The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Characters Ranked
About a week ago, the final episode of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier dropped on Disney+. Since we’ve gotten to see all of the character’s character arc come to an end. I thought would rank all 9 main characters from The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
NOTE: I will be talking about SPOILERS, if you haven’t seen the entire show. Be careful what you read, because I will dive into spoilers!
9. Lemar Hoskins/Battlestar: To be clear, I don’t hate this character but I thought he was very underused in this show. The show just didn’t give him anything to do. He’s introduced in episode 2 has Walker’s friend and his sidekick, then he’s killed at the end of episode 4. But in episode 2,3,and 4 they don’t give him an arc or any thing memorable to do. Beyond that, he’s presented as Walker’s sidekick, so they don’t have give him is own thing to do. He’s along for the ride with Walker. And even with his death in episode 4, it’s basically just used to show that Walker is a messed up guy. When he does die, you didn’t feel any sadness. So once again, I don’t hate this character. But the show didn’t give him a lot to do so he is my least favorite character on the show.
8. Sharon Carter/The Power Broker: In many ways, I thought she was one of the most underused characters of the show. Going in, I thought she was going to be one of the main characters. But really only episode 3 and 6 was where Sharon was a big part. In episode 4 and 5, she’s basically just there to give Sam information. And one of the big mysteries for the show was “who is The Power Broker?”, and after episode 3 came out. People were guessing that it’s Sharon, Sharon is The Power Broker. And they didn’t give us any twists or information that it might not be Sharon. That’s frustrating, and I wish that Sharon was involved more with the action.
7. Valentina Allegra de Fontaine: This was a fun character that they introduced in episode 5 of the show. If you don’t know, this character is a very important character in the Marvel comics. The show doesn’t really present her as being a big deal, but in the comics that what she is. And where episode 6 ends, I think there is some cool ways they could go with this character. I thought Julia Louis-Dreyfus did a good job, and she adds some very subtle jokes in her scene. So once again, they didn’t give her a lot to do. They introduced in her the second to last episode of the show. But I think this character could end up being a great character in upcoming MCU projects.
NOTE: As we go into the top 6, I really like all of these characters. The bottom 3, I’ve been a bit mix on them. But the top 6, I think are good characters.
6. Karli Morgenthau and The Flag Smasher: Our main villains of the show, I thought were good villains. They weren’t great, but they fit the show that they were in. They posed a good enough threat toward Sam and Bucky. And I thought in the second half of the season, they made them more relatable. Where in the first half, they were kind of boring to me and didn’t add much. I thought episode 6 was their best episode, where we actually saw them as villains terroizing our heroes. All of that I thought was interesting, but I think they need more development. If you read my season review, I said the show should have added 1 or 2 more episodes to develop The Flag Smashers. So if I think they were developed more. They could have moved up a good bit on the list.
5. Baron Zemo: Going into the show, I thought Zemo was going to be our big bad. But he wasn’t, he helped Sam and Bucky with their mission. He didn’t try and turn against our heroes, he was just trying to safe the world with our heroes. I thought he was used greatly in the middle of this show. Of course, Daniel Bruhl is a great actor so he’s great as this character. I liked how the twist with his character was that he was good. This character really worked for me, I thought he was a great edition. And we also got to see a different side of him that we didn’t see in Captain America: Civil War. But with talking about this character, you have to talk about Zemo’s epic dance moves.
4. Isaiah Bradley: If it wasn’t for the finale, this character might have been dropped a few spots on the list. But I thought what they did with him at the end of episode 6, was great and emotional. That scene, might have been one of the most emotional scenes of the entire MCU. With them announcing a 4th Captain America with Anthony Mackie, I hope this character comes back in that movie. Even his little scenes in episode 2 and 3 were some of the best scenes of thos episodes. I was introduced to Carl Lumby in Supergirl, when he played Martian Mahunter’s father, and I thought he was great in that show. And he’s great in this show, and he provides a world view for a black guy with the super soldier serum, that is very intersting.
3. John Walker/U.S. Agent: One of the most hated characters in the MCU, and I think that is totally understandable. He says he’s “Captain America”, but Steve Rogers is Captain America, Walker isn’t. But the character himself, I thought was a great written character. In episodes 2 and 3, he’s an antagonist toward Sam and Bucky, but he’s not a villain. He just has a different world view then them. But in episode 4 we see him kill a guy with the world watching him do it. This was set up by a great line in The First Avenger, when talking about the Super Soldier Serum “good becomes great, bad becomes worse”. When Walker took the serum, he became evil and that’s what caused him to do what he did in episode 4. This was just such a great character, and one that really worked for me.
2. Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier: Toward the beginning of the show, I thought that Bucky was my favorite character. And the reason why he’s number 2, isn’t anything to do with him. It’s just the character at number 1 drastically improved. But what I like about Bucky’s journey in this season, is we get to see be normal. Basically, he’s been in fighting in wars for the last 80-90 years, and it explores what would a guy like that do after their are no more wars to be fought. That was just such an interesting journey to take Bucky in those 6 episodes. I thought this was Sebastian Stan’s best performance as Bucky, and he’s his most heartfelt and emotional performance that he’s given. Bucky’s arc in this season was so powerful and great that he is easily one of the best characters on the show.
1. Sam Wilson/The Falcon/Captain America: Before this show, I already really liked the Sam Wilson character. But this show, elevated him to this whole other level. If Bucky’s arc was the most heartfelt arc, Sam’s arc was the most human arc. Where in episode 1, Sam doesn’t want Captain America’s shield. Then we get to episode 5 and takes the shield, then in episode 6 we see Sam become Captain America. And that suit, is one of the best suits in the MCU. But we also get to spend time with Sam’s family in episode 1 and 5, and that made Sam more relatable. Anthony Mackie also gives a great performance, once again I think his best performance in the MCU. And they announced a 4th Captain America movie with Anthony Mackie set to star in it, I’m so pumped for that movie.
What was your favorite character in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier? Also, I’ve done a number of Falcon and the Winter Soldier content, as well as some content for WandaVision. Thanks for reading!
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