The Falcon and the Winter Soldier: What’s hidden in plain sight in episode 6

What’s Sharon Carter really up to?

Of the people who watched Falcon and the Winter Soldier, there was disagreement over Karli being portrayed in a sympathetic light despite her killing innocent people for her cause. Others disagreed over how quickly the show forgave John Walker despite him murdering an unarmed, surrendered terrorist. And there was even disagreement on whether Sam or Bucky should’ve been the next Cap. But there’s one thing you can find agreement on: Nobody likes the Sharon Carter as the Power Broker twist. Or rather non-twist since most viewers figured it out before the finale, even as early as episode three.

It’s because nobody likes the Sharon Carter twist that a new theory has begun popping up all over the internet. What if Sharon Carter isn’t Sharon Carter? What if she’s really… a Skrull?

While there’s certainly a degree of wishful thinking about this, it’s not that crazy of an idea. In the first place, based on the mid-credits teaser, we know that Sharon isn’t working alone. Second, we know that there’s a Secret Invasion television series in the works. In the original comic book event, this involved a renegade group of Skrulls attempting to take over Earth by placing themselves into key strategic positions within every major government and intelligence organization. Who better to impersonate than the grandniece of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s co-founder, Peggy Carter.

Third, the last time anyone saw Sharon prior to The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was Captain America: Civil War, which, according the timeline of the MCU, took place seven years prior to the events of the series. It was during those seven years in which Sharon became a fugitive and half the world’s population vanished for five years thanks to Thanos’ snapping of his Infinity Gauntlet fingers. That’s plenty of time for any surviving Skrulls to take advantage of the chaos and hide themselves among Earth’s remaining populace.

It’s also plenty of time and opportunity for them to abduct and replace Sharon, too. At the very least, such a reveal would go a long way to explain why Sharon went full-blown international crime boss other than “the government took too long in giving me a pardon.” But whether Sharon is a Skrull or just broke bad, her gaining access to government secrets and technology seems too big of plot to be ignored. Why else devote an entire mid-credits sequence to it, after all?

As for the next Disney + outing from Marvel Studios, we’ll have to wait until June 11th for the premiere of Loki. As this is a series involving travel between time, space, and other dimensions, who knows what strange and unusual Marvel related treasures and references we might find.

What Easter Eggs, hints, and clues did you find in episode 6 of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier? Let know below in the comments section.