The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Writer Malcolm Spellman Says That Final Title Reveal Wrecked Him

In the closing moments of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Marvel Studios opted to rebrand the entire show. Twice during the finale's closing credits, the episode featured a new title card calling the series Captain America and the Winter Soldier, a name handed down by the powers behind the curtain at the studio. When Falcon and Winter Soldier showrunner Malcolm Spellman found out what Kevin Feige and his team planned on doing, the writer says the title card "wrecked" him.

Speaking with Inverse, Spellman says he wasn't aware of the title card change until he was watching one of the cuts of the finale. Neither he nor his writing staff wrote the moment into the script, so it was especially impactful when the crew began to find out.

"I'll be honest: I discovered that title change when I was watching a cut of the episode, and it wrecked me," Spellman tells the website. "I haven't spoken to Marvel about whether they considered changing Bucky's name too, but my gut tells me the reason it still says 'and the Winter Soldier' is simply because they wanted to play with the poetry of a title you've been hearing. If they had changed too much it maybe wouldn't have felt the same, but I truly don't know what discussion went into it. I just know it landed heavy with me."

The writer also spoke with ComicBook.com's Brandon Davis, where he admitted despite that same title card calling Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) the Winter Soldier, he was longer his former murderous self.

"I hope people will forget that end title card as being an indicator of a commitment from Marvel," Spellman told us in an exclusive interview. "I think he has slayed that dragon, personally, and I don't think I'll be in trouble for that. So when Bucky enters the series, he's never ever shaken what he believes, which is, 'I remember everyone, murders, which means that part of me was there, which means a part of the Winter Soldier is me.' And if even a fraction of Winter Soldier is you, you are an awful person. You know what I'm saying?"

Watch The Falcon and the Winter Soldier on Disney+.

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