Marvel’s Falcon and the Winter Soldier will carry on the work of the Avengers on Disney Plus soon. If a new rumor is to be believed, the new series could introduce never-before-seen heroes and villains into the MCU .
Noted insider Daniel Richtman recently claimed it won’t be long before audiences are officially introduced to a fan-favorite group of anti-heroes known as the Thunderbolts.
There was already some speculation circulating that this group could appear in the expanded universe unfurling on the small screen.
As fans know, when the Avengers split up, Captain America, Falcon, and the Winter Soldier went “rogue” and started living a life on the run from the feds. It’s assumed that in Falcon and the Winter Soldier , the events of Avengers: Endgame have landed the pair back in the good graces of the world’s governments.
While the appearance of the Thunderbolts hasn’t been confirmed for the Disney Plus series, other rumblings of a villain from “way, way back” featuring in the show have been persistent. Both Richtman and Spencer Perry of Comicbook.com believe this, too, could be pointing at Zemo and his team featuring prominently.
Over the last few months, there have been whispers of a television series or a movie starring the anti-heroes being in the works. Considering Falcon and the Winter Soldier is slated to be the first new MCU series, it could be used as a vehicle — and jumping-off point — for the Thunderbolts story to expand further.
The series, starring Anthony Mackie as Falcon and Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes (also known as the Winter Soldier), could feature other cameos as well. Characters like Don Cheadle’s War Machine are expected to play big parts in the MCU post Endgame . Despite those expectations, it’s not known whether War Machine will be making a return.
Comicbook.com points out that Baron Zemo is slated to be one of the “big bads” on Falcon and the Winter Soldier. The tie-in works, because in the comics, Zemo was the original leader of the Thunderbolts.
When Zemo took over the Thunderbolts, he convinced the motley crew to pose as heroes after the Avengers — and the rest of Earth’s mightiest warriors — were thought to have died in a battle against The Onslaught. After the public began embracing the new band of “heroes,” some of the former villains enjoyed the plaudits so much that they considered themselves reformed — even after the original do-gooders returned.
The character of Baron Zemo first made an appearance on the big screen in Avengers: Civil War . It was his revenge plot in the movie that eventually led to the literal infighting that split the Avengers into two separate squads.
Falcon and the Winter Soldier is expected to debut this fall, but the series has suffered a recent setback. Shooting was supposed to begin earlier this month, but CinemaBlend reports that damage to the series’ location in Puerto Rico — damage attributed to earthquakes — has caused a delay.
