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Bucky Barnes: The Story So Far

James Buchanan Barnes is no stranger to a fight. He’s about to embark on another one in the upcoming The Falcon and The Winter Soldier series premiering this week on Disney+. Let’s take a look back at his complicated and sometimes horrid history within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Bucky Barnes and Steve Rogers grow up together as best friends. he was always there to help the weaker Rogers when it came t handling bullies. During a double date, Bucky reveals that he’s enlisting in the army. While fighting in the 107th infantry, he is captured by Armin Zola unaware of Steve’s transformation into Captain America. When he found out about his friends’ torture, he heads out to help him, where he uncovered strange experiments were being done to him. In a mission to capture the German scientist, Barnes gets caught in the ambush and plummets to his presumed death.

It isn’t until Captain America, the Winter Soldier that we are introduced to the Winter Soldier. Bucky survived the fall from the train but lost his left arm in the process. He was found by the Soviet Union and HYDRA, who experimented on him. They gave him superhuman strength and a cybernetic arm. Over the next fifty years, he was their number one assassin, eliminating anyone who posed a threat. Steve confronts him and can reawaken Bucky’s consciousness. He went into hiding ever since until he was framed for the bombing of the UN in Vienna two years later.

He becomes the catalyst of Captain America: Civil War, as Zemo uses him to get his hands on the whereabouts of proto-Super Soldiers in Siberia. He used a secret code implanted into Bucky’s mind that activates his murderous side. It turns out, the wild goose chase with the Avengers was all to unveil secret footage of him killing Stark’s parents to rip the Avengers apart from the inside. Stark attempts his life, where he teams up with Rogers to stop him. In fear of the programming within his mind, he has frozen again in Wakanda so that no one can manipulate him again.

After taking some time to recover, Bucky joins the group of former Avengers to aid them in a battle against Thano’s army in Avengers: Infinity War. He battles alongside Steve and Rocket Raccoon, who tries to buy his new Wakandan arm. Unfortunately, Thanos achieves his goal of gaining all of the stones and snaps half of all life out of existence. Bucky happens to be one of the people who fade from existence. It isn’t until five years later that Bucky is resurrected and participates in the final battle against Thanos. After the war has finally been won, he says farewell to his old friend in a somber moment before allowing Sam Wilson to take

How does Bucky live in a world without Captain America? More importantly, can he? Will his time as the Winter Soldier continues to haunt him? These questions and more will be answered as The Falcon And The Winter Soldier commences on March 19th on Disney+

March 17, 2021
Kevin Feige Says That Chris Evans Says That Chris Evans Won’t Return to the MCU

In early January, a trade report indicated that Chris Evans was working on a deal to return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Captain America. The report was quickly met by a dismissal from Evans who tweeted out that the return was “news to me.” It’s been the norm for Marvel Studios stars to deny their involvement or knowledge of projects; the actors cite their fear of the infamous Marvel snipers and, in dissembling about their involvement, create an air of doubt around anything they say, so EW went right to the one person who would know, Marvel Studios head honcho Kevin Feige, to get the truth!

When asked about Evans returning to the role, Feige had this to say: “I rarely answer no to anything anymore because things are always surprising me with what happens, but that rumor, I think, was dispelled rather quickly by the man himself.” And the internet said, “Welp, guess Evans isn’t coming back because Feige said so.” Except he didn’t say that. Feige didn’t give his opinion on the matter at all; he just told everyone what Evans already said, effectively not answering the question. Now we’re in no position to make any claims about whether or not Evans is coming back as Rogers, but this was more of a non-answer from Feige than a “no” answer from Feige. Take it from the guy he said “no” to leading to Urkel breaking out into laughter.

EW also pressed The Falcon and The Winter Soldier co-stars, Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan, about the topic, and, unsurprisingly, both men took the “I know nothing” approach to answering the question. So we’re left with the equivalent of Feige saying Paul Rudd wasn’t going to be in Ant-Man because Paul Rudd said he wasn’t in Ant-Man, meaning we don’t know anything more or less than we did when you started reading this article. Journalism at its finest.

