Warning! Spoiler ahead for Falcon and Winter Soldier #1
The Marvel Cinematic Universe shows no signs of slowing down, even after Avengers: Endgame. With all-new films, sequels, characters, teams, and threats, the MCU is ever-expanding. This also includes a brand new streaming series on Disney+. Fans of the MCU are incredibly excited for the new content coming to the streaming service, with The Falcon and The Winter Soldier serving as the first series to officially release this August. While fans desperately wait for the streaming series featuring Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes, Marvel comics are graciously provided them with an all-new Falcon and Winter Soldier comic series seeing the pair join forces ahead of time. However, if the first issue is any indication, things are going to be a lot harder for the two heroes than one might think.
In the MCU, Steve Rogers is now retired. After saving the universe from Thanos’ decimation, Rogers decides to return to his own time before being frozen for 80 years in order to live out the rest of his days in peace with the love of his life, Peggy Carter. However, he does make sure to find Sam Wilson and Bucky in his old age at the time just after he left them. He passes on the shield and mantle of Captain America to Sam, making sure he knows that Sam has his full blessing. The comics history, having had much more time to explore a variety of different stories and arcs, has already seen Sam take on the Captain America mantle, as well as Bucky before him. Both have had their time with the shield before the mantle inevitably returns back to Steve is some way, shape, or form. Now, this latest series from Derek Landy and Federico Vicentini sees both ex-Caps working together despite their differences in order to track down a missing person connected with potential terrorist groups.
In Falcon and Winter Soldier #1, Bucky Barnes gets attacked by a kill squad in his own home. After dealing with the squad, Bucky heads to the Office of Federal Utilities, a secret government office tasked with tracking down terrorist camps around the country. For his part in helping rid the country of Hydra, the government gave Bucky a conditional pardon for his activities as the brainwashed Winter Soldier, the condition being that he serves as the O.F.U.’s specialist, clearing out the terrorist cells once they’ve been found. This brings Bucky into the path of Sam Wilson, who’s looking into the O.F.U. in connection with a woman who went missing and was a part of Sam’s veteran support group. Together, they find a slaughter at the O.F.U., all the work of a lone but precise killer. After going to speak with Bucky’s handler who happened to not be in the office at the time of the massacre, they discover that they were followed by a teenage boy, who claims very casually that he killed all those people. Calling himself The Natural, the boy simultaneously tells Sam and Bucky how big a fan he is of both of them, all while kicking the crap out of them with just his bare hands.
It’s surprising to see how quickly Bucky and Sam get beat down by this kid. After all, they were both once Captain America. However, the kid claims to be a soldier of Hydra and that Hydra will soon be making a big return, so perhaps Hyrda still has some cards up their sleeves, The Natural being one of them. It’s also more than likely that Sam and Bucky’s differences in tactics had a lot to do with their losing the fight. Bucky was all ready to go with a gun and pistol in hand, ready to be the specialist assassin he was trained to be. However, Sam stops him, his more altruistic heart seeing just a kid who should be arrested. They were fighting against each other’s tactics while trying to stop the boy. One could imagine that this could be a dynamic seen in the upcoming Disney+ series as well. With any luck, fans will get to see Bucky and Sam coalesce a little bit better as Falcon and Winter Soldier continues.
Falcon and Winter Soldier is on comic book store shelves now.
