Super human heroes
Michael Idato finds out why Winter has come for two of Marvel’s most ‘relatable’ superheroes.
In the pantheon of Marvel’s comic-book heroes, a rogues’ gallery of mutants and superpowered aliens, there is something distinctly earthly about Falcon (Anthony Mackie) and Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan). Neither is distinctly . . . super.
The two popular characters, who have featured in the films set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, have stepped into their own television series, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. The series picks up six months after Sam Wilson – the Falcon – was handed the mantle of Captain America at the end of the 2019 film Avengers: Endgame.
‘‘It gets more intimate, it gets simpler and, to be honest, it gets more specific,’’ Stan says of the change of emphasis from ensemble film to two-hander television series.
‘‘We could all collaborate and kind of figure out what the scenes were, because we just had, let’s say, maybe five characters we were really tackling, deeply, as opposed to
20. And I don’t think this was trying to be Endgame. The tone is more grounded.’’
Without superpowers, in the classic comic book sense, the two heroes are more relatable, says Stan. ‘‘We can’t turn back time, we can’t freeze things, and lift up buildings and throw them, there’s no spider webs flying out,’’ he says. ‘‘You can say Bucky has the serum [a chemical
created to turn Allied soldiers into ‘super-soldiers’ during World War II], whatever you want to make from that, but they’re very relatable. They’re about as human as it gets.
‘‘The superhero aspect is one way of looking at it, but if you look past that, you’re going to see all these other complex layers about them as people and about the world that it’s set in. I don’t even think we played it as a superhero anything. I mean, we just played the truth of the thing and found it, [so] I feel like it’s much more a character piece than anything.’’
The key villains in the series
are an anarchist anti-patriotism group called the Flag-Smashers, based on a villain who appeared in the Marvel comics known as Flag-Smasher, the son of a diplomat who emerges as an anti-nationalist figure to challenge Captain America. Though the television series is not consciously political, it is hard not to see a context for such a narrative in present-day America.
‘‘I think that’s much more in the audience’s projection,’’ Stan says. ‘‘Now more than ever, I feel like the difference of working on something that feels very close to the bone, that is real, that is relatable and significant is obviously a much better working experience than something that isn’t.
‘‘It felt like we really did connect to something that was real and important, and there was an awareness to the show,’’ Stan adds. ‘‘I didn’t feel like it was trying to push some agenda or some message. It just was simply saying, ‘Look, I know what you’re thinking, and I’m thinking the same thing. And here we are, so what are we going to do about it?’’’
The series also dips deeply into the power of prop iconography, with the staremblazoned shield of Captain America. Alongside the lightsabers from Star Wars and Wonder Woman’s golden lariat, it is one of the most recognisable props in popular culture.
But the power of such symbols changes over time, Mackie says. ‘‘The lightsaber in the first three Star Wars is very different to the lightsaber in the last 12 to 25, however many they have made [of] Star Wars.’’ he says. ‘‘And Captain America’s shield never really had that iconic [impact] with the everyday man the way the lightsaber or Superman’s crest or Batman’s bat-symbol did.
‘‘As you get older, those things start to lose strength, and prowess, and ability to inspire and that’s why it’s so important in this show, everyone needs a symbol, they need something to stand behind.
‘‘That shield has become that for an entire generation because of the work that Marvel has done. So it’s a very profound and engaging symbol, worldwide now, but at the same time, it is humbling to stand in front of it and possess it.’’
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‘It felt like we really did connect to something that was real and important, and there was an awareness to the show.’ SEBASTIAN STAN
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is now streaming on Disney+.