What the release dates for The Falcon & the Winter Solider and WandaVision could mean for Phase 4
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier will be our first look at a TV show that 100% embraces the MCU.
The first half of the 2020 releases is interesting for the MCU—it will see Black Widow return in her self-titled movie, in a story that takes place before her death in Avengers: Endgame. The first Disney Plus MCU series, The Falcon & the Winter Soldier will be our second look oat a post-Thanos MCU. Very little is know about this first MCU series except that it will find Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes teaming up in a worldwide adventure that will also see Zemo and Sharon Carter return.
While we don’t know much about The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, we can speculate. Looking at the Phase Four lineup as it is, it doesn’t appear that this series will have any kind of direct link to any of the other series or films that are currently scheduled; instead choosing to focus on its own story. Assuming this series takes any cues from the Captain America films that came before it, it’s probably a safe bet to say the show will likely only connect to the MCU of the past with only the tiniest hints of its future. Although, the last time we saw both Zemo and Sharon Carter was in Captain America: Civil War—Black Widow takes place after those events. Could that be some clue to a connection between Black Widow and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier?
A Scarlett Johansson cameo in the series is unlikely, but I’ve long wondered what happened when Captain America returned the Soul Stone at the end of Avengers: Endgame. If a soul needs to be sacrificed to obtain the stone, what happens when the stone was returned? “A Soul for a Soul.” Could Black Widow be a moment that Natasha looks back on as she’s falling to her doom on Vormir? By the film’s end, could we see Natasha alive and well because Steve returned the stone?
A post-credits scene that features Sam Wilson and/or Bucky Barnes is not unlikely in connecting the MCU’s film side with the start of the television side. If we’re lucky, the Soul Stone being returned to Vormir saves Natasha and would allow a small cameo in this Disney Plus series.