Tag: John Walker

Posted on in Features

The ‘Armor Wars’ Series Could Help Setup ‘Captain America 4’

*WARNING! MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THE FALCON & THE WINTER SOLDIER*

Yesterday, saw Marvel Studios release the finale for Falcon & Winter Soldier and cemented that Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson has moved from the Falcon persona to taking on the Captain America mantle from Steve Rogers. It was also reported that the studio isn’t wasting any time and has assigned screenwriters for Captain America 4 with Falcon’s Malcolm Spellman and Dalan Musson said to be working on a script.

I’m getting a strong feeling that Don Cheadle’s War Machine series Armor Wars could plant seeds for this upcoming Captain American sequel alongside the film’s potential threat. If you remember we saw Don Cheadle appear as Rhodey in the first episode of Falcon & Winter Soldier when Wilson donates the shield to the Smithsonian exhibit. I don’t think it was an accident that the two shared a moment in that first episode as Falcon and Armor Wars might be connected leading up to the events in Captain America 4.

Armor Wars will see James Rhodes crackdown on a wave of Stark technology getting into the black market and allows him to interact with a heap of Iron Man villains that likely wouldn’t have made the cut in feature films. Baddies such as Crimson Dynamo, Titanium Man, and others could finally get their live-action adaption alongside other canon-fodder characters. There could also be a link towards the introduction of Dominique Thorne’s Riri Williams, who will be leading her own series Ironheart.

Armor Wars’ villains could be familiar faces with Sam Rockwell’s Justin Hammer, who featured predominately in the comic book the show is based on and if I had to guess could easily step-in for Norman Osborn in the Dark Avengers. You might remember that he turned War Machine into Iron Patriot for Iron Man 2, the armor was used by Osborn and briefly by Sharon Carter in the comics. I wouldn’t be shocked if Hammer is recruited into the Thunderbolts potentially combining Dark Avengers with Thunderbolts into a single entity. Traditionally, Baron Zemo is the leader but there are been multiple incarnations and the MCU does it’s own thing.

Speaking of Carter, it was revealed in Falcon & Winter Soldier that she was the mysterious arms dealer The Power Broker and is now going to use her newly returned access to government weapons programs for her benefit. There is a good shot that Sharon and Justin might join forces to get their hands on Stark’s armor tech.

Zemo crushed The Power Broker’s attempt to recreate the super-soldier serum and could attempt to help take-out villains that want to get their hands on Stark’s armor tech as well. At the end of Falcon, we see Zemo’s butler killing a batch of Flag Smashers that were heading to The Raft, suggesting that he’s still dangerous even behind bars.

We currently don’t know what Marvel is planning to do with Captain America 4, but it’s worth noting that the last installment, Captain America: Civil War, was essentially an Avengers event. There is a good chance that with Falcon & Winter Soldier out of the way they can now give Sam Wilson a massive blockbuster as he takes over the Captain America franchise.

One of the main attributes of the Captain America films is that Steve Rogers has fellow superheroes working alongside him with Bucky/Peggy Carter/The Howling Commandos in Captain America: The First Avenger, Black Widow/Falcon/Nick Fury in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Bucky/Falcon/Scarlet Witch/Hawkeye/Ant-Man/Sharon Carter in Captain America: Civil War. Seeing Rhodey and Sam further develop their relationship or even partner up in the future wouldn’t be surprising given their military backgrounds and both taking on superhero mantles.

Could the next Captain America film also become some Avengers event movie like Civil War?

A new Avengers roster is being assembled before our eyes by Marvel with Sam Wilson becoming Captain America, Rhodey is essentially taking up the Iron Man mantle from Tony Stark, Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster aka Lady Thor, Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova becoming Black Widow, Tatiana Maslany’s Jennifer Walters aka She-Hulk, a new yet-to-be announced Black Panther for the sequel shooting this summer, Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop aka Hawkeye, and Danny Ramirez’s Joaquin Torres taking Sam’s spot as Falcon. How this might intersect with plans for the Young Avengers and Thunderbolts remains to be seen.

Armor Wars dropping hints for the Thunderbolts/Dark Avengers to appear in future films like Captain America 4 could be great way to have things escalate for Sam’s first film as the new Cap and sort of amp things up in comparison to the Disney+ show.

John Walker becomes U.S. Agent

Wyatt Russell’s John Walker becoming U.S. Agent remains a bit of mystery if he’s going to be part of the MCU’s version of Thunderbolts or will become a pawn of The Serpent Society (faux title for Captain America 3), Zola, and the Mandarin’s Ten Rings. It likely comes down to the intentions of his new boss Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus). Julia was originally supposed to appear first as Val in Black Widow before the pandemic delayed the film’s release from May 2020 to July 2021. There are already suggestions that she’ll have some connection to Yelena joining the Thunderbolts but that needs to be confirmed. It’s confirmed that Florence Pugh is reprising the role in the Hawkeye series that could also have links to Thunderbolts.

