History Recap / TheFalconAndTheWinterSoldierEpisode2TheStarSpangledMan

* OhCrap: Sam has such an expression when Isaiah [[SuperStrength throws a metal tin through a wall]] in a fit of anger, having just realized that Bucky just pissed off a SuperSoldier.

* ReplacementScrappy: [[invoked]] Openly acknowledged by John Walker himself: while public sentiment seems to be on his side so far, he nonetheless admits to Sam and Bucky that trying to replace/one-up Steve's legacy is a pointless exercise-- he wants to make it work, and he thinks he could do a better job with Steve's actual comrades on his side. Sam and Bucky don't like him very much anyway, and take particular offense to being treated as mere 'wingmen'/'legitimizers.'

* ContinuityNod: Bucky jumps outside a helicopter without a parachute just like Steve in ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'', only it doesn’t turn out so good for him.

** This could also be an example of FiveSecondForeshadowing as Isaiah Bradley is introduced moments later, whose FanNickname is the "Black Captain America."

* UnexplainedAccent: Karli Morgenthau speaks with a British accent that sounds Black Country/RP, which contradicts her character being German and speaking with a HerrDoktor accent. Her actor is British, but there's no InUniverse explanation for the accent.

* RealityEnsues: If the police believe you have super strength, how many would bother taking you alive? Most countries, let alone in Eastern Europe, wouldn't have all the superpower-containing gear that American police seem to have.

--->'''Isaiah''' People running tests, taking my blood, coming into my cell... ''(looks at Bucky)'' Even ''your'' people weren't done with me.

--->'''''' People running tests, taking my blood, coming into my cell... ''(looks at Bucky)'' Even ''your'' people weren't done with me.

-->'''''' People running tests, taking my blood, coming into my cell... ''(looks at Bucky)'' Even ''your'' people weren't done with me.

** Isaiah makes a comment about how Bucky and "his people" treated him during the Korean War. When he and Sam leave Isaiah's home, Sam assumes that Isaiah meant white people; Bucky knows that he meant his superiors in HYDRA.

* AllThereInTheScript: The boy who answers Isaiah's front door is never referred to by name, although comics fans may be able to guess his identity. The ending credits confirm he is indeed Isaiah's grandson, [[ComicBook/YoungAvengers Eli Bradley]].

* AtrociousAlias: When Lemar reveals that his codename is 'Battlestar,' Bucky demands that the Jeep they're riding in to stop so he can [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere get out and walk the rest of the way to the airport.]]
* BadassNormal: Despite his tremendous physical abilities, John Walker mentions he doesn't have any super-strength. His best friend and partner Lemar Hoskins/Battlestar is likely this as well.

** Isaiah makes a comment about how Bucky and "his people" treated him during the Korean War. When he and Sam leave Isaiah's home, Sam assumes Isaiah meant white people; Bucky knows he meant his superiors in HYDRA.

* BeneathTheMask: Downplayed, but Walker’s venomous order that Sam and Bucky stay out of his way towards the end of the episode suggests that Walker has a hidden dark side.

* BothSidesHaveAPoint: Walker tries to get Sam and Bucky to help him in dealing with the Flag Smashers but they would rather continue working by themselves. Walker makes a fair point that they didn't do too well by themselves and that strength in numbers could be a big benefit. Sam acknowledges his point but also notes that Walker has to work inside a system that requires him to get authorizations and permissions to take action. As free agents, he and Bucky can work faster and with more flexibility.
* BrickJoke: Sam briefly comments on how a collection of fantastical forces comprise the "big three" threats that superheroes face, which Bucky believes Sam made up. After their encounter with the Flag-Smashers, Walker and Sam discuss the big three and how the Flag-Smashers fit into it.

** A new rendition of [[Film/CaptainAmericatheFirstAvenger "Star Spangled Man"]] is played by the marching band during Walker's interview. Though the song was an in-universe propaganda piece, it was most likely an [[Main/InvokedTrope invoked trope]] to appeal to the public's nostalgia.

