Disney+ Service: 5 things we need in the Falcon and Winter Soldier MCU mini-series

Scratching beyond the surface

The rivalry between Sam & Bucky was introduced in Captain America: Civil War when Steve Rogers had to get a crew of heroes loyal to him to take on Iron Man and his group of pro-registration heroes.

Bucky Barnes is Captain America’s childhood friend from over 70 years ago, both having undergone their own kind of cryogenic freezing. Bucky and Steve have gone through a lot together, their friendship even being the catalyst that ultimately broke apart the Avengers in Civil War. While Sam, on the other hand, has had Cap’s back during all of these adventures, standing side by side with him.

So, these two characters coming together is almost like two exes coming face to face, only united by their mutual relationship with Captain America. Their initial negative reactions to one another were only briefly touched upon in the sequences in Civil War when the two took on Spider-Man, done more for humor than anything else. But hopefully, the series will dig a little bit deeper into this friction between them.

How does Sam feel about going from war veteran to fugitive, all thanks to Bucky, whom he initially tried to help Cap bring down? How does Bucky feel about Sam given that he was the friend to Cap that Bucky couldn’t be during his absence? There’s a lot of unresolved issues at play that the writers can take advantage of to create a compelling drama.