The Flag Smashers are the villains in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and even though Baron Zemo is an ally (for now), the Flag Smashers are repeating his plan from Captain America: Civil War – here’s how. With the Infinity Saga now over, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is moving forward with its highly-anticipated Phase 4, which will not only cover the movie side of this extensive universe but also TV shows that will directly connect to the movies, as opposed to what happened with Netflix’s Marvel shows.
Kickstarting this new wave of content was WandaVision, and now that it came to an end, Marvel fans are moving forward with The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Set a couple of months after the events of Avengers: Endgame, the series reunites viewers with Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), who continues to serve as Falcon while also deciding whether to take the mantle of Captain America or not, and Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), who is still struggling with the demons from his dark past as the Winter Soldier. Together they will try to bring down a radical group known as the Flag Smashers, and for that, they will need Baron Zemo’s (Daniel Brühl) help – and these characters have more in common than you think.
The Flag Smashers and their leader, Karli Morgenthau (Erin Kellyman), have become the main bad guys to beat while Zemo, in an unexpected turn of events, is serving as an ally, though one with shady intentions, and this doesn’t mean he can’t go full villain at some point. Now, the similarities between these two are not so much in how they have served as antagonists in the MCU, but in what their plans truly are. Back in 2016, Zemo made his MCU debut in Captain America: Civil War, where it was revealed that he’s Sokovian and a former colonel in his country’s special forces. Unfortunately, his family was killed during the Battle of Sokovia in Avengers: Age of Ultron, which drove him to seek revenge on the Avengers, and his plan was to tear them apart from the inside – and he succeeded.
For that, Zemo framed Bucky for the death of King T’Chaka and reactivated the Winter Soldier in him through trigger words, and his plan to divide the Avengers worked. Now, the Flag Smashers are an anarchist and anti-patriot group who wear black masks with a red handprint over them, and many of its members, including Karli, have taken a recreation of the Super Soldier serum that granted them enhanced strength, speed, and more. The Flag-Smashers believe the world was a better place after Thanos’ snap and thus want to return to the way it was before the Hulk undid the snap and brought half the universe back. Karli has mentioned that the world post-snap became one, with no borders, but once the rest returned, they had to be reintegrated into society, and those who didn’t vanish ended up being displaced. She has even said that they can’t let the same people “who were put back in power after the Blip win”, and she (and the rest) have no sympathy for superheroes, especially those like Captain America.
Both Zemo and the Flag Smashers want revenge on those who changed their world: the Avengers destroyed Sokovia, and they brought half the universe back. Surely, neither Zemo nor Karli and her group can bring back those who died as a consequence of the actions of the Avengers and more, but they won’t rest until they are satisfied with their missions and the chaos they cause. With more episodes of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier to come, there’s a lot more to learn about the Flag-Smashers and their plans, as well as the backstory of Karlie Morgenthau in the MCU.