Source: EW

March 17, 2021
Report: Marvel Studios ‘Moon Knight’ Casting for Marc Spector’s Parents

During this past weekend’s media junket, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier star Sebastian Stan told the global press how much he was looking forward to Oscar Isaac’s Moon Knight, inadvertently confirming Isaac’s involvement in the series. The project is expected to begin filming late this month or early April and now a new report from POC Culture indicates that Marvel Studios is looking to cast a pair of actors that may be playing the parents of Isaac’s Marc Spector.

The casting of Isaac as Spector, whose Jewish heritage is a large part of the character, came as a surprise to many as Isaac, who has explained while he has Jewish roots on his father’s side, described his upbringing as “very Christian.” The report indicates that Marvel Studios is looking to cast two Jewish Latino characters described as a father and mother, under the names Eddie and Willow Silver, for a project set to film next month. The very specific nature of the roles would certainly seem to indicate that they are looking for actors who are a match for Isaac’s own Jewish Latino roots to portray the parents of Marc Spector.

Given that Isaac is 42 years old, the age of the characters (40-50) would seem to indicate that the project will be exploring Spector’s early life via flashbacks. Spector’s father, Elias, was a rabbi whose own checkered past ultimately played a role in his son developing the Dissociative Identity Disorder that would become the defining trait of the character. In the comics, Elias was originally a holocaust survivor, so Marvel will certainly have to update his backstory for the series.

Moon Knight begins production soon and is expected to stream on Disney Plus in 2022.

Source: POC Culture

March 17, 2021
REPORT: ‘Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi’ Adds Production Designer Todd Cherniawsky

Disney+ is only starting its expansion into the Marvel Cinematic Universe and a galaxy far, far away. While the MCU is dominating the streaming service right now, there is quite a bit more of Star Wars just around the corner. In May, we will get the Star Wars: The Clone Wars spin-off, The Bat Batch. The Book of Boba Fett is also in production before they jump on the third season of the series that started Disney+, The Mandalorian. Of course, many other series are in some form of development. We are anxiously awaiting the return of Ewan McGregor in an upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi series. It will tell the story of what happened after the events of Revenge of the Sith. There hasn’t been a lot of updates on the series, but that is changing now.

Discussing Film has exclusively learned that production designer Todd Cherniawsky has joined the series. He has worked with Lucasfilm before. He was the supervising art director for The Last Jedi. He even got nominated at the Art Director’s Guild for his work. He has also worked in another galaxy, as he is also involved with various Star Trek: Discovery and Picard.

He is joining cinematographer Chung-hoon Chung, who just finished up Sony’s live-action adaptation of Uncharted. Some might recognize his work on the Korean films Oldboy and The Handmaiden. Their filmography is a promising showcase of what we can expect from the series. Cherniawsky‘s work on Star Trek could also tease some beautiful alien planets that Obi-Wan will explore in his upcoming quest. It’ll be interesting to see what stories await the Jedi.

Source: DiscussingFilm

March 16, 2021
HBO Max Releasing a ‘Zack Snyder’s Justice League’ Making Of-Documentary

The countdown has begun. Zack Snyder’s Justice League finally releases on HBO Max in just a few days. The film has been through the trenches, and so has everyone behind the project. When the film was first released, it was critically panned and felt far removed from Snyder‘s original vision. The upcoming release will finally give him a chance to bring the version to life that he had to leave behind as he reunited his team for another rodeo.

Now fans will be able to follow that very journey leading up to this monumental release. The film’s Director of Photography and Cameraman, Simon Firsht, whose previous projects include Wonder Woman, Justice League, and Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker, confirmed that a 30-minute documentary will release alongside the film on HBO Max. It will offer a closer look at the events from behind-the-scenes, as this milestone of a director’s cut is finally released.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CMbo3VCh5SA/?igshid=1lf8mtpvnhal7

Zack Snyder’s Justice League releases March 18th exclusively on HBO Max and will see the return of Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, Ray Fisher, Jason Momoa, Ezra Miller, Jared Leto, Cirian Hinds, Ray Porter, and so many more stars who were cut from the theatrical cut of the film. The 4-hour epic will offer people the opportunity to revisit the Knightmare timeline,w which was set-up in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. It will complete the trilogy that started with Man of Steel back in 2013, which would redefine our understanding of the DC Extended Universe on the silver screen. We cannot wait to see Zack Snyder share his experience on finally realizing his original vision.

