Tag Archives: the Falcon

Feb 16 2025

The New Captain America Faces A Brave New World

Despite what many people are claiming online, the fourth Captain America film, Captain America: Brave New World, is not a misfire. It’s not perfect and has to be ranked fourth in the Captain America film series of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Yet, it largely hits the mark and is a solidly good political thriller. There will be SPOILERS.

The film serves many functions. It is a continuation of the Disney + TV show, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and a semi-sequel to the film The Incredible Hulk. At the same time, it sets up future events in the MCU while answering a nagging question from Eternals.

This is the first Captain America film to not feature Steve Rogers as the superhuman soldier. Instead, the mantle is taken up by Steve’s former partner and friend Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), a non-superpowered former soldier. In addition to his combat training and wits, Sam dons an armored suit made of vibranium that provides protection with its unique property of absorbing and dispelling kinetic energy. The suit also allows Captain America to fly and is adorned with drones called Redwing. Then there is Captain America’s nearly indestructible shield which was given to him by Steve. Even with all these adornments, Sam is conflicted about his capability to live up to the name of Captain America. But thankfully, by the end of the film he dispels his self-doubts.

Captain America: Brave New World begins with the U.S. presidential election of former general Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (Harrison Ford taking over the role from the late William Hurt). Despite his political victory, Ross is devastated over the fact that his daughter Betty (Liv Tyler) no longer talks to him due to his obsession in the past with hunting down her boyfriend Bruce Banner aka the Hulk.

Five months later, Captain America is working with the U.S. military to recover classified items from a terrorist group called the Serpent Society, who are also holding hostages. Sam lets his friend and partner Joaquin Torres aka the new Falcon (Danny Ramirez) recover the items while he rescues the hostages. During the rescue, Wilson meets the group’s leader Seth Voelker/Sidewinder (Giancarlo Esposito), who escapes.

President Ross invites Sam and Torres to a White House summit with world leaders including those from India, Japan and France. Before the summit, Sam invited his friend Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly) to the summit. Bradley was introduced in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier as a recipient of the super-solider formula that gave Steve Rogers his powers, but because he is Black, he was horribly treated and jailed by the U.S. government in the 1950s.

At the summit, Ross tries to make amends with Sam due to the antagonistic relationship he had with superheroes like Sam and Steve in past MCU films. He also asked Sam to rebuild the Avengers team, but Sam is hesitant because the team would have to answer to Ross. Still, Ross is willing to negotiate with Sam.

During the summit, it’s revealed that the items Sam and Danny recovered were Japanese samples of a new metal called adamantium that is stronger than vibranium. This metal was found on the newly created Celestial Island in the Indian Ocean and is part of the remains from the Celestial that the Eternals killed in their film. Ross proposes a treaty to mine and distribute the adamantium worldwide as a counter to the nation of Wakanda who exclusively owns vibranium. The event is going well until Bradley and few government agents get a musical signal which triggers them to attempt to assassinate Ross.

Even though Ross is saved, the summit is considered a failure as Japan blames the U.S. for the theft of the adamantium and threatens to pull out of the treaty. Sam, Danny and Ross realized that the person behind the theft and the assassination attempt was Dr. Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson). During the events of The Incredible Hulk, Sterns was infected by Banner’s gamma-irradiated blood and became a disfigured mutate called the Leader with an exposed cranium and the capability of a quantum computer. After that film, Ross imprisoned Stearns and secretly used Stearns’ advanced intellect to advance his career and keep him healthy.

After Sam and Danny try to confront Stearns, he escapes custody and launches a new plot to create a war between the U.S. and Japan and ruin Ross politically to get revenge on Ross. It is clear that Ross is having trouble dealing with the stress, which threatens to get out of control, and leads to Stearns’ trump card on Ross by turning him into a Red Hulk.  

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Apr 25 2021

Captains America And The Falcon And The Winter Soldier

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, the second Disney+ TV series based on the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) just finished streaming its inaugural season. On the whole, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is another winner for Disney+ despite its flaws. As fans speculate, discuss and laud the series, it is pretty clear that it sets a new direction for the MCU. Spoilers will follow below for anyone who has not watched the show in its entirety.

The series takes place several months after the events of Avengers: Endgame. Steve Rogers, the original Captain America, is now “gone” (it is never clearly stated if he died) and his two best friends Sam Wilson/The Falcon (Anthony Mackie) and James “Bucky” Barnes/The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) were left to pick up the pieces after Steve’s absence.

In the end of the last Avengers film, Steve Rogers passed on his nearly mystical shield to Sam Wilson to carry on the legacy of Captain America. However, when the series starts, Sam is very uncomfortable with that mantle and donates his shield to the U.S. government as he carries on juggling his private life with his contract superhero work for the government. At the same time, Bucky is grappling with guilt from his previous life as the Winter Soldier, where he carried out brutal assassinations.

While the two men try to go about their lives, events occur that force them to get involved together. These include a terrorist group called the Flag Smashers led by a young woman named Karli Morgenthau (Erin Kellyman). In the time between the last two Avengers films, half the world population was erased from existence until they were restored. The Flag Smashers believe the world would be better if there were no borders or nations, which apparently happened in between the films. To help their cause, Karli and her comrades have taken the same super soldier serum that gave Steve Rogers his enhanced strength and agility. They also steal more of the serum to create an army.

