Falcon and Winter Soldier Head Writer Defends Finale's Controversial Sharon Carter Reveal

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier head writer Malcolm Spellman says it was a "natural trajectory" for a returning Marvel character to reveal themselves as the Power Broker. Series spoilers for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. The season finale, "One World, One People," sees an armed confrontation between Karli Morgenthau (Erin Kellyman), the leader of the Flag Smashers powered by a recreated Super Soldier Serum, and Sharon Carter (Emily VanCamp), a S.H.I.E.L.D. spy-turned-CIA Agent-turned fugitive on the run for aiding the Sokovia Accords-defying Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) and Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) during the events of Captain America: Civil War.

The private conversation between Karli and Sharon confirms the former Agent 13 is the Power Broker who funded Dr. Wilfred Nagel's (Olli Haaskivi) recreated Super Soldier Serum powering the Flag Smashers as well as John Walker (Wyatt Russell), briefly the government-approved new Captain America.

A post-credits scene reveals Sharon — since pardoned by the United States for helping Sam and Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) rescue members of the Global Repatriation Council taken hostage by the Flag Smashers — is still in business as the Power Broker with full access to government secrets and prototype weapons soon for sale.

"All people have to do is be honest about what they think Sharon's been going through since Civil War, you know what I'm saying?" Spellman told UNILAD about mixed reaction to the finale's reveal. "No one else would take her in, she'd been disavowed, on the run, forced to hustle, right? It was a natural trajectory. Now, that said, Sharon's journey isn't over, and who knows where she's going to end up or why she's doing what she's doing?"

Some viewers were so dissatisfied with the reveal that they began to suspect Falcon and Winter Soldier's Sharon is a shape-shifting Skrull who will return in Secret Invasion, explaining Sharon's rise to power as the "king" of the lawless land of Madripoor.

"I thought it was great. I mean, look, they really went there. We just turned Sharon on her head," VanCamp told Collider about the reveal. "I mean, she's a totally different person, totally different character, and I just loved that. It felt like, again, it was fulfilling that thing that I felt like we never really completed with Sharon in terms of the films. And so it was just very cool."

All episodes of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier are now streaming on Disney+.

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