Chris Evans may have gracefully bowed out as Captain America at the end of Avengers: Endgame, with Steve Rogers finally getting his dance with Peggy Carter to close out the Infinity Saga. However, that doesn’t mean that we’ve reached the end of the line for the character, with Sam Wilson set to be his successor having been bestowed the iconic shield by his close friend.
Given that the title of the upcoming Disney Plus series is The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and not Captain America and the Winter Soldier, we won’t likely see Anthony Mackie in his full star-spangled getup until the end of the first season, with one of the major story threads reportedly the government’s reluctance to embrace Sam as the new Cap and set photos confirming that Wyatt Russell’s John Walker is their preferred candidate.
As comic book fans are aware of though, both the Falcon and the Winter Solider assumed the mantle of Captain America at some stage, and many were holding out hope that Sebastian Stan’s Bucky would be next in line given how closely his and Steve’s story arcs were linked during their time as part of the MCU. But during a recent Endgame watch party, writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely admitted that while it was definitely under consideration at one stage, they ultimately went with Sam and gave a fitting explanation on why.
Considered, but quickly dropped. Captain America is about the idealism, what we could be if we were better. Sam is that. Bucky is something else entirely. -CM #AvengersAssemble #QuarantineWatchParty https://t.co/3Z90XnLHva
— ComicBook.com (@ComicBook) April 28, 2020
Having been seemingly killed, before being resurrected and then brainwashed into a hired assassin that shows little empathy or remorse, you can fully understand why it didn’t make sense within the MCU’s established canon to have Bucky inherit the role of Captain America. While he’s spent the last few movies trying to atone for his sins, Sam has always been an all-round good guy and doesn’t have the kind of baggage from his past that constantly troubles his new running buddy, making him the logical choice to take the shield in Avengers: Endgame.