The U.S. government commissions a new Captain America, who is John Walker (Wyatt Russell), a military vet suffering from post traumatic stress disorder and he has a major chip on his shoulder. Naturally, he clashes with Sam and Bucky as the two track down the Flag Smashers.

Their hunt for the terrorists lead them throughout the world and encountering allies and foes including the Machiavellion Baron Zemo (Daniel Brühl), former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Sharon Carter (Emily VanCamp) and the mercenary Batroc (real-life mixed martial artist Georges St-Pierre). Zemo truly stood out as a character in the series with his cold charisma and calculating nature. His cause (a hatred and distrust of superhumans) was clearly defined and understandable from his point of view. For a villain who was dismissed by many fans in Captain America: Civil War, Zemo was elevated to become an A-list villains who had his own humorous memes, especially with his dancing at a night club. Here is an hour-long edit put out by Marvel Studios of Zemo dancing for your enjoyment!

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Apr 7 2014

Captain America: The Winter Soldier Upends The Marvel Cinematic Universe

cap 2 posterI’m not exaggerating when I say that Captain America: The Winter Soldier is one of the greatest superhero films ever made. It ranks right up there with Iron Man, The Dark Knight and The Avengers. It’s that great! It’s exciting, intriguing, full of action and, most importantly, character defining moments that elevates this film above your standard superhero flick.

While the first Captain America film was a pleasant salute to World War II Americana, this sequel just elevates the character and the Marvel Cinematic Universe to a whole new level. In fact, Captain America: The Winter Soldier completely upends the carefully crafted world created with ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????these Marvel movies and it does so in a logical way that actually reflects on the impact of the events from The Avengers. As much as 9/11 radically changed our world, the alien attack on New York City in The Avengers has had far reaching ramifications. Iron Man 3 explored the personal impact as seen with Iron Man’s post traumatic stress disorder. This Captain America film examines the impact on the world stage and how it has made the spy agency S.H.I.E.L.D. just a tad bit too omnipresent. That was something that was underlying in past Marvel films, the spies were everywhere, seemed too powerful, had too much carte blanche. This film shows how the agency overreached with a diabolical plot hatched by traitors from within.

The film begins with Steve Rogers a.k.a Captain America (Chris Evans) leading a strike force that includes fellow Avenger Natasha Romanoff a.k.a Black Widow (Scarlett Johannson) to rescue hostages onboard a hijacked freighter ship. It turns out that the hostages are actually S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and Black Widow has a separate agenda to download encrypted files from the ship’s computer. Captain America then learns that S.H.I.E.L.D. is about to launch Project: Insight, which will use a trio of new generation helicarriers to preemptively take out potential threats worldwide.

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All this causes Rogers to question his allegiance to S.H.I.E.L.D. and magnificently echoes the unease he’s having with adapting to this new world. Despite its fast-moving plot, time is taken to feature quiet, reflective moments where he sees how much the world and his country has changed. They are the emotional highlights of the film and allow Evans to prove his acting chops. He undeniably owns this role and it’s now difficult to picture another actor playing this character.

Anyway, it turns out that he is not the only one wondering about the spy agency’s ambiguous nature. Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), S.H.I.E.L.D.’s director also has his doubts and his inquiries launch a devastating chain of events that includes having Rogers and Romanoff hunted by S.H.I.E.L.D. and ultimately leaves the agency and the world changed forever. The stakes are that high.

???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????As he eludes S.H.I.E.L.D., Captain America has to face a specter from his past. This being the lethal Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), a super assassin with a bionic arm. I won’t give away who the Winter Soldier is in case anyone reading this doesn’t know but his storyline is very tragic considering his relationship to Rogers. Putting that aside the directors Anthony and Joe Russo make him one of the most formidable super villains seen on film and while the Red Skull was Captain America’s chief nemesis, the Winter Soldier is both a physical match to Rogers and a genuine threat. At times I actually wondered if the good Captain would prevail in their fights.

Speaking of action, this film has lots of it. It does have that annoying shaky cam for some scenes, but the directors knew enough to control it and let the spectacular stunts speak for themselves. It’s incredible how Marvel Studios were able to make a perfect, unorthodox directing choice. This duo was known for directing comedies, ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????who would’ve known they could pull this off? But what underlines all the action sequences are the characters, they’re so well written and acted and the actors have their moments, even the newcomers. Take Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson a.k.a. the Falcon. This version of the Falcon was so cool and likable, it’s easy to see why Rogers gravitated to this guy when he needed help. The Falcon definitely has his moments with his flight outfit that seems so formidable and believable.

cap on bike

Captain America: The Winter Soldier works in so many ways because writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely took the best elements from the Captain America comic books and fused them to make this unforgettable cinematic wonder. The movie left me wanting to see more and it set up enough questions and material to carry over to another sequel. Honestly, since Marvel Studios has signed on these directors for the next film, I cannot wait to see it.

Waldermann Rivera