🚨Warning: There are MASSIVE spoilers ahead for Episode 1 of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier on Disney+!🚨
Hi, hello, I hope you enjoyed our little break where you hopefully tried (and failed, like me) to get over WandaVision before we dive into the next Marvel series. Alright, so, here are all the details I noticed in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Episode 1:
If you're new to these posts, welcome, and I apologize for all of my nerdy yelling! If you're returning after WandaVision, thanks so much for coming back!
1. The very first words we hear in this series are spoken by Steve Rogers, and it's from the conversation Sam and Steve had in Avengers: Endgame.
2. Also, this is just a small continuity detail, but Sam is using the same bag for the shield that Steve used when he brought it to Sam in Endgame.
3. Lt. Joaquin Torres, who Sam meets while working with the Air Force, is actually a super-important character. In the comics, Joaquin takes up the Falcon mantle for a while and becomes Sam Wilson, aka Captain America's sidekick.
4. Sam uses Redwing a lot while fighting in the sky, and in the comics, Redwing is actually the name of Sam's falcon who he shares a telepathic link with.
5. In case you need a refresher, Georges Batroc, who is the leader of the LAF cell Sam fights, was first seen in Captain America: The Winter Soldier when Steve had a badass fight with him on a ship.
6. Also, you can see that Batroc is wearing his signature purple and yellow/gold colors from the comic books.
7. And just a cool parallel, but the first fight scene in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is Sam fighting Batroc, and in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the first fight scene featured Steve fighting Batroc.
8. Torres mentions that the group he's tracking are called the "Flag Smashers." In the Marvel comics, Flag Smasher is someone who clashes with Captain America. His goal is to liberate Earth from national rule.
9. Torres asks if it's true that Steve is actually on a moon base. Notably, in the Marvel comics, the Watcher, aka Uatu, observes the multiverse from the Blue Area of the Moon.
10. When Sam gives Cap's shield to the Smithsonian, the poster of Captain America is on Sam's left, a nod to Steve and Sam's hilarious "on your left" bit, which first happened in The Winter Soldier.
11. While Sam and Rhodey walk through the Captain America exhibit, you can see there are sections dedicated to Bucky going from Steve's friend to a foe, Hydra infiltrating S.H.I.E.L.D., and the Sokovia Accords.
12. And, of course, you can see that Captain America's exhibit has been updated to include his heroism during Avengers: Endgame, including his final mission to return the Infinity Stones.
13. You can see the cover for the first Captain America comic book from 1941, which famously features Captain America punching Hitler on the cover.
14. Also, you can see Steve's selective service card with the "4F" stamp, which he was given at the beginning of Captain America: The First Avenger.
15. And you can spot a newspaper headline that reads "400 Prisoners Liberated," which is a reference to when Steve rescued Bucky and the other soldiers in Captain America: The First Avenger.
16. Bucky sleeps on the floor in his apartment, which connects to a conversation Steve and Sam had in Captain America: The Winter Soldier about how it's hard to adjust to civilian life, specifically a bed.
17. Bucky's list includes several notable names: Rostov is a reference to the Red Barbarian, who imprisoned Bucky in the comics. Zemo is Helmut Zemo, who was the main villain in Civil War and will appear in this show. And Kaminski references Len Kaminski, a Marvel comic writer who worked on stories featuring Sam Wilson.
18. Also, Bucky's notebook is similar to the one Steve kept after he returned in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Of course, Steve's was filled with pop culture references he had to learn, not a list of people he wanted to harm.
19. Bucky helping Yori in the alley is a subtle callback to when Bucky saved Steve in an alley when they were younger in Captain America: The First Avenger.
20. Sam and Sarah's boat is named after their parents, Paul and Darlene Wilson, and in the comics, that's also their parents' names.
21. When Sam is watching the press conference, it's being broadcast by WHiH World News, which is a news network that has been used throughout the MCU movies and TV shows.
22. While his name isn't used in Episode 1, the new Captain America is played by Wyatt Russell, who is starring as John Walker in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
23. Okay, you've got to pause super fast, but in the end credits, you can see a reference to Madripoor, which is from the X-Men comics.
24. You can also see Dec. 16, 1991 during the credits, which is the date Tony's parents were killed by the Winter Soldier.
25. And finally, you can spot the words from the red Hydra book that Zemo used in Captain America: Civil War to reactive Bucky's Winter Soldier programming.
