'The Falcon and The Winter Soldier' Is Bringing Some Major Marvel Characters Back

From Men's Health

• The Falcon and The Winter Soldier will be the next Disney+ original MCU series—debuting on March 19, two weeks after the conclusion of WandaVision.

• Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan will reprise their roles as the Falcon and the Winter Soldier, respectively.

• Here's what else to know about the series.

It's been a long time coming, but The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is finally almost here. The series, which will begin its Disney+ run on March 19, was originally planned for release at some point in 2020 before COVID had its way. But production is complete, and a brand new official trailer released during Super Bowl LV gave fans their first look since Avengers: Endgame at Sam Wilson/Falcon (Anthony Mackie) and Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan).

Of course, the movie concluded with Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) passing his Captain America shield down to Sam, and the series looks to pick up immediately with that decision. The trailer shows the two going back and forth with their Odd Couple-style chemistry (first demonstrated in Captain America: Civil War), complete with some action shots, Cap's shield shots, and a few glimpses of returning villain Helmut Zemo and returning ally Sharon Carter.

The official trailer comes a couple months after an exclusive clip, revealed as part of the Marvel portion of Disney's massive Investor's Day announcements, showed the two leads dealing with Cap's decision, and their surrounding universe as well.

It's all very exciting. Also exciting? The show's $150 million budget. Mackie even previously told Variety that the show is being shot just like a Marvel movie: "Everybody who had worked on TV before was like, 'I’ve never worked on a TV show like this.' The way in which we were shooting, it feels exactly like we were shooting the movie cut up into the show. So instead of a two-hour movie, a six or eight-hour movie."

Disney+ is one of the most exciting TV and movie ventures to hit the internet in a while, especially for Marvel fans. Not only does the subscription service offer access to work from Marvel Studios, but it will premiere new, original content that continues to follow characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, including The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

Mackie and Stan have appeared together in previous films like Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, and Avengers: Infinity War. While the characters have previously clashed as Steve Rogers/Captain America's best friends, the duo are friendly now—both on- and off-screen.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Here's everything we know about The Falcon and The Winter Soldier so far.

Is there a trailer for The Falcon and The Winter Soldier yet?

There sure is. Debuting during Super Bowl LV, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier's official trailer gave us a great taste of what to expect. Namely: Mackie and Stan showcasing their on-screen chemistry and bouncing off each other just as much as they'll probably bounce off of bad guys in the show.

Uh, yeah. It's not officially being called a trailer—which probably means we'll get more footage before the show debuts—but the Disney+ "exclusive clip" most certainly functions as a trailer. Within that clip, we see, well, basically what we have all been expecting: some great banter between Bucky and Sam, and some even better action. Glimpses of the villains, new heroes, new characters, make this look like an exciting ride. While WandaVision seems to be experimenting a little bit with its genre and format, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier basically just looks like a new Captain America movie formatted for television.

Baron Helmut Zemo appears to be the show's main villain.

The new trailer also gives us a first glimpse at the return of Zemo (Daniel Brühl), who's back trying to get rid of anyone Avenger-adjacent again following his attempt in Civil War. As you may recall, Zemo was responsible for the bombing during the signing of the Sokovia Accords that led to the death of T'Chaka (Father of Black Panther/T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman)); he used advanced technology to frame Winter Soldier/Bucky for the murder. The last we saw of Zemo found Black Panther preventing him from killing himself; clearly, a few years later, he's found a way to escape.

"Superheroes cannot be allowed to exist," he says in a quite chilling manner in the trailer. "I have no intention to leave my work unfinished."

He's also seen holding a purple mask in his hand, similar to one worn by the character in the Marvel comics.

Sharon Carter will also return.

The trailer makes it seem like Bucky and Sam's old friend Sharon Carter (Emily VanCamp) will have somewhat of an adversarial relationship with our heroes, as they're seen apparently fighting one another (while Sharon is hooded) in the trailer. This probably won't last, but this could tell us that for one reason or another, Falcon and the Winter Soldier are considered fugitives. It's also possible that Sharon herself is a fugitive; while we haven't seen her since Civil War, she was marked as someone who was dusted after Thanos' snap in Endgame. She could have gone vigilante upon her return. Never know.

Sharon first appeared as Captain America's neighbor (and love interest) in Captain America: The Winter Soldier and is also the great niece of S.H.I.E.L.D. founder (and fellow Captain America love interest) Peggy Carter.

The Falcon and The Winter Soldier will premiere on March 19, 2021.

