Falcon And Winter Soldier Explained - Who Is The New Captain America?

The first episode of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier - the next instalment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe's ever growing and seemingly unending multimedia empire - has just dropped on Disney+.

The series is the second live action Marvel series to launch on the platform after WandaVision, and focuses on Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) and Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) as they navigate the legacy of Captain America, all while facing off against a new threat known as the Flag-Smashers. (Also there's Daniel Bruhl's Zemo too, but his wider role in the series is less certain.)

Episode one spends a lot of time establishing where Sam and Bucky are following the events of Avengers: Endgame, and there's a heavy emphasis on the individual legacies they're both struggling to reconcile with. Sam doesn't feel as though he's worthy of the mantle bestowed to him at the end of Endgame, donating it to the Captain America exhibit in the Smithsonian at the beginning, while Bucky is also struggling trying to move past the many decades he spent performing war crimes for the Soviet Union.

It's... a lot, and you can tell the series is only just starting to articulate its admittedly nebulous thoughts surrounding the idea of legacy (which are complicated further by some weird military fetishism in the intro), but it does end on an intriguing note. As Sam sits in the living room of his sister's house, a member of the Department of Defense reveals that they've gone over both Sam and Steve's wishes for where the shield belongs, and have anointed a new Captain America of their own, who proceeds to give a cheeky wink to the camera after being unveiled.

This new Captain America is actually John Walker, and he's played by Wyatt Russell (son to Hollywood legends Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn). But what will his role in the series be, and who is the character really? Read on to find out...