The Falcon And The Winter Soldier Trailer: Wolverine, X-Men, and Sharon Carter Stories Explained

The Falcon and The Winter Soldier is almost certainly going to set up ties to X-Men characters but it’s also going to bring in a lot of Captain America drama in the aftermath of Steve Rogers. A new trailer for The Falcon and The Winter Soldier dropped during the Super Bowl and this one has Sam-Bucky supremacy written all over it from the jump — like it literally starts with Sam jumping and Bucky being annoyed… bring on the couple’s counseling. Throughout its all too short look into what’s coming into the next Disney+ series from Marvel Studios, there aree plenty of Easter eggs, characters, and comic ties to take a closer look at.

Get a full breakdown with comic images and shots of the trailer in the video above!

The whole opening sequence of the trailer is a reference to Cap famously jumping out of a plane with no parachute, which we saw from him in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and I can’t help but feel like Bucky’s question of “What’s our plan?” is a reference to Iron Man saying, “I have a plan. Attack.” before he jumped out of a Quinjet in The Avengers. Then again, Avengers do love the theatrics.

The skyline we see is Madripoor, a location that Disney couldn’t use until they bought Fox and got all of the X-Men movie rights back. Madripoor is essentially a super corrupt city that exists literally on its own island in southeast Asia. It protects its criminals from being extradited and has strong ties to mutant characters, especially Wolverine, who — in comics — fought in Madripoor during World War II — interestingly enough, he teamed up with Cap there. Will any of that matter here? Maybe. WandaVision seems to have plenty of X-Men nods but it all might be wishful thinking because we’re all just eager to see Kevin Feige do his version of stories with mutants.

The villain is Baron Zemo, he’s getting his full on purple mask this time. I first saw him put that mask on when the show was officially announced at San Diego Comic-Con in 2019 but I don’t think that has made its way online yet — not legally anyway. He’s back to try to rid the world of super heroes after failing to do so in Civil War and he might end up on a Thunderbolts squad because he’s clearly leaning into the all too topical tactic of dividing people and with X-Men on the horizon, the Avengers all scattered, and whatever else is going on — he might be trying to drum up a little squad of his own, If it gets us Red Hulk in the MCU, I’m here for it.

There has been speculation that his purple mask in the MCU might be inspired by Thanos, which is probably nothing more than a fun idea, though.

Zemo’s little minions are Flag-Smashers, they seem to be a nod to the Flag-Smasher character from Marvel Comics, also known as Mark Gruenwald. If they follow his comic lead, the MCU Flag-Smashers will essentially be radicalized Captain America haters looking to create and incite chaos.

There is an interesting shot of a high ranking dress blues military uniform, this could be Don Cheadle’s War Machine. Cheadle did spill that he is in this show in a recent interview and his Rhodie is pretty decorated.

This might be a coincidence but a massive poster of Steve Rogers is on Sam’s left, referencing, well…you know. Sam seems to be mourning the shield that was given to him as if he has to give it up, which probably means they’re covering up Steve’s choice to live in the alternate timeline and not just saying, “Well, he got old and gave it to me.” The MCU thinks Steve Rogers is dead, and he might be after that opening sequence in Spider-Man: Far From Home put him in the same memorial video as Black Widow and Iron Man.

Sam throws the shield. Bucky catches it. In comics, both have been Captain America so there will probably be some toying around with that. A moment later, the tight shot of Falcon’s face while he’s flying seems like it could be the new equivalent of that Tony Stark shot inside of his helmet when he would talk while flying.

Sharon Carter, who was last seen in Captain America: Civil War, is finally back and she is a total bad-ass and she’s not only about to bail out Bucky and Sam but I also think she’s going to be a source of information. We saw on a t-shirt that she’s “WANTED” for breaking the Sokovia Accords, so she’s probably spending some time in Madripoor, maybe moving there during the blip if she wasn’t snapped, and getting to know the mean streets. Whatever Bucky and Sam are looking for, she probably has some answers.

US Agent trots onto a football field at some sort of big rally. This guy is pretty much going to be a government prop as a new Captain America symbol but his real name is John Walker and he has been a hero but he’s also been a villain and I can see both Sam wanting that shield from him and Baron Zemo wanting to use him to incite some sort of division.

At some point, Sam is getting that shield, because this shot of him with it is just awesome and I can’t wait for his whole suit to be Falcon-Captain America-d up. I don’t think he throws the shield at this explosion, I think Baron Zemo is behind that because he’s just hanging out at the bottom of the frame all too cool for it to be a surprise to him.

A woman in the Flag-Smashers, probably some high-ranking member and recurring character gets the best of Bucky, which might mean she is an enhanced individual, and Bucky falls off the side of a truck and you just can’t help but be reminded of how Bucky fell out of a train and off of a mountain in Captain America: The First Avenger. Given how manipulated his brain has been, you have to wonder if this causes PTSD.

The trailer ends on a cute couple’s counseling moment where they stare at each other kind of like how I’ve been staring at this trailer.

What Easter eggs and references did you catch in the new trailer for The Falcon and The Winter Soldier? Drop them in the comments or send them my way on Instagram. For more updates, subscribe to our Phase Zero podcast, we cover all things MCU with new episodes every Friday on all major podcast platforms.