The Falcon And The Winter Soldier: 10 Ways It Made Sam & Bucky More Interesting

Although WandaVision left Marvel’s streaming output with a high bar to top, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier has managed to successfully take the torch and run with it. After a slow start, the series is now in full swing with spectacular action sequences, sharp social and political themes, and a handful of fascinating villains (some of whom are sympathetic, others not so much).

Above all, the series has rounded out its title characters, Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes. This dynamic previously coasted on Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan’s incredible on-screen chemistry, but The Falcon and the Winter Soldier has deepened their characterization significantly.

10 Buddy Cop Dynamic

Since Sam and Bucky finally teamed up in the second episode, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier has defined itself with the tone of a “buddy cop” movie in the vein of 48 Hrs. or Lethal Weapon.

As with the best entries in this subgenre, like Midnight Run, Beverly Hills Cop, and Bad Boys II, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier has used Sam and Bucky’s mismatched crimefighters dynamic to bring out the best in each character.

9 Sam’s Insecurities About Taking On Steve’s Mantle

The ending of Endgame made choosing a new Captain America look like an open-and-shut case, but The Falcon and the Winter Soldier revealed that Sam isn’t as eager to take Steve’s shield as Steve was to give it to him.

Sam’s insecurities about taking on Steve’s mantle and continuing his legacy have added a lot of depth to a character who was often written pretty blandly as a supporting player in larger ensemble movies.

8 Bucky’s Therapy

Part of the government’s agreement to reingratiate former Hydra assassin “the Winter Soldier” back into civilized society is court-mandated therapy sessions with a strangely judgmental therapist.

The series has only offered brief glimpses of Bucky’s therapy, but the writers have used those sessions – particularly the group therapy session with Sam at the police station – to dig into what makes Bucky tick, and the remorse he feels for the killings he committed under the influence of Hydra’s brainwashing.

7 Tensions With John Walker

A huge part of what brought Sam and Bucky together in early episodes of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was their mutual hatred of John Walker. Walker initially presented himself as a nice guy who wanted to work with them, but they couldn’t bring themselves to work with a Captain America who wasn’t Steve Rogers.

Sam and Bucky’s mistrust of Walker proved to be warranted when he painted Steve’s shield with the blood of a relatively innocent man in a mad fury. The trio’s tensions culminated in the spectacular opening fight scene in “Truth.”

6 They’ve Evolved From Frenemies Into Genuine Friends

In the earlier Marvel movies, Sam and Bucky constantly insulted each other. At the beginning of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, there was a more playful bent to the constant insults, but they were still pretty clearly frenemies who didn’t like hanging out.

In “Truth,” after Bucky came to help Sam fix up the boat and the two really got to know each other and talked through their problems, they connected and became genuine friends.

5 Dark Secrets

Although the movies’ characterization of Sam and Bucky was pretty thin, they both have long, complicated backstories and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier has brought a couple of dark secrets to the surface.

Namely, Bucky has introduced Sam to Isaiah Bradley, an African-American super-soldier who was imprisoned and experimented on by the U.S. government for 30 years.

4 Sam’s Family

Although Sam Wilson has been around in the MCU for seven years, the franchise has never offered a glimpse into his personal life. The only friends and family that we knew about before The Falcon and the Winter Soldier were his fellow Avengers.

The series has introduced Sam’s sister Sarah and her sons, who have to deal with plenty of their own problems while he’s off saving the world. The show has also explored the Wilson family’s legacy within the local community.

3 What It Means To Be “Captain America”

Now that Steve Rogers is out of the picture, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier has been able to look at the idea of “Captain America” in the abstract. In Endgame, Steve chose Sam as his replacement, and head writer Malcolm Spellman and his team of writers have avoided the easy route in telling the story of a Black Captain America.

This show has examined its themes more closely than perhaps any past MCU media has. In “Truth,” Isaiah Bradley told Sam, “They will never let a Black man be Captain America, and even if they did, no self-respecting Black man would ever want to be.”

2 Zemo Was A Hysterical Foil For The Duo

Some early episodes of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier suffered from a lack of conflict between Sam and Bucky, as they were both pretty similar guys with the exact same goal. Adding Baron Zemo into the mix finally added some conflict to the dynamic.

Whereas their tensions with Walker were serious business, bringing in a decidedly zany incarnation of Zemo allowed the show to finally live up to its “buddy cop” promise. Zemo was essentially the Leo Getz to Sam and Bucky’s Riggs and Murtaugh.

1 Showing Off Their Superpowers

With the aerial acrobatics of the pilot episode’s opening Falcon mission, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier instantly made Sam Wilson’s superpowers much more interesting. Previously, he just flew around and shot machine guns in battle scenes that contained more exciting characters like Iron Man and Black Panther. Now, his powers have been defined a lot better.

The series has been using its action scenes to really explore all the different things the Falcon’s tech can do (and how Sam wields that tech), as well as the capabilities of Bucky’s vibranium arm.

About The Author

Ben Sherlock
(3473 Articles Published)

Ben Sherlock is a writer, comedian, independent filmmaker, and Burt Reynolds enthusiast. He writes lists for Screen Rant and features and reviews for Game Rant. He’s currently in pre-production on his first feature (and has been for a while, because filmmaking is expensive). You can catch him performing standup at odd pubs around the UK that will give him stage time. Previously, he wrote for Taste of Cinema, Comic Book Resources, and BabbleTop.

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