‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’ ​​is the program that MCU’s hearts have been waiting for

The premiere episode of The falcon and the winter soldier came off with a real bang, which should be a relief for anyone frustrated by the slow burning of WandaVision. There was an opening scene, strongly reminiscent of the opening of the second Cap film (you know, the one where Winter Soldier was introduced). There was a nice Bucky action, and even the new character Joaquin Torres had to apply his skills a bit. It’s enough to make you ask, ‘Why was it not the first Marvel Studios show on Disney + instead? WandaVision? ”

WandaVision it’s clearly the stranger, more experimental show, so it’s weird to be the first out of the gate, instead of something more traditional to get people used to seeing Marvel Studios on the small screen. Both programs are clearly an increase in the budget and star power of the previous MCU television, and they do a great job of feeling like real Marvel episodes instead of also-ransom. But it took WandaVision a while to get there, as it soared into sitcom conventions before finally resolving the big, splashy battle and drafting future releases.

What is the basic reason WandaVision was scheduled for early 2021: Before COVID-19, the next Doctor Strange movie was scheduled for May this year, and Wanda Maximoff was supposed to appear in it. That’s why there was so much noise about Strangers taking a turn WandaVision (which he ultimately did not do). Of course, Disney could have chosen to delay the series so that it would appear closer to next year, but that would create a hole in the streaming schedule. And remember: Disney + has to keep coming up with new content week after week to stop people from canceling their subscriptions.

But again, why not switch Falcon and Winter Soldier with WandaVision, and give the fans something more standard for the MCU before giving the unparalleled stuff? Why not push the latter show past Lokialso, so that the Marvel Studios programs are gradually becoming stranger?

The simple answer is that the filming for Falcon and the Winter Soldier was delayed and pushed the program back to its original lock in 2020. But there are also continuity issues at stake – WandaVision find only three weeks after the events of Avengers: Endgame, while Falcon and the Winter Soldier is clearly a much later environment, enough time for Sam and Bucky to go back to work (and therapy in the case of the latter). But at this point, we do not know how big the potential connection between the first three Marvel Studios shows will be. We do know that the two shows so far are at least post-Blip, and that has a big impact on how the characters function in each show.

In fact, it is the biggest appeal of Falcon and the Winter Soldier to many MCU fans: we can finally see what the world looks like Avengers: Endgame. The beginning of the movie showed us a universe through the loss of half its population, but we barely saw anything that happened after Tony Stark died. Spider-Man: Far from home played it mostly for laughs, with any dramatic gravitas reserved for how Peter felt he had to take over for Tony (and clean up Stark’s mess).

WandaVision gave us a few flashbacks – what it actually looked like when people reappeared – but we were mostly stuck in Westview and the fantasy world Wanda built. Falcon and the Winter Soldier takes us into the reality of a post-Blip world. Bucky is forgiven and he is working on his mental health, Sam reunites with his family and can not get a loan. It’s depressing everyday, but also very satisfying because we’ve spent so much time with these characters in this universe. We also care about the little things.

In this way Falcon and the Winter Soldier reminds me so much Star Trek: Picard. Sure, it was nice to see Jean-Luc again, but one of the things that got me excited for the show was that the Star Trek universe is finally moving forward in time again after being in prequels and recharging for 15 years. The wait has not been so long for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but the resolution of Endgame has left so many questions about the state of the world that I am so much more eager for the answers, and it seems like this new program is more than willing to answer them.