Source: Instagram

March 16, 2021
Disney+ Adding Genndy Tartakovsky’s ‘Star Wars: Clone Wars’ in April

It looks like Disney+ is about to add some Star Wars history in April. All our eyes are on the release of Falcon and the Winter Soldier that will continue into the next month, but some other big additions are heading our way. There has been a bit of a draught in Star Wars content. We’ve been waiting for more since the release of last year’s The Mandalorian. Well, it looks like Disney has plans to make up for the wait until Star Wars: The Bad Batch releases in May. They are finally releasing the original Star Wars: Clone Wars from 2003 on the service alongside the Ewok series and films.

April 2nd will be a big day for Star Wars historians, as they will add the original two seasons of the animated series, Star Wars: Ewoks. It also includes the film 1984’s Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure and its sequel, Ewoks: The Battle for Endor. It is crazy to think that Disney is adding these pieces of George Lucas’s legacy, which many may have forgotten over time. They are even releasing The Story of the Faithful Wookiee, which is an animated short that was part of the original Holiday Special. Mando’s iconic gun was inspired by a brief sequence featuring Boba Fett in this special.

Now, I am very excited to see the return of the original Clone Wars series. It got developed by Genndy Tartakovsky, who many might know for his work on Samurai Jack and Primal. It ran for three seasons with 25 episodes and originally aired on Cartoon Network. It seems that they are using the structure used fr the DVDs, where the third season, as part of “Volume 2”. It wasn’t deemed canon when Walt Disney took over the franchise. However, there have been references to some moments. It is still great to see them expand the library and embrace the history of the franchise.

Source: Decider

March 16, 2021
‘Falcon and The Winter Soldier’ Post-‘Avengers: Endgame’ Timeline Revealed

The events of Avengers: Endgame have shaped the Marvel Cinematic Universe in new and interesting ways. We got a small glimpse at the consequences when Spider-Man: Far From Home first aired in 2019. WandaVision continued the tradition by taking place only weeks after the events, as we witnessed Monica Rambeau returns from the Snap. It changed the landscape of the MCU and it looks like Falcon and the Winter Soldier will continue the tradition. In an interview with Collider, it was revealed that the series takes place at least six months after the event that was dubbed the Blip in-universe. Director Kari Skogland confirmed that this was an important part when scripting the show:

Everything narratively was informed by that event for us. It meant that we’re just past the shock of it. We’re just past the joy of it — because we’re imagining that there would be a lot of joy, in people returning. Now we’re into the reality of it, which is complicated.

The timeline would set this quite sometime after WandaVision and shortly before Far From Home. It is one of the MCU’s greatest advantages to explore a new kind of world after an event changes everything. Skogland wants to explore this Blipped world and how it is affected politically. Countries had to adapt to half the world vanishing. Head writer Malcolm Spellman also pointed out that this was a big part of how they pitched the show early in the development process. It will be interesting to see how else the events might influence future entries, or if we even get to explore the time period between the Blip and Snap.

Source: Collider

March 16, 2021
First Full Look at ‘Stargirl’s New Villain Eclipso Revealed

After a very well-received first season, we were only waiting for the second season of Stargirl. The show originally streamed as a DCU Original, but it also aired on the CW a day later. It was a way to get the show some more attention. As DCU has become a comic library, it got announced that the show would find its permanent home on the CW. Now, the second season is currently in production, the sophomore season finds the newly founded Justice Society of America facing the wrath of the God, Eclipso.

At the end of the first season, we witnessed a newly freed Cindy Burman rummage through an old storage closet within the former Injustice Society of America’s lair. It was unclear what she was digging for until we saw her pull a small purple diamond from one of the boxes. Our suspicions got confirmed when she uttered the word “Eclipse”. For those who don’t know, Eclipso is the being that represents God’s wrath. He is an angel of vengeance, who would eventually be replaced by the Spectre. The villain is set to be played by Arrowverse alum, Nick Tarabay who previously played Captain Boomerang on Arrow and The Flash.

