The Falcon and the Winter Soldier: How Do Sam and Bucky End Up With the Shield Again?

We’re now two episodes into The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and neither of the show’s eponymous duo has possession of Captain America’s (Chris Evans) iconic shield. The vibranium-built shield was gifted to Falcon (Anthony Mackie) at the end of Avengers: Endgame, before he gave it away to the Smithsonian at the beginning of the Disney+ series. Now that there’s a new Captain America (Wyatt Russell) in our midst using the former Avengers’ shield, how do Falcon and Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) manage to get it back?

The easiest way — or most clear-cut process when it comes to theorizing, at least — would be that they simply take it back from Russell’s John Walker. We’ve seen both Sam Wilson and Barnes toss the shield around in the show’s marketing in scenes we’ve yet to get in the show, so we know for a fact the shield comes back into their possession.

Admittedly, Walker’s all but guaranteed to not willingly give up possession of the item, especially after the show dove into his backstory in “The Star-Spangled Man.” Because of that, perhaps there’s another shield out there that Sam and Bucky use — one belonging to a character we were just introduced to.

The latest episode also introduced Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly) a super-soldier that was also used by the American government around the time of the Korean War. Perhaps Bradley still has a shield from his wartime efforts and eventually gifts it to Falcon later in the series. We know Marvel has crafted special shots for trailers before, so it’s possible the shield we’ve seen Sam and Bucky tossing around isn’t Captain America’s shield, but another one used by Bradley.

Watch The Falcon and the Winter Soldier on Disney+.

What have you thought of the two episodes of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier so far? Let us know your thoughts either in the comments section or by hitting our writer @AdamBarnhardt up on Twitter to chat all things MCU!

Note: If you purchase one of the awesome, independently chosen products featured here, we may earn a small commission from the retailer. Thank you for your support.