The Falcon and the Winter Soldier: Georges St-Pierre Confirms MCU Return

MMA fighting superstar Georges St-Pierre has confirmed his return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier series for Disney+. St-Pierre became a staple of Captain America's MCU solo franchise when he appeared in the opening act of Captain America: The Winter Soldier as the live-action version of Marvel Comics villain, Batroc The Leaper. News of Batroc's return in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier first leaked when set photos of Georges St-Pierre (along with Emily VanCamp's Sharon Carter) appeared online last fall. However, now that The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is about to stream on Disney+, George St-Pierre seems free to make his MCU return official.

When it comes to The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Georges St-Pierre claims that "No one is more excited than I am to come back. I feel very blessed and happy. It was a great learning experience."

Apparently, the MMA icon has been looking toward the future, and a time where his body will no longer be suitable for punching and kicking - and taking such beatings. After his debut in The Winter Soldier, St-Pierre has apparently been giving acting a whole lot more consideration:

"I started taking it more seriously, and now I'm having acting class every week. Theater, camera acting, audition coaching and English lessons," says St-Pierre. "It's a lot of work, and I put in the same amount of work and passion that I used for training. In martial arts, you start at white belt. That's where I have to start with acting. I have to climb the mountain again."

The MCU version of Georges Batroc is an elite French mercenary/pirate/assassin, thanks to his acrobatic and fight skills. After facing (and getting thrashed by) Steve Rogers/Captain America during a HYDRA hostage crisis on a SHIELD freighter (the Lemurian Star), Batroc was arrested and taken into SHIELD custody. Obviously, a decade of time and the world-altering events of The Snap and The Blip have created a whole new era of crime, terrorism, and peacekeeping in the MCU - a power shift that The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is expected to explore in-depth. It's only fitting that one of the biggest players in Marvel's espionage world return for the showdown between one of the world's most famed assassins (The Winter Soldier) a global criminal mastermind (Zemo) and all the new players making their way to the battlefield (US Agent, The Flash Smashers)

The Falcon and The Winter Soldier will stream on Disney+ starting on Friday, March 19th.