Stargirl‘s second season doesn’t have a set release date, but will most likely be out by the end of the year. It will see the return of a newly founded JSA led by Courtney Whitmore and Pat Dugan. They are played by Brec Bassinger and Luke Wilson as they recruit more members to their ranks to face a threat far more dangerous than the Injustice Society of America.

Source: TV Line

March 16, 2021
Malcolm Spellman on John Walker’s Humanity in ‘The Falcon and The Winter Soldier’

The next Empire Magazine will feature The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, and give us a few more insights into the series. One that caught my notice was the quote about John Walker, (played by Wyatt Russell) also known in comics as US Agent, and a sometimes rather hot-headed version of Captain America.

Despite being introduced at D23 back in 2019, very little has been seen or said about the character, but one thing we do know, he will be donning the Captain America mantle and taking the shield, at least temporarily in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

Rumors have circulated around the internet, as they often do about these shows, speculating that he’s going to be anything from a racist monster, a true villain, to being a sort of red herring as a villain, to perhaps being messed up and mind-controlled after taking the Super Soldier Serum. Whether any or all of these turn out to be true, it’s likely that Walker, as MCU characters often are, may turn out to be much more complex and sympathetic, than what some of these rumors might suggest. Some new quotes from showrunner Malcolm Spellman certainly support that theory.

“We took him in a more human direction, someone who’s dedicated every minute to being the perfect person to inherit the shield and represent the country.”
Malcolm Spellman via Empire Magazine

There have been a number of quotes recently from various people involved with the series, indicating that mental health and PTSD would be explored and John Walker won’t be an exception here. Those that choose to join the military carry a great deal of stress and trauma, that can stick with them as much as physical wounds sometimes can. This is something that Bucky, Sam, and certainly John Walker, could attest to and help show the audience what these people go through and how it affects, and sometimes scars, them.

“He has to confront that – ‘Was all the stuff I did righteous, if it’s not enough for me to be honoured or accepted as the rightful heir to this mantle?’ Wyatt crushed it – the humanity of that, the scar tissue of his journey.”
Malcolm Spellman via Empire Magazine

One of the things about Steve Rogers Cap that I’ve appreciated is the fact that he’s called Captain America, but he by far isn’t a “I’m going to follow orders and do anything and everything for my country,” kind of guy. The mantle of Captain America, isn’t just about America, to Steve, it’s about an ideal to do the right thing, to do your best. Chances are Walker is a good soldier, been following orders, possibly done some things he feels guilt over but has to live with on the way, so he feels he deserves the mantle for being a good soldier. But to truly be the rightful heir to Steve’s legacy, you have to be a good man too. Here’s hoping John Walker finds his way to be a better man, during the course of the series. (But let’s face it, we all want Sam to get that shield).

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier featured issue of Empire Magazine on March 18th ahead of the serie’s first episode releasing on Friday.

March 16, 2021
Kevin Feige Plays Coy On Old Man Rogers’ Absence in ‘Falcon and the Winter Soldier’

Ever since the ending of Avengers: Endgame, there has been one question keeping us awake at night. Is Steve Rogers still around? We see an older version of the first Avenger hand over the shield to Sam, which becomes the main focus of Falcon and the Winter Soldier. In an interview with Empire, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige played a little coy when asked about Roger’s whereabouts during these events and if the upcoming Disney+ show will also address his absence in its six-episode run:

Yes. In a roundabout way.

Feige really knows how to confirm and de-confirm something in a single sentence. He later continues to point out that “a fair presumption” but “not necessarily the case.” So, it does look like we will get a feeling for what Steve was up to once he got off that bench during the ending of Endgame. He leaves behind a legacy that will be the emotional core of the series, which may work better in his absence. There are also some moments in the trailers, which seem to hint at a funeral service of some kind.

The world also seems to believe he passed away, as seen at the end of Spider-Man: Far From Home. At the time, they used an image of a young Steve Rogers. There is also the possibility he returned back to the timeline, where Peggy Carter may have outlived her counterpart from the main timeline. It opens up a lot of interesting avenues to explore, especially how the world would react if the Super Soldier just showed up and is aged up by 80 years. It will be interesting to see how The Falcon and the Winter Soldier bridges the cap from that post-credit sequence into the new show.

Source: Empire via Twitter

March 16, 2021