Set to deliver the long-awaited returns of title characters Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes, as well as S.H.I.E.L.D.-agent-turned-CIA-operative Sharon Carter and former EKO Scorpion commander Helmut Zemo, and introducing government-sanctioned Captain America successor John Walker and possibly even early World War II Project Rebirth test subject Isaiah Bradley, the Disney+ streaming series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is quickly positioning itself as one of the most anticipated projects in the near-future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Ever since the Walt Disney Company finalized its acquisition of 20th Century Fox in March of 2019 and thereby returned the film rights to the X-Men back to Marvel Studios, fans have aggressively wondered exactly how mutants will be integrated into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While the answer to that still remains a bit unclear, we’re hearing today that The Falcon and the Winter Soldier will feature not only the first live-action appearance of another new face from the comics, but of an entirely new breed of characters altogether.
We already know that Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, set to debut on February 12th, 2021, will feature the franchise’s first big screen appearance of mutantkind with a cameo by Betsy Braddock, aka Psylocke, but we’re also being told today that the very first appearance of the Homo superior subspecies in the MCU will occur on the small screen in the form of Arkady Rossovich, who’ll debut in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. At least, that’s according to sources close to WGTC, the same ones who told us John Cena is playing Vin Diesel’s brother in Fast & Furious 9Â and a Ms. Marvel show was coming to Disney Plus, both of which are now confirmed.
Also known by the codename of Omega Red, the Russian mutant was created by John Byrne and Jim Lee in the fourth issue of the second volume of X-Men in January of 1992. Like Red Guardian, he was a subject of the Soviet version of the Super-Soldier Program, being implanted with cybernetic enhancements and a synthetic version of adamantium known as carbonadium. Though few specifics are known at this point, it seems that the character will be part of an antagonistic squad that Wilson and Barnes encounter while traveling to the Principality of Madripoor in Southeast Asia.
Omega Red also endured training in the Red Room and served as an agent of both the Black Widow Ops program and the KGB, meaning that the forthcoming Black Widow movie may actually lay pieces of the groundwork, even subtly, for Rossovich’s eventual introduction.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is filming now under the working title of Tag Team (“back again”) for its upcoming release in August of this year, while Black Widow premieres on May 1st.
