I know, super corny-generic title you’ve seen a hundred times before. This is my one time. One and done, I swear. Let me live.

Marvel Studios ‘The Falcon & the Winter Soldier,’ which for the sake of my sanity will be referred to as ‘F&WS’ throughout this, was the latest series in the Disney+ era to help us through this movie-less time of COVID. And with ‘Loki’ set for June and ‘Black Widow’ set for July, we’re having our first Marvel-less month again since ‘WandaVision’ saved us back in January.

I’ll just bullet my thoughts on the series, which I generally enjoyed, but wasn’t floored by. This was kind of the same review I’ve come to adopt for ‘WandaVision,’ and it’s an assessment I think you’ll all come to agree with after we give these series awhile to sit and subsequently rewatch in the future.

But alas, here we go.

-I won’t concretely say whether ‘F&WS’ or ‘WandaVision’ was better or worse than the other, because as I documented in my ‘WandaVision’ post, they’re both completely different shows in terms of the title characters that star in them. We got mystery, magic, and the cosmic side of the MCU with ‘WandaVision,’ in which the post credit scene potentially set up huge movie(s) to come for us, like ‘Doctor Strange & the Multiverse of Madness,’ maybe ‘Young Avengers,’ or even perhaps some X-Men stuff. ‘F&WS’ brought us back to more Earthly confrontations, with much more action on an episode-to-episode basis, and the post credit scene (more later) was just just kind of a “hmm, interesting” rather than the entirety of the ‘WandaVision’ finale dropping our jaws to the floor. If I had to choose, ‘WandaVision’ kept me more invested throughout and set up bigger MCU narratives, but the fight sequences, cultural/real world implications, and general vibe of ‘F&WS’ was all-around stellar.

-Piggybacking off my last point there, ‘F&WS’ tackling race and societal injustices as a whole was the perfect notion to intertwine with the mantle as highly-touted as Captain America going to Sam Wilson in the series. With the George Floyd judicial verdict coming days prior to the series finale, in which a black man sets the record straight with, albeit fictional, crooked higher-ups was kind of just what we needed right now. Marvel’s got an insane viewership, and they’re using it to highlight some of the most under-appreciated groups in film and media today, starting with the masterpiece that is ‘Black Panther,’ and now this right before shining a light on the Asian community by dropping the trailer for the Shang-Chi film, which might break my record for times I’ve seen a movie in the theater; naturally, the record is 5 for Endgame, so half a dozen for Shang-Chi would be the right way to break such a prestigious feat. But again, good on Marvel. Sam telling that senator to straight up “be better” was phenomenal, and kind of what all of us, if given the chance to scream at these people doing poor jobs in positions of power, would say? I know comic books movies and shows are fantasy, but the real world element to the struggles of these two characters was an element I didn’t think they would nail on the head as well as they did.

-Staying with that, I could’ve gone for some Isaiah Bradley flashback scenes to fully appreciate that character. Giving him some action shots at the beginning of an episode, or even adding one that went back and forth between the present and past, highlighting the mission he retold, and/or him being unjustly tested on by the government would’ve made his struggle hit maybe a little harder and more concretely. Sam did do him right by giving him a section in the Cap exhibit, but even that act of kindness would’ve been amplified if we got even a little taste of the horrible things he endured in his time as a government super soldier. The flashbacks could’ve also given Marvel more opportunities to hint at Cap and other past characters for us nerds to analyze and point out from ‘Captain America: The First Avenger.’ But I guess they went short and sweet.

-The new Cap suit for Sam is just fantastic. I looks great, both in general and in terms of its accuracy from the comics. I guess him giving the old wings to his young soldier buddy is an opportunity for him to be the next Falcon, but I’m thinking two guys with the wings would be kind of an overkill, so maybe Sam Wilson would have to either hang it up or be killed off before he’s brought in.

-Bucky’s juggle with his dark, violent past as the Winter Soldier was another something that they could’ve spent more time on. He’s kind of just with his therapist and broods through until the end when he helps Sam with the boat then all is good after he does that, helps saves the day, and makes peace with his old man friend. But again, maybe they didn’t want to drag it out another episode or two, but ‘WandaVision’ was 9, and we have the entire month of May empty for the time being, why not let this thing go on a little longer to give these guys more shine? On the flip, Buck’s got a movie titled after him, and Civil War was all because of him so, maybe they didn’t want to overdo him and shift everyone’s adoration for him. But like then do more Sam and Isaiah Bradley stuff to hone in on the racial injustice? I would’ve gone for an entire episode just detailing that mission he went on, and him escaping testing captivity to fully appreciate that character, but hey, I just write blogs that nobody reads. I did like the shield and what not being his last semblance of family and whatever. Steve and Bucky, just insert all the heart emojis here.

-Last things on Bucky, first being the arm has never looked better. I was finally glad to see him doing Super Soldier stuff after he was relegated to ‘guy with the big gun’ in the past two Avengers films. Just the subtle detail of him casually sprinting at superhuman speed to chase down the truck in that earlier episode was all I needed, let alone him kicking fellow super soldier ass throughout this thing. I love his character, and hope he’s one of these guys like Chris Hemsworth who wants to keep doing the Marvel thing for as long as he can. Also, he didn’t take the Cap mantle, but is he handsomest dude in the MCU if Chris Evans isn’t coming back? Definitely a debate with Hemsworth and a few other guys still in the mix, but my lady and I can tell you in our household, he’s it. I’m in on the short hair, man. Dude’s a specimen.