** Bucky jumps from the plane without taking a parachute-like Cap from ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'' though Bucky's landing isn't as graceful.

* CaptainEthnic: Sam gets called Black Falcon by a Baltimore kid who assumes it's his name because that's what his father calls him. Sam gets one over by asking if he's Black Kid.

* TheChainsOfCommanding: Somewhat. In his private moment with his wife and Hoskins, John Walker suggests him being made Captain America was way out of his expectations (albeit something [[HeroWorshipper he also dreamt of becoming similar to]]). He also seems to be very eager to make an excellent impression to the public. That said, the subtext of the conversations suggests it's also beginning to get to him.

** Played with – as soon as Bucky hears Battlestar call himself that, [[NoJustNoReaction he asks the jeep they're in]] [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere to stop and leaves]].
** Subverted, however, in the case of Bucky himself: when Sam jokingly calls him 'White Panther' for his stint in Wakanda, he matter-of-factly corrects him on his actual codename 'White Wolf,' and Sam responds with a FlatWhat.

** A brief shot of the surveillance footage of Zemo shows that his cell number is 2187 -- the same cell that Princess Leia was held in during ''Film/ANewHope'' and the same identification number as Finn's in ''Film/TheForceAwakens''.

** Isaiah Bradley invites Bucky into his house, expecting Bucky to kill him in revenge for the arm he tore off in '51 (and out of curiosity to see his new arm).

* FiveSecondForeshadowing: Isaiah says he defeated the Winter Soldier and took half of his metal arm. No mention is made of anyone else helping him. A moment later, we find out how he did that when he reveals his SuperStrength and the fact that he's a SuperSoldier.
* {{Foil}}: Isaiah Bradley is a tragic version of Steve Rogers. He was a super soldier and war hero in the '50s who battled HYDRA but was imprisoned for 30 years (a twisted version of Steve being frozen in ice for decades) to be tested upon before being released to build a family and live out his old age in relative peace, albeit in [[WretchedHive a run-down portion of Baltimore]]. He's also very similar to Bucky, who was himself a super-soldier imprisoned against his will and experimented upon.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: After his failed attempt to make a clean jump out of the plane, Bucky threatens to Sam that he will break Redwing once Sam reveals he recorded the entire plunge. Karli manages to do just that in the later fight.

* GodzillaThreshold: Bucky decides to visit Zemo for information on HYDRA, as that's the likely source of the serum that has empowered the Flag-Smashers. Sam thinks this is a ''really'' bad idea. As Zemo himself points out next episode, they only would have visited him if they were desperate.
* TheGreatestStoryNeverTold: At the start of The Winter Soldier’s career, when he was starting to make his legendary reputation and at his physical prime as the “fist of Hydra,” a lone American operative was sent to deal with him in the Korean War... and walked away after tearing his cybernetic arm off. But because he was black and the result of secret Super Soldier experimentation, the world never heard the legend of Isaiah Bradley, who was imprisoned and experimented on afterward. Sam, understandably, is pissed.
* HeroOfAnotherStory: Isaiah Bradley alludes to a time in the 1950s when he was sent to fight the Winter Soldier in Goyang-si, South Korea, and tore off half of Bucky's mechanical arm. Bucky also mentions that Isaiah was a threat to HYDRA on par with Steve Rogers, implying the man was a very prolific super-soldier.

* HomoeroticSubtext: Bucky and Sam's 'session' with Dr. Raynor is explicitly modeled on couples' therapy--not to mention the invoked lack of personal space in their staring contest.