Walker could return for Armor Wars as he teamed-up with The Jury and that group could be replaced with whoever ends up getting bootleg Stark-tech, potentially Val and Justin Hammer. I’d personally like to see The Serpent Society because they would make an excellent surrogate for a modern version of HYDRA and give Sam plenty of villains to battle for the next couple of years.

Thunderbolt Ross might become a very important figure in the very near future and there is a possibility he might appear in Armor Wars given that Rhodey could be activated under Ross’ supervision.

It could be interesting to see the new Avengers going head-to-head against a competing team like the Thunderbolts/Dark Avengers, who would likely be made up multiple villains selected by Thunderbolt Ross at The Raft. Ross himself is a member of a recent version of the team as Red Hulk, a character aspect that could be explored in the She-Hulk series. He’s always been lurking behind the scenes as a government stooge and helped create the Abomination. Having Ross spearheading Thunderbolts as his namesake would make a lot of sense and it’s starting to feel like Phase 4 is leading up to the two teams clashing on the big screen.

Posted on in Television News

SPOILERS: ‘Falcon & Winter Soldier’ Finale Unmasks The Power Broker & Teases Where Characters May Reappear

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THE FALCON & THE WINTER SOLDIER

Marvel’s The Falcon & The Winter Soldier has finally ended it’s six episode run and while I feel the last episode was a little long for my liking, it did seem to streamline an ending that opens a bunch of doors for multiple character returns.

We see Baron Zemo conducting super-soldier busting while being behind a cell in Thunderbolt Ross’ super-max prison The Raft, killing four of the captured Flag-Smashers while they were on their way to The Raft as Zemo’s butler seemed to be the one that executed them with a bomb.

Only time will tell if we’ll see Daniel Bruhl return to the role in some Thunderbolts project down the line.

The cat is finally out of the bag and it’s been revealed that Emily VanCamp’s Sharon Carter is indeed The Power Broker, something that has been long suspected and the actress even commented on the theory not too long ago. While this turn might have perplexed some assuming that she was being given a second shot at a heroic run in the MCU, it’s not that dissimilar to that of other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents such as Jasper Sitwell, who seemed level-headed good guys until they were outed as HYDRA cohorts hiding within the ranks of S.H.I.E.L.D. in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

To suggest that Sharon had a strong character arc in the Captain America films would be disingenuous and while people might not like the angle Marvel took with her in Falcon, it finally gave the actress something to do outside of being a glorified cameo doing random things off-screen only to be completely forgotten when it came to Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.

Luckily for Sharon, she killed Batroc The Leaper before he was able to expose her secret and also shoots Karli Morgenthau. In the wake of the assassination attempts in New York City, Sharon Carter is given a full pardon in a post-credit scene and is speaking with someone that she now has access to intel/government weapons programs now that she is officially back on U.S. soil.

Could this hint to Sharon Carter’s involvement in Armor Wars?

While Sam Wilson’s costume (via Wakanda) reveal was spoiled by the toys it was interesting to see how faithful to the comic book design it was and that he’s decided not to take the super-soldier serum, which should be interesting moving forward given that Captain America is now going to be a tech-based superhero. I’m guessing everything he’s wearing is vibraium which should at least protect him from most weapons.

Another interesting thing is that we see Sam return to the home of Isaiah and Eli Bradley taking them to Smithsonian to reveal that Isaiah’s story will be told and history will remember him as he gets his own exhibit alongside Steve Rogers. While there had been rumblings Eli joining a Young Avengers project, there doesn’t seem to be any signs that he has any superpowers in his current state.

I have to assume that with Sam’s new super-suit and being established as the new Cap, we’ll get some sort of announcement concerning Captain America 4 moving forward at the studio.

We see Bucky make amends crossing-off the last name on his list and ending his therapy. I wouldn’t be shocked if he has a supporting role in future Captain America films alongside Mackie or is given a solo project at some point.

John Walker’s time as U.S. Agent begun as Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Val has outfitted him with a new costume and is giving him a second chance, however, her true intentions haven’t been revealed or who she is ultimately working for. Val seeming makes a statement suggesting she’s aware of how bonkers things will be getting with the Skrulls/Secret Invasion but doesn’t elaborate.

