The Falcon and The Winter Soldier Episode 3 Is A Perfect Sequel to Captain America: Civil War

Full spoilers for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier below! The latest episode of Marvel's Disney+ series delivered on a few different things fans have been anticipating after seeing them in the many trailers for the show, namely the return of Emily VanCamp as Sharon Carter and Daniel Brühl as Baron Zemo to the story. With these two characters now back in the fold, the series has almost turned into a direct sequel to Captain America: Civil War, and for some of these characters its the first we've seen of them since that movie five years ago, not to mention a last minute surprise.

Let's start with Zemo, previously seen locked up at the end of Civil War and presumably there ever since as the character makes a reference to having been locked up the entire time when Bucky speaks to him (we've got no indication one way or the other if he was blipped or not). In the end though Bucky helps Zemo escape and they enlist him into their aid. After this we get a chance to see sides of the character that there weren't time for in Civil War, like his vast resources (his family's royalty after all as he says) and even some hints about his other work for HYDRA beyond their work with the Winter Soldier program. These moments perhaps feel like breadcrumbs being laid for a future story but also tie in directly to the character from Civil War too.

Last we saw Sharon in the MCU she was sharing an awkward kiss with Steve Rogers, having stolen he and Sam's gear for them ahead of their big splash page brawl with "Team Iron Man." Since then she's apparently been hiding out in the lawless city of Madripoor. As she says to Sam, she didn't have The Avengers to fall back on after she broke the law. Once again no indication if she was blipped or not, but she apparently has a lucrative industry in black market art dealing. Sharon will seemingly continue to appear in the episode as she leaves things with Sam expecting a US pardon for what she did previously.

Another major way that this episode picked up from Civil War is, well explicitly referencing things that happened in it. As Bucky opens up about his plot to bust Zemo out of jail, Sam reminds him that Zemo's plan in Civil War ended up with him as the main suspect in the death of Wakanda's King T'Chaka. He also reminds him that the Wakandans didn't forget about that, and boy was he right, as the episode concludes with none other than Florence Kasumba appearing as Dora Milaje member Ayo, demanding that Bucky take her to the villain.

Ahead of its premiere most fans assumed that The Falcon and the Winter Soldier would be mostly picking up the pieces from Avengers: Endgame, and they're not wrong. The focus is both a new story and the so called "battle for the shield" but as this week's episode proved, Marvel Studios is still paying off threads they started over five years ago.

Watch The Falcon and the Winter Soldier on Disney+.

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