The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Fans Suspect Sharon Carter Is the Power Broker

Who is the mysterious Power Broker? Spoilers for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Episode 3, "The Power Broker." When Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) and Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) partner with Baron Helmut Zemo (Daniel Brühl) to track down the supplier of the new Super Soldier Serum empowering Karli Morgenthau (Erin Kellyman) and the Flag Smashers, their search brings them to HYDRA and then CIA recruit Dr. Wilfred Nagel (Olli Haaskivi) in the lawless land of Madripoor. It's there that Sam and Bucky reunite with wanted fugitive Sharon Carter (Emily VanCamp), an ex-S.H.I.E.L.D. and CIA Agent who has been living off the grid ever since she stole Falcon's wings and the shield of Captain America (Chris Evans) in 2016's Captain America: Civil War.

The trio knows the recreated Super Soldier Serum was funded by the as-yet-unnamed Power Broker, who is after Morgenthau and the thieving Flag Smashers. Though Zemo repeatedly refers to the Power Broker as a male — "Every kingdom needs its king," Zemo says at one point — the Sokovian terrorist only knows the shot-caller by reputation. In Madripoor, the Power Broker is "judge, jury, and executioner."

Sam, Bucky, and Zemo take refuge in Sharon's well-off place in High Town, where the former Agent 13 operates a gallery specializing in stolen artwork. "I thought if I had to hustle, might as well enjoy the life of a real hustler," she tells Cap's former wingman. "You know how much I'll get for a real Monet?"

Because Sharon will be locked up if she steps foot in the United States, she strikes a deal with Sam: if she uses her connections to help them, a pardoned Sam will get Sharon's name cleared and she can go home.

Some viewers already side-eyed some shady business after a shootout on the Madripoor docks, where Sharon parts ways with the trio and tells her driver: "We've got a big problem. Actually, a couple of them. I'll tell you in the car. Let's go." In the wake of Episode 3, some Twitter users are speculating Sharon is somehow in cahoots with the Power Broker — or that Sharon is the Power Broker.

"When we see her now, she's a little rough around the edges. She's been on the run, she's had to take care of herself, she mentions that in Civil War that she has to disappear for a little while, and I think here we get a little sense of what she's been up to and how she's had to fend for herself and make her own way in this new world," VanCamp said in a previous interview about Sharon's new post-Blip demeanor. "It's a very, very different Sharon ... You can imagine that there's a little bitterness there."

Here's what Falcon and Winter Soldier fans are saying about Sharon's return: