There is life after Endgame, but Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes are having a hard time finding purpose. Just as well there’s a new terror group in town
Given the universal praise for WandaVision, the first small screen outing for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it’s hard to know whether that makes things more or less difficult for The Falcon and the Winter Solider. On one hand, fears over how the MCU would translate to the small screen have been well and truly allayed – we’re most definitely not in Iron Fist territory. On the other, the raising of that bar brings its own pressures.
Originally, The Falcon and the Winter Solider, or TFATWS as we’ll call it from here on in, was supposed to appear on Disney+ before WandaVision, and it’s immediately clear why. WandaVision, so surreal, fantastical and high-concept, was, theoretically, a bigger ask for the casual Marvel fan (although after 22 box-office busting films and one ratings smash TV series, how many casual Marvel fans there are remains open for debate). Nevertheless, TFATWS, is much more familiar in tone, and the contrast between this series and WandaVision could not be more marked. In one, characters couldn’t leave a small town. Here, in the first episode alone, the actions flits between Tunisia, Washington, Louisiana, Switzerland, Japan and New York.
