Another week brings us another action-packed episode of the MCU's newest television show. Let's
take a look at where The Falcon and the Winter Soldier leaves us at the end of its third episode.
Shortly after "Power Broker" opens, we see just how far Bucky is willing to go to pursue
the Flag Smashers and find the Super Soldier Serum: he's willing to break his old nemesis,
Baron Zemo, out of prison, much to Sam's surprise and disapproval. Not only that,
but we learn quite a bit more about Zemo than we ever had before. Not only does he come from an
incredibly wealthy family, but, just like in the Marvel comics, he's also a baron,
a detail fans have been wondering about since his MCU introduction in 2014.
"I'm a baron, Sam. My family was royalty until your friends destroyed my country."
Additionally, fans get the first look at Zemo's famous purple mask when he dons it at the end
of the trio's trip to Madripoor. Located in Southeast Asia, Madripoor is a recognizable
locale from the pages of Marvel Comics, often associated with the X-Men — namely Wolverine.
Zemo, Sam, and Bucky visit the country to get information from Selby, one of Zemo's underworld
contacts. The nation is characterized as a lawless, cutthroat area full of crime,
thieves, and otherwise sketchy characters. This is why the trio has to play their parts carefully,
with Sam taking on the identity of another Marvel comics character, Smiling Tiger. Bucky,
meanwhile, slips back into his Winter Soldier alias acting as Zemo's mind-controlled muscle.
Their cover is eventually blown when Sam is forced to take a phone call from his sister
Sarah and put it on speaker so the entire room can hear. Sarah calls him by his real name,
prompting Selby to order her men to attack. But before her crew can act,
someone from outside fires a bullet that kills Selby instead — sending Sam, Bucky,
and Zemo on the run through the streets of Madripoor with a bounty on their heads.
Alerted to the price on our heroes' heads, the people of Madripoor are
on high alert and waste no time coming after Sam, Bucky, and Zemo. The trio seems done for,
but they're saved in the nick of time by former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Sharon Carter,
who reveals what she's been up to since her last MCU appearance in Captain America: Civil War.
In the 2016 film, she's shown stealing both Sam's Falcon wings and the Captain America
shield for Steve Rogers from the United States government; they'd been confiscated since the
heroes were branded criminals for choosing not to sign the Sokovia Accords. For helping them,
Sharon was labeled an enemy of the state and had no choice but to escape the U.S.
Her travels led her to Madripoor, where she's built an impressive life for herself.
Sharon goes above and beyond to help Sam, Bucky, and Zemo find their next target,
the man responsible for creating the new Super Soldier serum, and then helps them stay alive
long enough to flee Madripoor. However, rather than join them for the next stop on their quest,
Sharon decides to stay put. While Sam promised to get her pardoned upon the mission's completion,
until it goes through she's still a wanted fugitive. Sharon Carter has a long history in
the comics as an ally of Captain America, but her time in Madripoor may have led her to prioritize
her own well-being. We'll have to see whether she pops up again as a friend or foe to Bucky or Sam.
So far, luck hasn't been on Sam and Bucky's side when it comes to finding Karli Morgenthau
and the rest of the Flag Smashers. The next best thing would be to find who's responsible for the
return of the Super Soldier Serum, something that Zemo manages to uncover during his negotiations
with Selby. Before she's killed, she tells them that the person producing it is named Dr. Wilfred
Nagel, a scientist who works for the mysterious Power Broker and has gone to horrendous lengths
to replicate Dr. Erskine's formula. Thanks to Sharon's connections in Madripoor's underworld,
she discovers his secret lab's location hidden inside a series of shipping containers.
As Dr. Nagel explains to Sam, Bucky, and Zemo after they enter his lab, HYDRA recruited him
to revitalize the long-dormant Winter Soldier program. However, his career faced a shift
when HYDRA collapsed, and he then went to work with the CIA. During that time, Dr. Nagel used
the blood samples of unsung Super Soldier Isaiah Bradley to successfully recreate and
further refine the serum. Unfortunately for him, he disappeared in Thanos' infamous snap, returning
five years later to find the CIA no longer had use for his research. Bent on completing his work,
Dr. Nagel came to Madripoor — with none other than the Power Broker as his financial backer.
