Legacy of the Shield - The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, Reviewed

(Spoiler-free or your money cheerfully refunded!)

Marvel's The Falcon and The Winter Soldier wrapped up its six-episode run last night, and it is another solid entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe canon.

While Kevin Feige and company could have taken an easy base hit and given us six hours of rock 'em, sock 'em action, they instead swung for the fences and supplemented the mandated fisticuffs and action setpieces with dynamic characters as well as poignant insights into race, globalization, and the treatment of veterans.

My favourite element though, is how tightly FAWS ties itself into the lore of the Marvel movies that have preceded it - this series probably has more connective tissue to the MCU than any other film that has gone before it, with the possible exception of Avengers: Endgame.

While a newcomer to this mythology could probably catch themselves pretty quickly, it helps to know that Bucky Barnes (The Winter Soldier, played by Sebastian Stan) is still coming to grips with his actions as a brainwashed Hydra assassin, while Sam Wilson (The Falcon, played by Anthony Mackie) is wrestling with what it means for a black man to carry Captain America's shield. By the end of the first episode, Sam has given the shield to the Smithsonian only to see it removed and given to anew Captain America, and he and Bucky find themselves at odds with a group of post-nationalists calling themselves the Flag-Smashers. This group and their leader Karli Morgenthau (Erin Kellyman) want to keep borders dissolved like they were before half the world's population returned at the finale of Endgame.

I won't lie, I felt like Anthony Mackie brings a smidgen too much sass and swagger to play a convincing Falcon, let alone heir apparent to one of the most iconic symbols in the Marvel Universe. In truth, he brings a tremendous balance of humor, pathos and compassion, harkening back to when we first met him as a veteran's counsellor in the second Captain America movie. In addition to superhero existential issues though, we also see him struggle with saving his family legacy and business, and dealing with discriminatory lending practices. (And I really wish they had dug a little deeper into the infamous bank scene, which dares to ask the questions we all have about just who pays the rent for these superheroes?)

Sebastian Stan continues to bring his own blend of smart-assery and brooding to his troubled character. He makes tremendous uses of silence and pauses, but his banter is elevated through his chemistry with Mackie. One of his best scenes has him simply reacting to the sound of someone reading the Russian words that activated him as the Winter Soldier in that film, with almost no dialogue on his part.

The two major themes explored in FAWS are legacy and consequences. It would have been easy to say that after the undoing of Thanos' snap in Endgame that everything returned to normal pretty much immediately (or at least off-camera), this series establishes that a multinational entity called the Global Repatriation Commission is trying to return things to a status quo, but not in a way that meets everyone's liking. This makes empowered freedom fighter/terrorist Karli and her Flag Smashers far more sympathetic than any traditional comic baddies like Hydra or AIM.

Likewise, Sam's feelings about the shield become even more convoluted when he is introduced to Isaiah Bradley, a black man who received an experimental super-soldier serum before Steve Rogers. This nod to the groundbreaking comic series "The Truth: Red, White & Black" is a fantastic testimonial to the way that funny books can tackle serious topics.

But for those of us who love the source material for all its other reasons, there is a lot to like in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. The return of Sharon Carter, references to Bucky's recovery in Wakanda, a great portrayal of John Walker (who has been both Captain America and USAgent in the comics) by Wyatt Rusell (Kurt's boy!), and best of all, the reintroduction of Daniel Bruhl as Baron Zemo in a brilliantly updated version of one of the silliest costumes in comics.

In comics though, writers and artists come and go, and there is a tendency to return to the status quo at the end of their run. FAWS leans heavily into change - maybe they have no choice, given the events in the MCU they are following on from... - but despite having wrapped up this story as comprehensively as they have, showrunners Kari Skogland and Malcolm Spellman have set the stage for a number of great follow-up tales in the MCU. I can't wait to see what's next!