After a bunch of delays (mostly due to the COVID-19 pandemic), The Falcon and The Winter Soldier finally knows when it will land. With the exclusive clip release during the Disney Investor's presentation, we also got a fairly important nugget of information: the release date. The Falcon and The Winter Soldier will officially debut on Disney+ on March 19, 2021. Assuming the show follows suit from WandaVision and The Mandalorian before it, we'd guess that episodes will release on a weekly basis on Fridays.

This wasn't always the plan. In July 2019, Marvel chief Kevin Feige announced at San Diego Comic Con that The Falcon and The Winter Soldier will premiere on Disney+ in "fall 2020," with Kari Skogland (The Handmaid's Tale) signed on to direct, according to Deadline. Some outlets have reported that the show will be a limited series or a miniseries, but Disney and Marvel haven't confirmed that.

Filming for the series started in November, but production was forced to cancel a shoot after two earthquakes struck Puerto Rico in early January, as the show had been set to start location filming on the island.

Filming for The Falcon and The Winter Soldier started in Prague in March, but production has been halted due to the coronavirus crisis. In early July, it was confirmed that the series would continue filming in the fall, with Pavlina Zipkova, head of the Czech Republic's Film Commission explaining the new standards to The Hollywood Reporter. However, Disney execs announced that the series is officially delayed later that same month, and it's unclear if filming will actually resume in the fall. A new release date for the show hasn't been announced yet, but it's likely that it'll premiere in early to mid-2021.

There have also been a number of photos of Mackie and Stan on set, including photos Stan has shared himself.

Fans have been particularly excited about Bucky's new look:

The series will pick up after Avengers: Endgame.

Mackie and Stan appeared alongside Feige at Comic Con, and while the three were mostly joking around with the audience, they were clear that the show will follow Sam and Bucky in the aftermath of Endgame, where we said goodbye to Cap, but not before he officially handed off his shield to Sam. (Bucky totally knew, it's fine.)

A recent set photo re-confirmed that the new series will take place post-blip, a.k.a the moment when everyone who disappeared after Thanos' infamous snap came back to life. The picture features a poster by a company called Samson Development, and they promise to help with "rebuilding after the blip."

The Falcon and The Winter Soldier cast will include new and old Marvel characters.

We knew fairly early on that not only would the show's titular characters be back, but Deadline reported Zemo and Sharon Carter would also be returning as well.

One new character we can expect to see in The Falcon and Winter Soldier is John Walker/U.S. Agent, played by Wyatt Russell; we haven't gotten a glimpse of him in any trailers just yet, but Russell (son of Kurt and Goldie) is a major upcoming actor and should be a very interesting piece of the MCU puzzle.

Brühl seems excited to play Zemo again.

The Inglorious Basterds star took to Instagram in July 2019 to share the first glimpse of his character's return (and fans were quick to note how cool he looks in set photos), including the first photo of Zemo with a mask we've seen his character wear in the Marvel comics.

"'Longing, Rusted, Seventeen, Daybreak, Furnace, Nine, Benign, Homecoming, One, Freight Car.' Zemo is getting ready #SDCC@comic_con @marvel @marvelstudios," Brühl wrote in his post.

The words the actor quotes in his Instagram post are the ones that activate Bucky's Winter Soldier programming. But in an early poster for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Bucky is clean-shaven with short hair, which might suggest the brainwashed soldier under HYDRA's spell is finally gone.

There was some additional footage shown during a private Disney Shareholders meeting this past week, and ComicBook.com reported that the new trailer mostly focused on Zemo:

"The Falcon and The Winter Soldier footage opens with Bucky (Sebastian Stan) visiting Zemo (Daniel Brühl) in an elaborate prison. Zemo tries to activate Bucky's Winter Soldier programming, which of course no longer works. Bucky reveals that he has come to see Zemo because someone has restarted the Super Soldier program."

Brühl shared another post to his Instagram following the release of the new trailer, quoting his character's line.

Between Brühl as Zemo and, uh, the potential WandaVision bad guy, the Disney+ era of MCU villains is looking pretty solid.

And some fans think we might see another Bucky.

This has not been confirmed, but some of the set photos may hint at the introduction of Battlestar, aka Lemar Hoskins, who took over as Bucky in the comics, according to CBR: "Battlestar made his debut in Captain America #323 in November 1986. He got his powers from the same experiments as John Walker, aka U.S. Agent...In the comics, while Walker wore the mantle of Captain America, Hoskins took over the title of Bucky. However, he eventually changed it to Battlestar. He has fought alongside Steve Rogers and Falcon."

You Might Also Like

• This Workout Torches Fat in Under 10 Minutes

• How to Cool Down After Your Hardest Workouts

• What’s the Deal With Intermittent Fasting for Weight Loss?