History Series / TheFalconAndTheWinterSoldier

* CreateYourOwnVillain: The Avengers in general were pardoned after the Blip, but Sharon Carter was not. They and the government ignored her, leaving her to turn to a life of crime in Madripoor as she blithely tells Sam and Bucky in episode 3. This could come back to bite them, as Sharon [[spoiler:(now the Power Broker) sent Batroc to help the Flag Smashers and gave him the chance to kill Sam out of revenge for the foiled aerial hijacking in episode 1. Her new CIA job will also allow her to sell top-secret weapons and intel to the black market, which could be used against them in the future]].

The Flagsmashers are a group that has been using a recreated super-soldier serum to steal from the government to [[JustLikeRobinHood give supplies to the large number of poor people]] displaced when they came back to life after Thanos killed them, only to find that many of their homes were occupied, their jobs filled by others, and their possessions lost after they were declared dead. Then they start murdering people in cold blood so the good guys can take them down with no moral quandaries.
** John Walker, AKA Captain America II, is introduced in manner designed to draw the heroes and audiences' ire by inserting himself into the shoes of Captain America. The show then examines him further in an attempt to question whether or not he could be worthy of the shield (and if we, like the heroes, are just against him for being an InUniverse ReplacementScrappy even if he's objectively the right man for the job). This is then thrown out the window when his behavior becomes increasingly erratic and borderline fascist, culminating in his murder of an enemy combatant in a vengeance-fueled rage meaning there's no moral question whether the main characters should strip him of his shield.

[[caption-width-right:350:''[[TagLine "The legacy of that shield is... complicated, to say the least."]]''[[note]]Vertically: [[ComicBook/TheFalcon Sam Wilson]], ComicBook/BuckyBarnes, [[ComicBook/USAgent John Walker]], [[Characters/CaptainAmericaCentralRoguesGallery Helmut Zemo]], [[ComicBook/Agent13 Sharon Carter]], and [[ComicBook/FlagSmasher Karli Morgenthau]].[[/note]]]]

Set [[{{Interquel}} six months]] after the events of ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', the series follows [[Characters/CaptainAmericaHeroes Sam Wilson]] (Creator/AnthonyMackie) and [[Characters/MarvelComicsBuckyBarnes Bucky Barnes]] (Creator/SebastianStan) on a worldwide adventure that puts their abilities to the test after Sam initially declines taking up the mantle and shield of ComicBook/CaptainAmerica. Returning cast and characters include Creator/EmilyVanCamp as [[ComicBook/Agent13 Sharon Carter]], Creator/DanielBruhl as [[ComicBook/BaronZemo Helmut Zemo]], Georges St-Pierre as [[Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier Georges Batroc]], Creator/FlorenceKasumba as [[Film/BlackPanther2018 Ayo]], and Creator/DonCheadle as [[ComicBook/WarMachine James Rhodes]] while newcomers include Creator/ErinKellyman as Karli Morgenthau, Creator/WyattRussell as [[Characters/CaptainAmericaHeroes John Walker]], Creator/CleBennett as Lemar Hoskins, Creator/AdeperoOduye as Sarah Wilson, Creator/DannyRamirez as [[ComicBook/CaptainAmericaSamWilson Joaquin Torres]], Creator/CarlLumbly as [[ComicBook/TruthRedWhiteAndBlack Isaiah Bradley]], Elijah Richardson as [[ComicBook/YoungAvengers Eli Bradley]], and Creator/JuliaLouisDreyfus as [[ComicBook/{{HYDRA}} Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine]].

** Discussed and mocked a bit. In episode two, a kid calls Sam "Black Falcon," which his father told him because Sam is black. Sam takes offense to that and then says he wouldn't call the kid "Black Kid". [[ActuallyPrettyFunny The kid's friend laughs at that]].

* ComicbookMoviesDontUseCodenames:

[[caption-width-right:350:''[[TagLine "The legacy of that shield is... complicated, to say the least."]]''[[note]]Vertically: [[ComicBook/TheFalcon Sam Wilson]], ComicBook/BuckyBarnes, [[ComicBook/USAgent John Walker]], [[ComicBook/BaronZemo Helmut Zemo]], [[ComicBook/Agent13 Sharon Carter]], and [[ComicBook/FlagSmasher Karli Morgenthau]].[[/note]]]]

* DebateAndSwitch: The Flagsmashers are a group that has been using a recreated super-soldier serum to steal from the government to [[JustLikeRobinHood give supplies to the large number of poor people]] displaced when they came back to life after Thanos killed them, only to find that many of their homes were occupied, their jobs filled by others, and their possessions lost after they were declared dead. Then they start murdering people in cold blood so the good guys can take them down with no moral quandaries.

** As part of his introductory PR tour, John Walker gets interviewed on ''[[{{Creator/ABC}} Good Morning America]]''.

* SanitySlippage: Walker becomes steadily unhinged over the course of the series due to the stress of taking on the mantle of Captain America and the constant frustration of hunting Karli and the other Flag-Smashers. This comes to a head in episode 4 after [[spoiler:Walker takes the Super Soldier serum. He becomes increasingly violent, and after Battlestar is murdered by Karli, he completely goes off the deep end and brutally murders one of the Flag-Smashers in broad daylight in front of a horrified crowd]].

** Episode 4: The shot of John Walker holding the Shield, [[spoiler:covered in blood after having brutally murdered Nico, who was unarmed and begging for his life, in front of the whole world to see]].

* YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters: The Flag-Smashers, as lampshaded by Karli herself. To the US Military and law enforcement, they're radicals who want to take the world back to a dark age, like it was during The Blip, and are made more dangerous by the fact they have superpowers. To their supporters and themselves, they're a RagtagBunchOfMisfits with noble goals, doing what they can to help people that are being ignored by the world's governments, and see the time during the Blip, when borders were weakened and the world banded together to survive, as proof that the world shouldn't be divided by countries and humanity should be united. As a superhero who does work for the government, Sam is meant to be taking them down, but he demonstrates sympathy for their goals, especially as the government is hardly treating him fairly.

** Karli accidentally [[spoiler:kills Lamar]] with a punch when he collides with a beam, hitting his head hard.

* SanitySlippage: Walker becomes steadily unhinged over the course of the series due to the stress of taking on the mantle of Captain America and the constant frustration of hunting Karli and the other Flag-Smashers. This comes to a head in episode 4 after [[spoiler:Walker takes the Super Soldier serum. He becomes increasingly violent, and after Battlestar is accidentally killed by Karli, he completely goes off the deep end and brutally murders one of the Flag-Smashers in broad daylight in front of a horrified crowd]].

* PietaPlagiarism: [[spoiler:Karli dies in Sam's arms in this pose]]. He then carries the corpse out to the police this way, highlighting the tragedy.