** During his interview, John Walker talks about how he looked up to Steve Rogers, and though they never met, he feels like Steve is a brother...and we cut to Bucky, Steve's real brother-in-arms, watching the interview alone in his apartment.
** Bucky is also on this (even bordering on ItsAllAboutMe) when you take into account that throughout the episode, he seems to be projecting his own insecurities about his relationship/being abandoned by Steve to Sam, without considering what exactly is Sam going through since surrendering (and then ''de facto'' losing) the shield to the U.S. government. [[JerkassRealization It took until their shouting match in front of Dr. Raynor]], before he left, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone for him to realize he was the one out of line]].

** The kid assumes Sam's superhero name is "Black Falcon" because he's black and the Falcon. Sam corrects him, saying he's just Falcon, and notes that the kid isn't called "Black Kid," alluding to the fact that Falcon was the first black comic-book hero to not have "Black" in his title.

** Two scenes first featured in the trailer, Sam and Bucky going down a countryside road and their shared therapy session with Dr. Raynor, are shown in this episode. What aren't present are the scenes' lines at the end of each trailer scene ("God, I hate you" and "I mean, how old ''are'' you?" respectively). Also, the scene where Bucky yells after Sam in the plane after Sam jumps out, asking him what his plan is showed during the Official Trailer and is not present during the episode.

** John Walker reveals he desires to live up to Steve's legacy while maintaining his individuality.
** Isaiah Bradley, for his part, is a product of subsequent attempts of the U.S. government to replicate the serum used on Steve, with him being traumatized with everything done to him.

* PretenderDiss: Bucky's default conversation tone with Walker--in that nearly everything he says to him is about how he has nothing on Steve (not unreasonably so). Sam, for his part, tries to be civil, but Walker and Hoskins' MO makes it very difficult for him to empathize.
* {{Profiling}}: {{Zigzagged|Trope}}: After leaving Isaiah Bradley's house and having a shouting bout, Sam and Bucky were stopped by police who are clearly ready to take Sam (a black man) into custody for assaulting Bucky (a white man). Bucky only prevents it by invoking YouHaveNoIdeaWhoYoureDealingWith, with the police [[MuggingTheMonster embarrassed to realize they've tried to arrest Avengers]]. ''Then'', a call comes in, and they are forced to arrest Bucky instead--[[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome because he skipped out on his court-mandated therapy]].

* RememberTheNewGuy: Isaiah Bradley, a retired super soldier and successor to Steve Rogers, has been an operative since at least the 1950s but has never showed up until now. This is justified by the fact that Isaiah was a covert asset whose existence was never revealed to the public, he quite clearly wants to be left alone and has no desire to correct the record, and Bucky never told Steve (probably because he knew it would break Steve's heart and possibly send him on a rampage against the U.S. Government).
* ReplacementScrappy: [[invoked]] Openly acknowledged by John Walker himself: while public sentiment seems to be so far on his side, he nonetheless admits to Sam and Bucky that trying to replace/one-up Steve's legacy is a pointless exercise--he wants to make it work, and he thinks he could do a better job with Steve's actual comrades on his side. Sam and Bucky don't like him very much anyway and take particular offense to being treated as mere 'wingmen'/'legitimizers.'

* RulesLawyer: Ultimately, John Walker's attitude to his role as Captain America is to be 'the perfect soldier,' which means respecting and enforcing U.S. government guidelines over him and other Sokovia Accords-covered peoples. This means, then, that he will choose to obey orders instead of seeing things Sam's and Bucky's way. They part [[{{Understatement}} not on good terms]] by the end of the episode. Needless to say, this was not the philosophy of Steve Rogers, who always chose Good over Lawfulness.

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Bucky immediately orders the Jeep to pull over and continues walking to the airport after hearing Hoskins’s code name is Battlestar. Sam follows a few seconds later when Walker makes the mistake of saying [[InnocentlyInsensitive it would be easier to be Captain America if he had Cap’s wingman on his side.]]
* SecretKeeper: Bucky knew about Isaiah Bradley being a former super-soldier but never told anyone, not even Steve, because he felt Isaiah had suffered enough and deserved to be left alone in peace.
* SlasherSmile: Karli gives an unsettling to Bucky before punting him out of the cargo truck. She is ''not'' a hostage, Bucky.

