The MCU is one of the most popular franchises in Hollywood history. The sprawling series has taken over the cinematic landscape and soon the characters that we know and love will be coming to the small screen. Earlier this year Disney announced that certain Marvel heroes will be heading to their streaming service to star in their very own miniseries, and the newest announcement revealed that the Winter Soldier and Falcon would also be joining the roster. Although Bucky Barnes and Sam Wilson have extensive histories in comic book canon, they haven’t spent that much time together, so we’ve put together some possible story arcs that could be easily adapted for Marvel’s newest dynamic duo.
The New Captain America
Probably one of the most likely options on our list, this story that began with Captain America Vol. 5 #26 is also one of the few that actually starred both Bucky and Sam. After the death of Steve Rogers, Bucky takes on the mantle of Captain America and is occasionally joined by Sam, who serves as a voice of reason, helping to center and focus the deprogrammed former assassin. It would be really easy to adapt this story and make it more of a two-header, and it also fits into fan theories that Steve will die in Avengers 4.
Madbomb
Although Bucky Barnes wasn’t alive (or, thanks to later storylines, frozen) when this story first hit shelves, it’s a classic Captain America and Falcon story by the king of comics himself, Jack Kirby. From Captain America Vol. 1 #193-200, this action-packed story sees the pair facing down a conspiracy that goes all the way to the top of the American government, and adapting this could take the series down the political thriller route that worked so well for The Winter Soldier.
Jack Monroe/Nomad
Inspired by Jack Monroe, comics’ second Bucky, taking on the role of the wandering rogue hero Nomad in Captain America Vol. 1 #336–350, we could see the MCU’s vibranium-armed soldier taking on the Nomad persona and partnering up with Sam Wilson as the Captain. This would be a reimagining of the original storyline, which saw Monroe as Nomad team up with Steve Rogers under the new mantle. We’d love to see Falcon take on the Captain title and team up with James Buchanan Barnes as Nomad to embark on a superhero road trip.
U.S. Agent John Walker
With Steve Rogers gone, the United States government assigns a new super soldier to be Captain America. But their pick, John Walker, has massive issues with rage and violence, making him an unreliable and volatile new Sentinel of Liberty. We could imagine this story, which began in Captain America Vol. 1 #333, being brought to life with Sam and Bucky teaming up to take down this terrifying new threat that just so happens to have the backing of the U.S. government.
Sam Wilson: Captain America
We’d love to see Sam Wilson become Captain America, which was what many fans thought would happen when he was added to the roster of the MCU. If the miniseries takes this route, it’s likely that they’d pull inspiration from this run by Rick Remender and Stuart Immonen. In the comics, Sam takes on the mantle in Captain America Vol.7 #25 after Steve Rogers is de-powered and re-aged and needs to choose his own replacement. Of course Steve picks his best friend and longtime partner, Sam Wilson. We can imagine Steve retiring in Avengers 4 and handing the role to Sam, who would team up with Bucky to create a new version of the famed Marvel pairing!
There’s always a chance that they won’t pull from the comics at all, and if that’s the case we think that a pretty cool route they could go would be to make BOTH of the characters Captain America, with Sam representing the spiritual and ideological side of the iconic hero and Bucky representing the physical aspects. It might be a push but both of the boys have held the mantle before and two Caps would be a brilliant way to set the show apart from the film version!
Do you have a fave Falcon and Bucky story? do you think of our theory? Too outrageous? Just want to see Bucky wield the shield? Or is Sam your man? Let us know below!
Images: Marvel