There are still some loose ends going on as we don’t know if Joaquin Torres is going to follow in Sam’s footsteps as the new Falcon and if Steve Rogers is really dead, it’s been suggested twice he’s on the Moon. Given S.W.O.R.D.’s upcoming presence in Captain Marvel 2 and Secret Invasion, I wouldn’t be shocked if they’ve established a base on the surface of the Moon leading to believe he’s up there. Nobody seems to talk about Steve being dead or a funeral, given we saw on-screen funerals for Peggy Carter and Tony Stark they would unlikely do that off-screen. Leaving things open is likely being done on purpose.

What did you think about the series and it’s finale?

Posted on in Film News

Wyatt Russell Auditioned For The Steve Rogers Role Over A Decade Ago Before Landing John Walker In ‘The Falcon & The Winter Soldier’

In the early days of Marvel Studios, it wasn’t uncommon that a role like Steve Rogers aka Captain America went out to a huge amount of people to audition for it.

Folks such as John Krasinski (fan favorite to play Reed Richards), who at the time hadn’t made a film such as Michael Bay’s 13 Hours or taken over the Jack Ryan role for the Amazon series, but was known as simply Jim from The Office. Others that auditioned included Sebastian Stan, who would take on the Bucky Barnes aka Winter Soldier role. Stan wasn’t the only person give a second role in the MCU after attempting to play Captain America.

Well, Wyatt Russell admitted the other day to Good Morning America that he was also one of those many young actors who auditioned for the Rogers part over a decade ago. However, Russell ended up getting another super-soldier role in the MCU as he was selected to play John Walker aka U.S. Agent in their Disney+ series The Falcon & The Winter Soldier, being referred to in the show as the “new Captain America.”

Russell admitting it was his first Hollywood audition and that he clearly knew he wasn’t in the running to play Rogers. It was more about attempting the audition itself to see if acting was a good fit after his hockey career ended due to an injury. But when he was asked by Marvel to read for John Walker, he didn’t know what is was until he landed it.

We’ll have to wait and see see if Russell will play the role beyond the series but the chances are good.

The Falcon & The Winter Soldier has four episodes left and will be released on Disney+ every Friday until it wraps-up.

SOURCE: GOOD MORNING AMERICA

Posted on in Television News

SPOILERS: ‘The Falcon & The Winter Soldier’ Episode 1 – New World Order

SPOILERS AHEAD FOR EPISODE 1 OF THE FALCON & THE WINTER SOLDIER

In Episode 1, we see both Sam and Bucky dealing with a world post snap and Captain America. It starts off with Wilson on a mission for the U.S. government in Africa where Batroc has hijacked a military plane and is attempting to kidnap an officer. The action sequence is the meat of the episode as the rest attempts to explore the pair grasping with their grief and responsibilities.

After saving the day, Sam returns to his family in New Orleans and attempts to help his sister Sarah get a bank loan to help their business/family home. The bank manager seems to be more interested in getting a selfie with an Avenger than giving them a loan. He’s referred to as Uncle Sam by his two nephews, which could make for a badass patriotic superhero name if Wilson decides against using Captain America or Falcon once he gets the shield.

Bucky is still dealing with his PTSD from being a brainwashed assassin for HYDRA as he has a nightmare of killing an innocent witness and it’s revealed he’s the son of an elderly Japanese man he has befriended named Yori (not aware he killed his son). The pair are getting lunch at a Japanese restaurant when Bucky is set up on a date with Miki Ishikawa’s Leah. He’s also in therapy where he’s trying to make amends and is being evasive about the nightmare to Dr. Raynor.

During a presentation at the Smithsonian, Sam Wilson makes a speech with Don Cheadle’s Rhodey in attendance as he hands over the shield and they place it in a display case in the Captain America exhibit. It’s mentioned that Steve Rogers/Captain America is “gone,” but they don’t use the words “dead” and Sam’s military cohort Joaquin Torres aka Falcon asks him if Rogers is on a base on the Moon (a nod to S.W.O.R.D./Secret Invasion?).

It’s also revealed that the group Erin Kellyman’s Kari Morgenthau is involved with is called Flag-Smashers (a nod to the Cap villain) and seemingly are upset that things changed when people are brought back to life. Torres tries to infiltrate the group in Switzerland and attempts stop one of the masked members until it’s revealed that Desmond Chiam’s Dovich is enhanced with superhuman strength. I’ll be curious if they’ve got their hands on the super-soldier serum or some black market knockoff.

We’ll likely see that Zemo is connected to the group and his purple mask may indeed be linked to Thanos as the Flagsmashers seem to have thrived post-snap.

The episode ends with Wyatt Russell’s John Walker taking over the Captain America mantle as they give him the shield that Wilson handed over as he didn’t feel like it was his to keep.