Despite the Coronavirus pandemic wreaking havoc on the entire entertainment industry, as well as causing Marvel Studios to delay the release dates of their entire slate of big screen Phase Four projects, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is still tentatively scheduled to hit Disney Plus in August.
The MCU’s first streaming exclusive was forced to halt production back in March as the world went into a virtual state of lockdown, but there must have been enough footage in the can for Marvel to remain confident that the spinoff show can still be finished in the next two months, and with many European countries poised to relax the restrictions imposed on film and TV crews, presumably The Falcon and the Winter Soldier will be one of the first major projects to resume operations.
While we haven’t seen much in the way of official footage yet, or even heard a concrete synopsis of the plot, from what we’ve seen so far it appears as though there are certain high-ranking people that don’t want Sam Wilson to inherit the iconic mantle of Captain America despite being handed the shield by Steve Rogers at the end of Avengers: Endgame, with Wyatt Russell’s John Walker clearly the preferred candidate.
Anthony Mackie has frequently talked about how important playing the new Cap is to him, but we’ve now heard from our sources – the same ones who told us Now You See Me 3 is in development and the Inhumans are being rebooted, both of which were correct – that the actor will have to wait until the second season to really dive into the part. And that’s because according to our intel, the first season of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier will find Sam ready to go as the new Captain America, but we won’t actually see him “fully take on the role” until the second run.
Marvel Studios have always been known for playing the long game when it comes to their heroes, so it doesn’t seem surprising that they’d hold off a little longer on the show’s big reveal. And besides, the series isn’t called Captain America and the Winter Soldier. As such, it makes sense not to dive into the transition right away. That being said, we can’t wait for it to finally happen.