* TraumaCongaLine: Sam gets put through quite the emotional wringer this episode. First, he meets with Walker, the man the US government immediately gave Steve's shield and title to, who turns out to be kind of obliviously insufferable. Then, he discovers that the legacy of Captain America that he feels Steve blindly burdened him with was built on the suffering of black men just like himself, including discovering that all this time there was a black man who was successfully given Super Serum and fought valiantly for his country only to be jailed, tortured, and experimented on for decades. Immediately after that, he's thrown out onto the street, where a racist cop nearly arrests him in the middle of his anger at never having been told about this. On top of that, he's forced to sit in a therapy session only for a fight to break out with Bucky, who blames Sam for letting the shield get away, unable to understand his justified motives for giving the shield away, and making him so angry that he tells Bucky he hopes to never see him again after the mission is over. All in all, quite a horrible day.

** The tense conversation between Sam and John Walker holds quite a bit of subtext to [[https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/2640341.pdf the idea a minority being passed over for a promotion due to discrimination.]] Walker is [[InnocentlyInsensitive oblivious]] to Sam's discomfort as him simply "replacing Steve" and rather defensively lists his own qualifications rather than acknowledge the prejudice that was at play.
** The scene where Sam gets profiled by white cops who nearly draw their weapons on him clearly draws inspiration from incidents of police brutality and racial profiling. What is particularly galling is that Bucky, a white guy standing right next to Sam, was himself an international criminal and assassin (since pardoned), but he gets practically ignored until the police discover a warrant for his arrest. And even then, they treat Bucky with significantly more respect and gentleness while arresting him than they did with Sam.[[note]]Behavior like this has been observed in real life frequently, e.g. of a black driver being shot just for ''saying'' he had a (legal) gun in his car (like you're advised to) after police stopped him while a white man carrying a rifle openly was not only spared, police treated him with kid gloves.[[/note]]
** The Flag-Smashers' discussed world-view, i.e. they do not like the fact that governments seem to be using [[Film/AvengersEndgame the Snap]]/serving those who were victims of it in order to encroach on many things (as well as Sam and John Walker discussing the GreyAndGrayMorality involved in the process) is a highly-simplified demonstration of what Canadian author and activist [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naomi_Klein Naomi Klein]] calls "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shock_Doctrine disaster capitalism]]".

** Bradley's updated backstory with him having his blood taken by the U.S. government and HYDRA for experimentation is also based on [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henrietta_Lacks Henrietta Lacks]], a black woman who died of cancer in 1951, and whose cancer cells were harvested and used for medical research, eventually becoming the basis for a lot of medical data to the present day. Not only were Lacks' cells harvested without her or her family's consent (permission was not required during that period), her family was also solicited for their blood after her death, again without their informed consent, by researchers hoping to discover a genetic link with Lacks' cells, and their family health records were published, again, without their permission, compensation, or even recognition in the 1980s.
* UngratefulBastard: Justified. John Walker and Battlestar seem friendly and polite to the openly hostile Sam and Bucky, coming to their rescue when the Flag-Smashers beat them, offering them a ride when they had to walk 20 miles to the airport, and bailing Bucky out of jail. Yet, their hostility is warranted because Walker only helps them when it benefits himself. After the failed rescue, he tries to recruit them as his "wingmen" to shore up his credibility, and when he bails Bucky out of jail, he does so because Bucky is an "asset" and cancels Bucky's much-needed therapy. He drops the friendly veneer as soon as Sam and Bucky make it clear they have no interest in working with him.

* VillainousValour: Whatever negative actions and situations the Flag-Smashers cause, they seem to be genuinely committed to what they are doing--and they are even willing to perform individual sacrifices so that the group can survive.

