How One Little Falcon and the Winter Soldier Line Could Set Up the MCU's Heroes for Hire

Imagine saving the world only to come home and realize you didn't even get a penny for doing so. That's apparently the case within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as a line from Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) in the series premiere of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier seemed to indicate Earth's Mightiest Heroes don't get any take-home pay. As The Falcon himself put it, the heroes operated largely on good faith in hopes of saving the world one time after another. Unfortunately for those heroes involved, good faith doesn't necessarily pay your mortgage or your insurance premiums — and that single line alone could have pretty hefty ramifications on the MCU moving forward.

Enter, the Heroes for Hire.

The MCU is full of powered beings, the past 20-some movies over the course of a decade-plus have taught us that much. If the cinematic world's flagship group isn't walking away with some extra cash, you can bet some powered being somewhere is. That's why Wilson's single little salary line could actually introduce a whole new concept and idea to the MCU proper — and maybe, just maybe, that means we'll soon see the live-action return of Luke Cage and Danny Rand.

Between WandaVision and just one episode of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, we've gotten a pretty good look at just how damaged of a world Earth became after Thanos' snap in Avengers: Infinity War. With half of all life gone in the blink of an eye, it stands to reason drastic times required drastic measures, right?

Though we've yet to see exactly just how bad The Snap hurt everyday life, it stands to reason the five years between The Snap and The Blip saw some sort of increase in crime, with fewer heroes to protect the masses. Because of that, perhaps there was a rise in vigilantism as well, a renaissance of street-level heroes rising to the occasion to do what they could since the remaining Avengers were swamped dealing with galaxy-level threats and problems.

Now that everyone's back in the present timeline, perhaps those vigilantes and street-level heroes are hoping to finally cash in, only they can't by joining the Avengers. When that fails, maybe they all get together and form Heroes for Hire, Inc.

The first episode of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is now streaming on Disney+.

What did you think of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier premiere? Let us know your thoughts either in the comments section or by hitting our writer @AdamBarnhardt up on Twitter to chat all things MCU!

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