goes from a tragic villain to a likable anti-hero in the span of two episodes. He has a truly heroic moment in this episode allowing us to see another side of Walker, when not clouded by grief or responsibility he isn’t fit to handle. It’s a welcome development and shows the turn into his comic counterpart. He hopefully has an exciting future ahead of him.
Thankfully, the episode ends on a strong note. Sam Wilson takes Isaiah Bradley to the Captain America wing of the museum. Given a chance to bring peace to someone Society unjustly treated, Sam restores Bradley’s history. It doesn’t fix what happened, but it’s a start to recognizing the problems of the nation Sam represents. Captain America is back, and he’s going to honor what came before, while creating something new.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Finale Reveals Marvel's New Captain America
Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) takes to the skies as the all-new Captain America in Friday's series finale of Marvel's The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. After relinquishing the star-spangled shield handed to him by an aged and retired Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) in Avengers: Endgame, Wilson watched the U.S. government declare John Walker (Wyatt Russell) its "new hero" with a slogan: Cap is back. When Wilson and Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) team up to take back the blood-stained shield wielded by Walker in "Truth," where the scorned Super Soldier is stripped of his title and authority as Captain America, the episode ends with Wilson about to suit up as a new starred-and-striped superhero. In Episode 6, "One World, One People," Cap is really back.
When Karli Morgenthau (Erin Kellyman), Batroc (Georges St-Pierre), and the super-powered Flag Smashers launch an attack on the Global Repatriation Council headquarters in New York — where the GRC is carrying out a vote on the controversial Patch Act, about the global resettlement of displaced peoples after the Blip — a red-white-and-blue Sam Wilson, Captain America, flies into action on Wakanda-created wings while wielding the shield that no longer feels like it belongs to someone else.
Sam's five-episode transformation into the new Captain America comes after revelations made by Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly), an experimented-on Black Super Soldier, who told Sam in Episode 5: "They will never let a Black man be Captain America. And even if they did, no self-respecting Black man would ever wanna be."
"Sam being a Black man can't in good conscience just accept that symbol, without serious consideration to both sides of whether it's appropriate for him to don it, and we wanted that argument about not doing it to be legitimate," series creator Malcolm Spellman told Geek Culture after Sam's fellow Avenger, James "War Machine" Rhodes (Don Cheadle), asked why he didn't take up the mantle of Captain America. "If you're going to tell an honest story – it's not even about politics. You can't write a character who's a woman, you can't write a character who's Muslim or Catholic, or Jewish and just ignore that."
Spellman added: "Sam is a Black man and that is going to be at the forefront with those stars and stripes."
(Photo: Marvel Studios)For Mackie, who debuted as the high-flying Falcon in 2014's Captain America: The Winter Soldier, inheriting the star-spangled shield in 2019's Endgame was "very emotional."
"I've been in the business for 20 years and I've been fortunate to do some amazing stuff and work with amazing people. For me, to be a Black man in 2019 and be given the helm of Captain America with the history of Black men in this country is a monumental step, not only in entertainment but also in my life," Mackie said in a 2019 interview. "It's been extremely emotional. Look, my grandfather was a sharecropper, you know what I mean? There's a lot of history and pain and triumph and joy that comes along with me being Captain America."
All episodes of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier are now streaming on Disney+.
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Falcon and Winter Soldier episode 6: What does finale post-credits scene mean as Sharon Carter returns?
Was Sharon’s Power Broker identity hinted at all along?
Warning: major spoilers ahead for episode six of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier.
The episode six finale of Marvel’s The Falcon and The Winter Soldier on Disney Plus left fans in a state of awe, as Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) finally took flight as Captain America and the identity of the Power Broker was revealed… before an intriguing post-credits scene.
After returning to the US to seemingly help Sam and Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) in their fight against anti-patriotism group the Flag-Smashers, former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Sharon Carter (Emily VanCamp) finds herself in a face-off against the Flag-Smashers leader Karli Morgenthau (Erin Kellyman) and mercenary Georges Batroc (Georges St-Pierre).
Before Georges emerges from the shadows, Karli confirms that Sharon is the Power Broker, who she and her organisation stole the super-soldier serum from on the fictional island of Madripoor.
After discovering Sharon’s true identity, Georges attempts to blackmail her into paying him more money so that he won’t tell the world her secret.
But Sharon isn’t intimidated by his threat, shooting him dead before later fatally shooting Karli.
Sam and Bucky have no idea of the truth that was spilled, still under the impression that Sharon is fighting on their side.
But as the post-credits scene reveals, Sharon has other plans up her sleeve.
In the Falcon and The Winter Soldier finale post-credits scene, Sharon stands at a podium at a governmental hearing.
The government official running proceedings (Alphie Hyorth) tells her that ‘on behalf of the United States intelligence community, I’d like to offer you and your family our sincerest apologies’.
‘The Carter name has always been synonymous with service and trust,’ he says, in reference to Sharon’s aunt Peggy Carter, also known as Agent Carter and a founding member of S.H.I.E.L.D.
‘Today we begin to set things right. We begin to pay some of the debt that is owed to you,’ he states.
Sharon says that she’s ‘been waiting to hear those words for a long time’, before being told that she is being offered a ‘full pardon’ after previously being on the run from the US law.
‘There may be an opening in your old division. Is that something you would be interested in?’ the government official says, to which she replies: ‘It would be my honour.’
In a final kick in the teeth for fans of the valiant original Agent Carter, he says: ‘Welcome home Agent Carter.’
As Sharon exits the building – aptly wearing a power suit – she makes a call, telling the person on the other end that they should get their buyers prepared as they’re soon going to have ‘full access to government secrets, prototype weapons, you name it’.
The post-credits scene sets Sharon up as a possible villain to watch in the MCU going forward, a far-cry from where she started as one of Captain America’s closest allies in Captain America: Winter Soldier.
It indicates that just like in the second Captain America film, when it was discovered that Hydra had been operating within S.H.I.E.L.D. for decades, a new powerful entity is soon going to be infiltrating the US government.
There has been speculation that Falcon and The Winter Soldier may return for a second season, although many fans are hoping it will be named Captain America and The Winter Soldier if this happens.
Given the Marvel series has been submitted at this year’s Emmy Awards in the Drama category rather than as a limited series, unlike WandaVision, people believe this is a sign that the story will continue in future.
Will Sam and Bucky have to go up against their old friend in a second season? When will they find out who she really is?