The final reel of Avengers: Endgame teased all kinds of tantalising futures for the Marvel Cinematic Universe – including the moment an elderly Steve Rogers handed over the Captain America shield to none other than Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson, aka Falcon, under the watchful eye of Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes. The fallout of that moment is at the heart of Marvel’s new Disney+ series The Falcon And The Winter Soldier, taking Cap’s two closest allies and pitching them forward into a chaotic post-Blip world without their former friend to fight alongside them, promising a whole new legacy for two characters who have already been a part of the MCU for years.
In the new issue of Empire, Mackie and Stan recalled the moment they learned that Sam would be receiving Cap’s shield in Endgame – though they found out in very different ways, with Mackie getting the heads-up from Chris Evans directly while watching a football match with a bunch of other Marvel co-stars, and Stan finding out, er, the day they shot the scene.
“Anthony found out from Chris Evans at a party that I was not invited to,” laughs Stan. As Mackie (who says Stan only wasn't there because he isn't a sports fan) remembers it: “Chris Pratt was holding court, and so [Evans said], ‘Come downstairs, I want to show you something. He was like, ‘Have you seen the final scene?’ I’m like, ‘No.’ So he runs out, gets the script, and he literally sits me on the couch, and the whole time I’m reading it he’s just pacing back and forth like, ‘Oh my God, oh my God!’ It was a fun, emotional moment that we shared with nobody else.” Hence, his co-star had a very different experience. “I found out the day that we were shooting, when someone handed me the scene on the spot in my costume,” says a mock-wounded Stan.
Thankfully, Stan was less worried about who got the shield in that scene, and never expected it to go to Bucky. “It never really made sense to me – he just was not in a place for that, mentally,” he says. “I’m not sure where the character would have gone even if that had happened.”
It’s not just our heroes who have new gear heading into The Falcon And The Winter Soldier – the villainous Zemo is also back, and this time round Daniel Brühl gets to don the baddie’s iconic purple mask. It’s going to be a more theatrical take on the character than the grieving family man who caused havoc for Steve Rogers and Tony Stark back in Captain America: Civil War.
“It’s not just the mask, it’s the costume,” says Brühl. “It does something with him as a whole. He’s evolved. He’s a different man now.”
Read Empire’s full The Falcon And The Winter Soldier cover story in the new issue, on sale Thursday 18 March – and available to pre-order online here. The series begins streaming on Disney+ from Friday 19 March.