Falcon & The Winter Soldier TV Show Kills Captain America Rumours
No, they won't replace Steve Rogers...
There's always been a line of thinking that Marvel Studios would follow the comics in terms of legacy characters, replacing the mainline heroes as their actors moved on, just as James Bond has been "regenerated" several times. Unfortunately, that approach would be difficult for the MCU, because of how tied to the success of the characters the actors have been. No matter who was cast as the second Iron Man, they'd not live up to Robert Downey Jr. No matter who came in as Captain America, they'd never be able to step out of Chris Evans' shadow.
Marvel Comics have struggled with the same thing over the years, even as they've persisted with legacy characters, which is partly why any major character who is retired to be replaced by a second generation hero usually ends up being revived elsewhere in their original role. Fans like continuity and the strength of brands, even as they seek difference.
It had been thought by some fans that Captain America would be the easiest to replace since he has two ready-made stand-ins already in Bucky and Sam Wilson, but it now looks like Marvel have something else in mind for the would-be Cap 2s. They're getting their own show, according to a new rumour being put out by Variety.
They say that Malcolm Spellman has "been tapped to write a series featuring the two superheroes, which is currently in development" for Disney's new streaming platform, which is looking more and more exciting by the day. There's no confirmation on the thrust of the show, but it can't be a prequel, given that Bucky and Falcon only met during Civil War and have no pre-existing history together. Other than when Falcon was off trying to find him (and failing), which wouldn't exactly make a great TV show.
This suggests that both characters have to make it out of Avengers 4 alive. But it probably doesn't mean that either of them is going to be the next Captain America. There's just no way that Marvel would be unveiling a Captain America TV show when they know that his movies are potentially billion dollar prospects in themselves. That's not how you feed a brand.
Now, it COULD be that Marvel are planning on using the Bucky/Falcon show as a means to launch a new Captain America for the movies - almost like an America's Next Top Superhero - but that's why they absolutely shouldn't. Even setting up a new Cap in that manner devalues the MCU's flagship character. He, Spider-Man, Iron Man, Captain Marvel, Hulk, Doctor Strange and Thor should be nowhere near the TV shows (aside for cameos if they're alive), regardless of how prestigious Disney want them to be. They're still a secondary concern and the people that did that were Marvel themselves with their own approach to existing TV shows.
On top of that, neither Bucky nor Falcon should even be the next Captain America. As Marvel's comic book writers have recognised, Bucky (or The Winter Soldier at least) is an interesting enough character on his own, he doesn't need to only ever be considered a stand-in-in-the-making. And he has a pretty fervent fanbase among MCU fans already (enough, in fact, to warrant a butt-focused poster for Infinity War). He's too good in his own right to be Cap.
And unfortunately for Falcon, he's not interesting enough in his current guise to be Captain America. He's actually a better candidate than Bucky because he's less interesting, ironically, but therein lies the problem: you don't want to devalue Cap and Falcon is fine as a character on his own too. Neither looks as ready-made a replacement as we might initially have thought. The best option would be to recast, probably, but that's not likely to happen - at least not right now - so it's unlikely we'll see a new Cap for now.
Whether that's right or wrong remains to be seen, but it's still great to see Buck and Sam getting their own series.