| For other uses, see Star Spangled Man (disambiguation) |
- "Star-spangled man with a plan and all that. It's always been in the job description. Listen, this suit, it comes with expectations, brother."
- ―Lemar Hoskins to John Walker
The Star-Spangled Man is the second episode of the first season of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier.
Synopsis[]
John Walker is named Captain America, and Sam and Bucky team up against a rebel group.
Plot[]
Captain John Walker is in his old high school's locker room, reeling from his appointment as the next Captain America. His friend Lemar Hoskins arrives to help him prepare for his interview in front of the stadium audience and on national television. During his televised appearance, Walker, despite being a highly decorated soldier, confesses that it would be a tough job filling in the shoes of his idol and predecessor, Steve Rogers.
Among those watching the interview is Bucky Barnes, who angrily confronts Sam Wilson about giving up Rogers' shield to the U.S. Government. Wilson's drone Redwing is able to track the Flag Smashers down to Munich; Barnes tags alongside Wilson for the mission despite the latter's wishes. In the middle of a forest stands a ruined warehouse, where they find the Flag Smashers transporting stolen vaccines into trucks. The two attempt to stealthily ambush the group, but Redwing's heat vision discovers an apparent hostage in a truck, prompting them to chase the transports.
Barnes breaches the truck and finds a young woman inside, but quickly realizes that she is not a hostage when she attacks with super strength. While the Flag Smashers pin down Barnes, the woman destroys Redwing and fends off Wilson. Walker and Hoskins arrive via helicopter to aid the two Avengers, having used Redwing to track their location. Barnes is left hanging from the transport's chassis, and while Wilson rescues him, Walker and Hoskins are overpowered and forced off the vehicle.
As Barnes deduces that the eight Flag Smashers are enhanced by a Super Soldier Serum, Walker offers him and Wilson a ride to the airport, which they reluctantly accept. Walker explains that while the Global Repatriation Council manages resources for the blipped refugees, he and Hoskins are assigned to maintain order throughout the world. He also unsuccessfully tries to recruit the two to his cause, while attempting to assure Wilson that he is not trying to mimic Rogers' persona, but rather trying to become the best Captain America he can be. Meanwhile, the Flag Smashers take refuge inside the home of a supporter. Their leader receives a threatening text from an unknown number, and the group quickly discovers that Interpol had issued arrest warrants for all of them, prompting them to purge all traces of their identity.
Arriving in Baltimore, Barnes brings Wilson to the home of Isaiah Bradley, a super-soldier whom Barnes fought during the Korean War as the Winter Soldier, to recruit him against the Flag Smashers. At the mention of the appearance of more super soldiers globally, however, Isaiah quickly breaks down, recalling his 30-year imprisonment as an experiment for the U.S. Government and HYDRA following the War, before forcing them out of the house. Wilson is infuriated at Barnes for not informing him about Bradley's existence. Their heated argument attracts the attention of the police, who ask if Wilson is bothering Barnes. After discovering their identities, the police instead arrest Barnes for missing his pardon-mandated therapy session.
Walker arrives at the detention facility to release Barnes, while Dr. Christina Raynor forces Barnes and Wilson into a therapy session as a condition of his release. As Raynor uses the soul-gazing exercise to get the two to talk to each other, Barnes tells Wilson that by giving up the shield, he is essentially throwing away Rogers' legacy and all that he stood for, as well as his trust. Wilson in return defends his decision, and proposes that they never see each other again after their mission is completed. Impatient, the two abandon therapy only to find Walker outside, who informs them that the Flag Smashers' leader is named Karli Morgenthau, and that the group has been spotted in Central Europe.
As they are free agents, Barnes and Wilson decide to separate from Walker to confront the Flag Smashers. Meanwhile, at a Slovakian airport, the group is loading their boxes of stolen vaccines in an airplane as authorities close in. However, a Flag Smasher sacrifices himself to buy enough time for the plane to take off. Having been reminded of HYDRA's super-soldier research from Isaiah, Barnes gets the idea to visit Helmut Zemo in prison, seeking to extract all of the organization's secrets from him.
