The Falcon and the Winter Soldier creator Malcolm Spellman reveals the conflict facing Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) in Marvel’s Captain America 4: being a star-spangled superhero who’s not a Super Soldier. Sam and Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) grapple with a recreated Super Soldier Serum let loose in the Marvel Studios original series, where an eventually enhanced John Walker (Wyatt Russell) proves to be no replacement for a retired Steve Rogers (Chris Evans). When Sam soars into action as the all-new Captain America in the series finale — taking flight on Vibranium wings gifted to him by Wakanda — it’s without any serum’s man-made superhuman abilities.
In “One World, One People,” Captain America battles Batroc (Georges St-Pierre) to a standstill before his star-spangled shield holds up against a clobbering at the hands of the Super Soldier Serum-empowered Karli Morgenthau (Erin Kellyman). Because Sam told Baron Zemo (Daniel Brühl) he’d decline a dose of the serum, Spellman expects the next Captain America story to address Sam’s lack of powers:
“I believe that’s going to be his conflict moving forward. It’s appropriate,” Spellman told Everyone Loves a Good Story. “In the action genre, what made Die Hard a classic wasn’t who Bruce Willis beat, it was what he went through to beat them.”
“He’s walking through glass with no shoes on, you know what I’m saying,” Spellman added about Willis’ embattled cop John McClane. “That’s what people can identify with: ‘This motherf—er is just like me and taking on the bad guys.’ What better hero than that to root for?”
Spellman has not confirmed reports he will co-write Captain America 4 with Falcon and Winter Soldier staff writer Dalan Musson, who penned the hard-hitting “Truth” episode dealing with the “complicated” legacy of Captain America’s shield and the covered-up history of Black Super Soldier Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly).
The series head writer recently told UNILAD he has “no idea what’s happening with Cap 4″ — the movies are “[Marvel Studios president and producer] Kevin Feige stuff,” he said — but Spellman did reveal the Falcon and Winter Soldier writers’ room once discussed giving Falcon his ability to talk to birds from the Marvel comic books.
All episodes of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier are now streaming on Disney+.