** All of us are familiar with the capabilities of both Sam and Bucky (since their [[Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier MCU debut]]), while John Walker is established in the first minutes of the episode to be at least physically and politically capable of performing the role of the government-sponsored Captain America. That said, all of them come away empty-handed in their firsts encounter with the Flag-Smashers--who avoid MookChivalry and exploited their numbers to overwhelm and neutralize whatever experience advantage they had. Bucky gets the worst of it and is the first to be taken out of the fight, despite being the only one of the four who should be a match for a super soldier, mostly because they gang up on him.
** On a historical NoodleIncident version, apparently Isaiah Bradley and the Winter Soldier encountered each other in Korea, and it ended with the Soldier losing half the metal arm. Considering this supposedly happened at the height of the Soldier's peak performance, when in the present day he and Cap are portrayed as relatively even, it helps establish what a dangerous operative Isaiah Bradley probably was.

* AllAmericanFace: John Walker, the new Captain America, is not just a decorated soldier and war hero but also has a mixed-race wife and BlackBestFriend, reflecting a more culturally inclusive America. He's also loyal to the U.S. government's orders rather than his own conscience, something that is very different from his predecessor.

* AllAmericanFace: John Walker, the new Captain America, is not just a decorated soldier and war hero but also has a Hispanic wife and BlackBestFriend, reflecting a more culturally inclusive America. He's also loyal to the U.S. government's orders rather than his own conscience, something that is very different from his predecessor.

* BothSidesHaveAPoint: Walker tries to get Sam and Bucky to help him in dealing with the Flag Smashers but they would rather continue working by themselves. Walker makes a fair point that they didn't do too well by themselves and that strength in numbers could be a big benefit. Sam acknowledges his point but also notes that Walker has to work inside a system that requires him to get authorizations and permissions to take action. As free agents he and Bucky can work faster and with more flexibility.

* TheChainsOfCommanding: Somewhat. In his private moment with his wife and Hoskins, John Walker suggests him being made Captain America was way out of his expectations (albeit something [[HeroWorshipper he also dreamt of becoming similar to]]). He also seems to be very eager to make an excellent impression to the public of it too. That said, the subtext of the conversations suggests it's also beginning to get to him.

** During his interview, John Walker talks about how he looked up to Steve Rogers, and though they never met, he feels like Steve is a brother...and we cut to Bucky, Steve's real brother-in-arms, watching the interview, alone, in his apartment.

* MoodWhiplash: The therapy session, which starts with Bucky and Sam's VitriolicBestBuds routine, takes a darker turn when they call each other out over Sam's decision to give up Steve's shield and agree to part ways after dealing with the Flag-Smashers.

** Two scenes first featured in the trailer, Sam and Bucky going down a countryside road and their shared therapy session with Dr. Raynor, are shown in this episode. What aren't present are the scenes' lines at the end of each trailer scene ("God, I hate you" and "I mean, how old ''are'' you?" respectively). Also, the scene where Bucky yells after Sam in the plane after Sam jumps out, asking him what his plan is showed during the Official Trailer is not present during the episode.

* WeAreStrugglingTogether: Sam and Bucky's attempts to work together results in much bickering, even during a fight with others.

* WreckedWeapon: Redwing, unfortunately, gets smashed in half by Karli. [[AndThereWasMuchRejoicing Bucky practically celebrates its “death.”]]

* YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters: The Flag-Smashers, despite their unsavory image with the U.S. government, seem to have enough grassroots clout that they have families taking the risk of sheltering them. Their conversations also imply that they represent [[FantasticRacism a growing social rift]] between the people who were [[Film/AvengersInfinityWar Snapped]] and [[Film/AvengersEndgame the people who were left behind]].

** Played with – as soon as Bucky hears Battlestar call himself that, [[NoJustNo he asks the jeep they're in]] [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere to stop and leaves]].

-->The girl whopped your ass!

'''Bucky:''' I read ''The Hobbit.'' In 1937, when it first came out.