Cast[]
Main Cast:
- Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson/Falcon
- Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier
- Wyatt Russell as John Walker/Captain America
- Erin Kellyman as Karli Morgenthau/Flag Smasher
- Danny Ramirez as Joaquín Torres
- Daniel Brühl as Helmut Zemo
Guest Stars:
- Clé Bennett as Lemar Hoskins/Battlestar
- Carl Lumbly as Isaiah Bradley
- Desmond Chiam as Dovich
- Dani Deetté as Gigi
- Indya Bussey as DeeDee
- Renes Rivera as Hector Lennox
- Tyler Dean Flores as Diego
- Ness Bautista as Matias
- Amy Aquino as Doctor Christina Raynor
- Elijah Richardson as Eli Bradley
- Noah Mills as Nico
- Gabrielle Byndloss as Olivia Walker
- Mike Ray as Alonso Barber
- Neal Kodinsky as Rudy
- Sara Haines as Herself
- Scott Parks as Cop #1
- Richard Christian Wooley as Cop #2
- Ian Covell as Drunk
- Jonathan Horne as Nervous Employee
- Jecobi Swain as Neighborhood Kid
- Rashaad Horne as Drumline Drum Major
- Monique Mcneal as Drumline Dancer
- Haley Daykin as Drumline Dancer
- Taya Bluiett as Drumline Dancer
- Sheena Brown as Drumline Dancer
- Sheneé Campbell as Drumline Dancer
- Leon S LaMar III as Police Officer / SWAT (uncredited)
- Unknown Actor as Gary (uncredited)
Appearances[]
Locations[]
- Custer's Grove, Georgia
- New York City, New York
- Munich, Germany
- Baltimore, Maryland
- Bratislava, Slovakia
- Berlin, Germany
- West Point, New York (footage)
- United States Military Academy (footage)
- Chile (mentioned)
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (mentioned)
- Wakanda (mentioned)
- Goyang, South Korea (mentioned)
- Siberia, Russia (mentioned)
- HYDRA Siberian Facility (indirectly mentioned)
Events[]
- Flag Smashers' Political Ultimatum
- Snap (mentioned)
- Blip (mentioned)
- Korean War (mentioned)
- Avengers Civil War (indirectly mentioned)
Items[]
- Vibranium
- EXO-7 Falcon
- Captain America's Uniform
- Good Morning America
- Super Soldier Serum (mentioned)
Vehicles[]
Sentient Species[]
Creatures[]
Organizations[]
- United States Army
- United States Air Force
- United States Department of Defense
- Flag Smashers
- Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection
- Bundeswehr
- Baltimore Police Department
- American Broadcasting Company
- Avengers (mentioned)
- HYDRA (mentioned)
- Global Repatriation Council (mentioned)
- Interpol (computer screen)
- Black Order (indirectly mentioned)
- Masters of the Mystic Arts (indirectly mentioned)
Mentioned[]
- Campbell (picture)
- Steve Rogers
- Tony Stark
- Bruce Banner
- Doctor Strange
- Sharon Carter
- The Hobbit
- Robin Hood
Music[]
| Song title | Artist | Location(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Star Spangled Man |
| |
| Requiem K626, Lacrimosa | Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart |
|
Videos[]
Trivia[]
- A German truck seen in the episode has the license plate "20 11 EKH", which is almost the same plate seen on Wanda Maximoff's car in the WandaVision episode Previously On. However, this cannot be a real German plate, as the region code would be at the start.
- Helmut Zemo's prison room number at the Berlin Correctional Facility is 2187, a nod to the Death Star prison cell where Princess Leia was held in Star Wars.
References[]
External Links[]
The Star-Spangled Man on Wikipedia- The Star-Spangled Man on IMDb
- The Star-Spangled Man on Disney+
- The Star-Spangled Man on Marvel Database
| Season One | New World Order • The Star-Spangled Man • Power Broker • The Whole World Is Watching • Truth • One World, One People |