Before Sam and Bucky can get any more information out of Dr. Nagel,
Zemo shoots and kills him. There's good and bad that comes out of Dr. Nagel's death:
The good is that he can't make any more Super Soldier Serum, and unless someone else also
knows how to create it, Sam, Bucky, and Zemo now have something of an edge in their mission.
The bad, of course, is that they won't get any more answers or leads from the scientist.
While our heroes attempt to crack the case of the Super Soldier Serum's reemergence, we learn
a bit more about Flag Smashers figurehead Karli Morgenthau. It's revealed that she has a strong
connection to someone she refers to as "Mama Donya Madani," who dies toward the end of the episode
from tuberculosis. Karli uses this loss to fuel her mission of helping those whose lives have been
disrupted and who've been displaced since half the world's population returned from the Blip.
It sounds like a noble enough cause, but her methods are questionable at best.
Not only did Karli steal all of the Power Broker's remaining doses of Super Soldier Serum,
but she and the Flag Smashers are also now using it to spread chaos wherever they go.
Even after stripping a Global Repatriation Council shelter of its stockpiled resources,
Karli uses a car bomb to send the building up in flames while the GRC's people are still
inside. She claims that doing so is the only way to get those opposed to the Flag Smashers'
cause to listen, but even Karli's ally Dovich is taken aback by this new level of violence.
Viewers don't see much of John Walker this week, but what they do get is quite
revealing. He's first shown infiltrating a suspected Flag Smashers refuge and almost
immediately losing his cool on the man who owns the building. Walker attempts
to use his status as Captain America to threaten him, going as far as using
physical force to interrogate him. And when it doesn't work, Walker fumes. Later on,
we see Walker speak with Lemar Hoskins about their plan to stop the anarchist group:
"Lemar, if we get the job done, you really think they're gonna sweat us on the 'how?'"
It doesn't take an extensive knowledge of the world of Marvel to know that an attitude like
this is grossly unbefitting of anyone calling themselves Captain America. Even without seeing
this exchange, Bucky is well aware of this, and when he, Sam, and Zemo are on the plane leaving
Madripoor, Bucky tells Sam he's going to take Steve's shield from Walker once their mission
is over. The shield means too much to Bucky to see its importance and the legacy behind it
desecrated while it's in Walker's hands. Bucky knows the world needs a new Captain America,
but not the one it has right now, and he goes on to imply that he'd take the title if need be.
However, Sam now realizes he regrets giving up the shield and also wants to get it back — to
destroy it. Neither of these two agree on what should be done with the shield,
but they both know it can't stay in Walker's hands. Of course,
if you're looking to the comic books for your answer, you're out of luck:
both the Falcon and the Winter Soldier have spent time using the name Captain America and carrying
his signature shield. Bucky took the mantle first in 2008's Captain America (vol. 3) #34, while Sam
started his stint as Captain America a few years later, in 2014's Captain America (vol 7) # 25.
At this point, it's anybody's guess as to which one of these
two will wield the shield by the series' end...if either of them do so at all.
Having evaded the bounty on their heads in Madripoor, Sam, Bucky, and Zemo soon head to
Latvia to learn more about Karli's connection to the late Donya Madani. The trio arrive there
safely, but Bucky can tell that something isn't quite right. He splits off from his allies and
begins retracing their steps, discovering tracking fobs that lead into a nearby alley. He reaches the
end of the fobs' trail, calling out for their owner to reveal themselves. In a magnificent
twist, Dora Milaje member Ayo emerges, explaining that she followed them to Latvia for Zemo.
The connections between Zemo, Bucky, and the entire nation of Wakanda date back to Captain
America: Civil War. Zemo was directly responsible for the death of the Wakandan King T'Chaka,
making him a target for the then-Prince T'Challa, who sought revenge. But Zemo pinned the bombing on
Bucky, leading him and the Black Panther to clash. Thankfully, by the end of the film, the plot came
to light and T'Challa learned of Zemo's treachery. The baron went to jail, and Bucky went to live in
Wakanda to begin rehabilitating himself after his time living as the brainwashed Winter Soldier.
It's hard to blame the Wakandan people for wanting Zemo locked up once again.
It'll be very intriguing to see how Wakanda and its people factor into the next three
episodes of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier now that they've made their presence known.
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