An alternate title card for The Falcon and The Winter Soldier‘s finale confirmed Bucky is now White Wolf. The latest chapter of Bucky Barnes’ story in the Marvel Cinematic Universe recently came to an end. The Falcon and The Winter Soldier wrapped up its six-episode first season on Disney+ last Friday to some mixed reactions. The finale delivered on Sam Wilson’s transformation from Falcon to Captain America, with Anthony Mackie putting on a new costume in the process. But, the series also ended with a new title card to signify this change: Captain America and the Winter Soldier.
Marvel Studios ending the series with a new title card is something many viewers speculated about ever since The Falcon and The Winter Soldier‘s announcement. Sam’s MCU future lies as Captain America instead of Falcon, but there was also an expectation that Bucky would finally ditch the Winter Soldier title. The end of the series saw him complete his list of people to make amends with, and this seemed to be a sign that he was officially no longer the Winter Soldier. That’s why some fans were confused by Marvel’s decision to keep this moniker in the final title card, especially since it was changed to reflect Sam’s new title.
Now that it has been a few days since The Falcon and The Winter Soldier‘s finale, some more spoiler-y interviews with those involved are starting to come out. This includes THR chatting with showrunner, Malcolm Spellman, about the series. They asked him about the Captain America and the Winter Soldier title card and whether or not other versions existed. Spellman confirmed that at least one other alternate title card was considered, and it officially saw Bucky become White Wolf instead of Winter Soldier. Read what Spellman said below:
I got to see that moniker [White Wolf] in watching one of the cuts, and man, it really affected me emotionally. I believe they wanted the impact of Captain America and the Winter Soldier to land. And I do think that had they done Captain America and the White Wolf, it might not have been as emotional of a landing because it’s too much math and too much evolution. But I don’t know for sure what it was. I got blindsided by that while watching the cut — but I loved it.
Knowing that Marvel considered using Captain America and the White Wolf as The Falcon and The Winter Soldier‘s final title makes the decision to not use it all the more curious. Spellman makes it clear that he loved that decision but could only speculate about why Marvel Studios went in the other direction. It is a bit confusing, to say the least. Bucky’s entire arc in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier was about him not being the Winter Soldier anymore, so for that to still be his title at the end doesn’t fit with that story.
It also leaves Bucky’s title in the MCU as one of the strangest lingering questions from the series. Marvel Studios clearly still wants viewers to think of him as Winter Soldier, even though The Falcon and The Winter Soldier proved Bucky prefers the title White Wolf. Perhaps Marvel did want the focus to stay on Sam’s transition from Falcon to Captain America as Spellman suggests, but that’s still a disservice to Bucky. It looks like fans will have to wait and see exactly what moniker Bucky has in future MCU projects, as it’s possible it is neither Winter Soldier nor White Wolf.
Source: THR
Originally from https://screenrant.com/falcon-winter-soldier-title-card-bucky-white-wolf/