-I thoroughly enjoyed rooting against the John Walker character during this thing. Thanos was by far the best villain, top to bottom, that we’ve had, I won’t even entertain any other arguments. But Marvel heads, have we genuinely hated an antagonist more than we hated John Walker? Like for real. Wyatt Russell played that character beautifully. We came in knowing whoever tried to replace Cap that wasn’t one of his friends, we would hate no matter what. And I know he ended up good-ish, somewhat, who knows. But those first 5 episodes, have we even come close to hating anyone harder in our MCU lives? Just great. The great thing about Thanos was that even though he was decimating our beloved heroes, his cause made sense to you, whether on a small scale or in some large capacity. And we saw it here with Karli and the Flag Smashers whole deal. But did we ever, like, really hate Thanos? I didn’t. But I tell you what, I LOATHED this dude for almost the entirety of this. Interested to see what they do with the U.S. Agent character, I’m thinking ‘gun-for-hire, no loyalty to anyone, sometimes good sometimes bad’ guy. But the entire MCU community coming together to hate this guy was just swell.

-Again, the sequences of each fight scene were really good. I liked Sam coordinating with the lady on the helicopter, kind of shows he has the chops to be the super-strategist type of leader Steve Rogers was. I’ll say, it’s going to be odd not seeing Cap be as polarizing of a figure, just based on the fact that it isn’t Chris Evans’ Cap. People are going to sour on the Sam Wilson Cap for their own B.S. reasons, but for me, it’s just the fact that we spent a decade with Steve Rogers being Cap, so it’ll just be weird to see someone else in the role. Like if Steph Curry ever left the Dubs to make way for some other star. We don’t hate the new guy, it’s just Steph was Steph, you know? To nitpick, Sam Wilson doesn’t have the serum flowing through him either, so the fantastic stuff we’re used to seeing Cap do in terms of strength, etc. we won’t get from Sam. But he does fly so, that’s cool. And definitely something Steve can NOT do.

-Cap being an African American is also timely in the absolutely tragic, heartbreaking death of Chadwick Boseman. I’ve seen some stuff regarding ‘Black Panther 2,’ and we’ve known for some time they aren’t planning on recasting him, and for good reason. Chadwick was a true master of his craft, and played the most iconic roles of my lifetime. He’s a legend, and I’m ashamed of myself for not appreciating more while he was still with us. But with him sadly gone, having another African American fill the role of Captain America, of all characters, and provide another strong leading black figure to the MCU definitely softens the blow. RIP Chadwick Boseman forever.

-The finale was cool, and I get they’re focusing on the title characters, but the Flag Smashers bombing a big government thing in New York of all places seems like an event at least ONE other Avenger might give a look-see? Again, keep the title characters as the main focal point, as these are their projects, I got all that. You also need to have a big finale with high stakes so, also, I’m right there with ya. But you can’t deny a New York bombing of government officials, or even a giant mystery bubble they confirmed Wanda is more or less trapped inside of, are two things, at minimum, one or two other Avengers might want to get in on. But we’re in a post-Endgame world were everything is a little wonky, so it’s conceivable all these Avenges are going through their own crap. And add in the stuff I said at the top, it’s totally fine. But it is funny to imagine a Doctor Strange seeing a mysterious bubble with people trapped inside that turning things into other things with Wanda Maximoff in the middle of it all going, “The cops probably got a hold on that one.” I saw something in regards to Spider-Man being pitched to Kevin Feige about potentially showing up in the ‘F&WS’ finale. I mean, New York, makes total sense. But he’s in hiding because we all know who he is now, for one. That’s also a cameo that would completely overshadow literally everyone else involved. But I can’t lie, the two of them being totally disgusted that they needed Peter Parker’s help, in any capacity, would’ve been hilarious.

-The post credits scene did set up a future big villain, this shadowy Power Broker person. I am in no way, shape, or form in the camp that it’s Sharon Carter. People much more in the know than me say we’ll definitely know more after Shang Chi, or in a future Cap film. But, if Steve Rogers is truly still lingering, imagine him coming back just to scold her on her shady stuff after everything Peggy, her grandma and his forever squeeze, stood for? Oh, it would be gold. But yeah, this Power Broker isn’t Sharon. In general, not as big a payoff post credits as ‘WandaVision,’ and a little predictable to be honest. But not bad, either.

I think that’s everything. If I missed something that’s not already heavily circulating via Marvel know-it-alls on YouTube and Twitter, or something you just have a burning passion for that didn’t get a hash mark, let me know.

Otherwise, thanks as always. Loki is looking like after we got all cosmic, all BOTG action, we’ll get both with the God of mischief. Then obviously Black Widow will hit us, literally, with the kicks and punches and chops we got here. Excited and happy with all of it, the MCU do NOT miss.

See you in about 2 weeks or so, given I don’t get eaten by a shark in Maui.

Cheers.