** During his interview, John Walker talks about how he looked up to Steve Rogers, and though they never met, he feels like Steve is a brother... and we cut to Bucky, Steve's real brother-in-arms, watching the interview, alone, in his apartment.

* AdaptationDisplacement: Sam is notably surprised when Bucky makes a ''Lord of the Rings'' reference before tBucky points out that the Middle-earth saga has been around since the thirties. [[invoked]]

* AdaptationDisplacement: Sam is notably surprised when Bucky makes a ''Lord of the Rings'' reference before the latter points out that the Middle-earth saga has been around since the thirties. [[invoked]]

* ArbitrarySkepticism: Sam's idea of the big three threats that superheroes face consists of androids, aliens, and wizards. Bucky vehemently denies the latter's existence, despite not only fighting alongside magic users like Doctor Strange but even acknowledging him by name. It gets more even arbitrary when focusing on Doctor Strange. "He's a ''sorcerer''." So wizards don't exist, but sorcerers do.

* DistinctionWithoutADifference: Bucky's insistence that Doctor Strange is a sorcerer rather than a wizard. Sam points out that the former is the latter without a funny hat.

* MoodWhiplash: The therapy session, which starts with Bucky and Sam's VitriolicBestBuds routine, takes a darker turn when they call each other out over the latter's decision to give up Steve's shield and agree to part ways after dealing with the Flag-Smashers.

* AllThereInTheScript: The boy who answers Isaiah's front door is never referred to by name, although comics fans may be able to guess his identity. The ending credits confirm he is indeed [[ComicBook/YoungAvengers Eli Bradley]].

* ArbitrarySkepticism: Sam's idea of the big three threats that superheroes face consists of androids, aliens, and wizards. Bucky vehemently denies the latter's existence, despite not only fighting alongside magic users like Doctor Strange but even acknowledging him by name.
** It gets more even arbitrary when focusing on Doctor Strange. "He's a ''sorcerer''." So wizards don't exist, but sorcerers do.

** Bucky is also on this (even bordering on ItsAllAboutMe) when you take into account that throughout the episode, he seems to be projecting his own insecurities about his relationship/being abandoned by Steve to Sam, without considering what exactly is Sam going through since surrendering (and then ''de facto'' losing) the shield to the U.S. government. [[HeelRealization It took until their shouting match in front of Dr. Raynor]], before he left, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone for him to realize he was the one out of line]].

** Somewhat lampshaded by the episode being titled "The Star-Spangled Man."

** For our protagonists, Bucky openly rails on Sam for forsaking the shield, going so far as to claim that it's a disgrace to Steve's memory. Sam, in turn, refuses to take up the shield because of the weight associated with being ''Captain America''. It comes to a violent head near the end of the episode, where Bucky and Sam have a vicious argument, with Steve coming up several times as each tries to drive home their points.

* RhetoricalQuestionBlunder: Of a sort. When Bucky asks John Walker if he ever [[Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger jumped on top of a grenade]], Walker replies yes, he did, four times, but he did it with his reinforced helmet. It doubles as ComicallyMissingThePoint (of a very dry comedy variety) as the question was about being willing to sacrifice himself, not his reflexes in stopping grenades with his helmet, exasperating Bucky and Sam and further highlighting that Walker's similarities to Steve are only skin deep.

* HomoeroticSubtext: Bucky and Sam's 'session' with Dr. Raynor is explicitly modeled on couples' therapy--not to mention [[PersonalSpaceInvader the invoked lack of personal space]] in their staring contest.

* GodzillaThreshold: Bucky decides to visit Zemo for information on HYDRA, as that's the likely source of the serum that has empowered the Flag-Smashers. Sam thinks this is a ''really' bad idea. As Zemo himself points out next episode, they only would have visited him if they were desperate.

* AtrociousAlias: When Lemar reveals that his codename is 'Battlestar,' Bucky demands that the Jeep they're riding in to stop so he can get out and walk the rest of the way to the airport.