*WARNING: This article contains spoilers for Avengers: Endgame* 

Marvel Studios’ original series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier will begin streaming on Disney+ on March 19th. As the name states, the series will follow Sam Wilson (the Falcon), and Bucky Barnes (The Winter Soldier). Sam and Bucky are best friends of Captain America and are left to their own devices after their mutual friend goes back to the 40s to live with Peggy Carter, the love of his life at the end of Avengers: Endgame. The first trailer for this show came out on January 10th 2021, as mentioned in my article A Breakdown of Everything Marvel Revealed At Disney’s Investors Day 2021. The second trailer came out during the 2021 Super Bowl Halftime Show on February 7th 2021.

The February 7th trailer begins with Sam and Bucky sitting at a table opposite a woman who appears to be interrogating them. Then, we find out that the woman is asking the question, “Mr. Barnes, why does Sam aggravate you?,” and that they are in some sort of group therapy. We then cut to a scene incredibly reminiscent of the scene in The Avengers where Tony and Steve are trying to capture Loki. In this Avengers scene, Captain America says “We need a plan of attack” and Tony Stark responds with, “I have a plan, attack,” right before he flies out the window of the quinjet. In the trailer version of the Avengers scene, Bucky asks Sam what their plan is, and Sam responds by jumping out their plane door. Following this sequence, a neon version of the Marvel Studios logo is displayed on a Captain America shield background. Ominous music begins to play.  A voiceover that sounds like the voice of series villain Baron Zemo plays over a shot of a city skyline at night. “Super Heroes,” Zemo declares, “should not be allowed to exist.” We see a shot of Zemo standing in front of a memorial, likely related to Sokovia, knowing his past. Zemo then walks down a bridge of some sort, with the ominous phrase “I have no intention of leaving my work unfinished” playing in the background. We see Zemo holding a purple ridged mask in his right hand that looks incredibly similar to his outfit from the comics. It is still unclear how Baron Zemo got to where he will be at the start of this series. Last time we saw him was 2016 at the end of Captain America: Civil War when he was locked in a high-security prison after almost causing Tony Stark to kill Steve Rogers and Bucky. The way Zemo escaped may or may not be explained in this series. It could simply be that he was released from prison after serving his sentence, or it could to do with the blip. It’s likely that whatever led to Zemo’s prison departure will be revealed very early on in the series as it will be important for the overall storyline. 

Next, we see the same unidentified figures we saw in the first trailer, all part of a group wearing teal masks with a blood-red handprint across the front. Sam proceeds to tell Bucky he does have a plan and Bucky responds with “well what is it?!” This seems to be a perfectly normal interaction until we hear Sam call Bucky “Buck”. This is Bucky’s special nickname given to him by Steve, his life-long best friend. No one else aside from Steve calls him Buck. This shows that there is a certain level of trust and friendship that will grow between the two men over the course of this series. There would have to be in order for Bucky to expand Steve’s special nickname and allow someone else to use it.  

Nicknames are often used to show character growth in the MCU. Natasha Romanoff (Black Widow) is only ever called Natasha at the beginning of the MCU. Only her best friend Clint Barton calls her “Nat” or “Tasha” during 2012’s The Avengers. Even by 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Steve Rogers (who Natasha becomes very close with) doesn’t use any of her nicknames. Steve prefers to call Natasha “Romanoff,” while she refers to him as “Rogers” or Steve. In Avengers: Age of Ultron in 2015, even Natasha’s lover Bruce Banner isn’t given nick-naming privileges. But, by 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, almost all on-screen characters call her “Nat.” This little detail is used to show not only how Natasha has relaxed from the uptight and secretive person she used to be, but it also shows the bond that has formed between her and her fellow Avengers since 2012. This may be the same route the screenwriters are going with Bucky in this series.

The next big occurrence in trailer two is the appearance of Sharon Carter, Peggy Carter’s great-niece and the former lover of Steve Rogers. Similar to Zemo, the last time we saw Sharon was in Captain America: Civil War. In Captain America: Civil War Sharon helped Steve find Bucky and used her job with the CIA to get team Cap their gear in time for the famous airport battle against team Iron Man. It is unclear what Sharon’s role will be in the Falcon and the Winter Soldier series although in the trailer we do see her training a gun at Bucky and Sam before realizing who they are. She also takes down three unknown adversaries with what appears to be a knife, showing that she may be on Sam and Bucky’s side. 

The next shot in trailer number two is of a football field with cheerleaders that form the shape of a star. A man in a version of the Captain America suit runs out onto the field, high-fiving a potential player or cheerleader. This man is rumored to be John Walker or U.S. Agent. In the comics, John Walker is a government employee who is appointed Captain America after Steve Rogers retires. There are some outdated storylines in those comics so it is likely that Marvel will change up Walker’s backstory for this series. The main theory is that Walker will be appointed as the new Captain America by the government, against the will of Steve’s personal appointee Sam. This makes sense since the logo on the football field and on the back of Walker’s suit is not one that we’ve seen before, yet it still resembles the style of one that Cap might have used. 

The next few seconds of the trailer are a montage of Bucky and Sam kicking, punching, and shooting at people as well as a shot of them running away from an explosion in the middle of a city. Then we see a fight happening on top of two identical 16-wheeler trucks. During the fight, Bucky is thrown off of one of the trucks, just barely saving himself by using his metal arm to hold onto the side of the truck. Sam laughs at Bucky and taunts, “That little girl kicked your *ss” before coming to Bucky’s rescue. 

The last shot of the trailer is Sam and Bucky sitting face to face at the same table we saw at the beginning of the trailer. The woman who seems to be their therapist remarks,“that wasn’t so hard” which leads Sam and Bucky to lock eyes in an intense staring contest while the woman expresses her confusion. She eventually breaks it up as she says, “Sweet Jesus, I mean how old are you?” 

From the two trailers we have seen so far, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier promises to be a fun, action-packed, buddy-cop style show with the budget and quality of a movie. It’s definitely something you should look out for on Disney+ come March 19th!

Watch the first The Falcon and the Winter Soldier trailer here.

Watch the second The Falcon and the Winter Soldier here.