Falcon & The Winter Soldier Accidentally Splits Team Cap & Iron Man Again

Warning: SPOILERS ahead for The Falcon And The Winter Soldier episode 1 – “New World Order”

At the end of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier‘s premiere, there could be a possible new schism between Team Cap and Team Iron Man. Specifically, James Rhodes, aka War Machine (Don Cheadle), may have withheld important information about the future of Captain America’s shield from his fellow Avenger, Sam Wilson, aka The Falcon (Anthony Mackie).

Both Sam and Rhodey officially joined the Avengers at the conclusion of Avengers: Age of Ultron. Prior to that, both heroes were introduced as supporting characters and the best friends of Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans) and Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), respectively. Wilson and Rhodes are both African-American military men and they’re Air Force combat veterans to boot. But because of who they were most loyal to, Sam and Rhodey ended up on opposite sides in Captain America: Civil War. When Wilson joined Rogers’ Team Cap in refusing to sign the Sokovia Accords, he willingly became an international fugitive. However, Rhodey also paid a high price for sticking with Stark’s Team Iron Man and he suffered a terrible spinal injury during the Avengers’ battle at Berlin Airport. Two years later, Rhodey and Sam were back on the same side fighting aliens in Wakanda during Avengers: Infinity War. After Sam was resurrected by the Blip, both Falcon and War Machine fought the final battle to rid the universe of Thanos (Josh Brolin) before attending Tony Stark’s funeral.

Of course, Rhodey was aware that Steve Rogers had passed Captain America’s shield to Sam at the end of Avengers: Endgame. In The Falcon and The Winter Soldier‘s premiere, “New World Order,” Rhodes attended a ceremony at the Smithsonian Museum’s Captain America exhibition where Wilson surrendered Cap’s shield. Of course, Sam did so under the assumption that the shield would become the museum’s property. This is why Falcon was stunned and felt betrayed when the U.S. Government suddenly announced that there would be a new Captain America, John Walker (Wyatt Russell), and he would carry the shield as the country’s new national hero. But did Rhodey know this was going to happen?

After Sam’s presentation, he and Rhodey took a private walk through the Captain America memorabilia. Rhodey asked Wilson why he didn’t take up the mantle of Captain America himself but kept his own opinions private on Sam’s explanation that he felt the shield belongs to someone else (specifically Steve Rogers). Certainly, Rhodey can understand the question of legacy; he himself didn’t take up the mantle of Iron Man and remains War Machine. But then again, Tony Stark didn’t handpick Rhodey to wear the armor next like Steve chose Sam to wield his shield.

However, Rhodes did remind Wilson that “the world’s a crazy place right now” — The Falcon and The Winter Soldier is set six months after the Blip and the planet has been destabilized by billions of vanished people instantly reappearing. Rhodey tried to explain that “the world’s broken. Everyone’s just looking for someone to fix it.“ This could indicate that War Machine had some intel that there was no way the U.S. Government would keep a symbol as powerful (in Sam’s own words) as Captain America’s shield locked up in a museum.

The question for the future of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier is whether or not Rhodey did know that there would be a new Captain America and if he purposefully kept that info from Sam. On one hand, Wilson made his bed when he chose to give up the shield, and perhaps it was naive of Falcon to believe that Captain America’s mantle was his alone to accept. But if Rhodey did know and Sam finds out, it could spark another rift between the former Avengers, although whether sides would be chosen between Team Falcon and Team War Machine remains to be seen.