Watch: All the Woke Moments from Disney’s ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’

Chuck Zlotnick/Marvel Studios
Chuck Zlotnick/Marvel Studios

This month, Disney launched its much anticipated follow up-spinoff to the Avengers movie franchise with the debut of The Falcon and Winter Soldier. But along with the big budget action scenes, viewers were also assailed with one woke moment after another.

The six-episode series starring Anthony Mackie as The Falcon and Sebastain Stan as Bucky Barnes-the Winter Soldier, kicked off with a scene evoking the past practice — the Democratic president Franklin D. Roosevelt-era New Deal policy — known as red-lining in the banking system, where banks refused to give black Americans loans for businesses, homes, or real estate.

In episode one, “New World Order,” released on March 19, Mackie’s Sam Wilson was rudely refused a loan for his private business. But that isn’t the only kick in the gut for Wilson. As the episode came to its conclusion, the U.S. government announced a new Captain America (Wyatt Russell), a blond-haired, blue-eyed white man, even though Wilson is the one who brought the shield home after the last Avengers mission where the original Captain America, Steve Rogers, disappeared.

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In the second episode, “The Star-Spangled Man” released on March 26, the Falcon and Bucky were walking down the street in a black neighborhood and in the middle of an passionate debate, the pair were surrounded by police. The white officers began harassing Wilson and asked Bucky if Wilson was bothering him.

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The above scene was preceded by the revelation that back in the 1950s the U.S. government had a black super soldier (Captain America was also a result of the super soldier program), but would not make it public because officials did not want to acknowledge that a black man could be a hero. Instead, the government imprisoned him for 30 years.

The woke messages continued into episode four, entitled “The Whole World Is Watching,” released on April 9. In this episode, viewers were treated to several tirades that the United States does not care about black people.

Before the episode got to its condemnations on American race relations, the episode also portrayed the new Captain America, John Walker, as uneasy with his shield, racked with doubt, and bitter about having been given medals in Afghanistan on false government claims of his heroism. In a discussion of his record, Walker noted that medals don’t exactly mean they are right.

Along with a deeply flawed (new) Captain America in Walker, the fourth episode also revealed that Disney’s post-Avengers world is pushing the same old social justice claims that America is irredeemably racist. Early in the episode, America was called a monument to those who have been “left out.” And later, Sam’s sister told the show’s leading enemy that America doesn’t care about blacks.

Toward the end of the episode, the leader of the evil Flag-Smasher group, Karli Morgenthau (Erin Kellyman), contacted the Falcon’s sister, Sarah (Adepero Oduye).

During the conversation, Sarah was asked how she feels about the new Captain America. In reply, she said she has no love for the symbol of the red, white, and blue. “My world doesn’t matter to America, so why should I care about its mascot?” she said.

Episode five, the April 16 release of “Truth,” continued its assault on America over race issues.

Before the episode resumed its racial diatribe against America, though, the series’ Captain America replacement, John Walker, went on a tear and ended up brutally killing a man with his shield in front of a group of civilians, tarnishing the Captain’s image. It is all part of the total mental breakdown of John Walker’s Captain America.

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Later in the episode, Sam Wilson goes back to talk to the man who was the black super soldier the U.S. government imprisoned for 30 years to experiment on to find out why he was able to retain his super strength without having a mental breakdown. The man is, of course, deservedly bitter, and delivers a righteous rant.

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The black super soldier, Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly), goes on a tirade against America. He explains why he thought the U.S. government imprisoned him instead of making him a hero like Captain America.

“You wanna believe jail was my fault because you got that white man’s shield,” Bradley rails. “They were worried my story might get out, so they erased me, my history. But they’ve been doing that for 500 years. Pledge allegiance to that, my brother. ”

Bradley also as much as accused Sam of being a race traitor for wanting to take on the mantle of Captain America, being a hero. “They will never let a Black man be Captain America. And even if they did, no self-respecting Black man would ever wanna be,” he warned.

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Finally, in the April 23 release of the final episode, “One World, One People,” Sam assumed the mantle of Captain America of his own volition. And after ending the threat of the Flag-Smashers, he delivered a long monologue about ending the use of the word “terrorist” and confronting “racism.”

The monologue is from beginning to end a woke dream speech, something akin to the realization of ex-Beatle John Lennon’s vapid left-wing anthem, “Imagine.” No religion, no governments, no borders, one human people. All the elements were there in Sam’s speech.

In the scene that appears just over halfway through the final episode, after the climactic fight scene, Sam objects to the representatives of the UN-styled organization calling the Flag-Smashers “terrorists.”

When asked what else they are supposed to call people who murdered indiscriminately, took hostages, bombed facilities, and upset the lives of countless people, Sam entered into his monologue.

“You have to stop calling them terrorists,” Sam said, shaking his head in disdain.

“Your peacekeeping troops carrying weapons are forcing millions of people into settlements around the world, right?” Sam asks the officials. “What do you think those people are going to call you? These labels — ‘terrorist,’ ‘refugees,’ ‘thug’ — they’re often used to get around the question ‘why.'”

One of the government officials asks if it is fair that governments have to support all these refugees?

Sam says flat out, “yes.”

The discussion then refers to the Avengers movies that ended with the evil god-like tyrant Thanos, who made half the population of the universe disappears until the Avengers team found a way to restore them to life (after five years). This, Sam said, gave the world a unified purpose, a need to find a way to re-integrate these millions back into society. But this also led to Sam using race.

After being told he just doesn’t understand the complexity of the situation, Sam’s monologue cranked up into high octane wokeness from there:

I’m a black man carrying the stars and stripes. What don’t I understand? Every time I pick this [Captain America shield] up, I know there are millions of people out there who are going to hate me for it. Even now, here, I feel it: the stares, the judgment. And there’s nothing I can do to change it. And I’m still here. No super serum, no blond hair, or blue eyes. The only power I have is that I believe we can do better.

We can’t demand that people step up, and we don’t meet them halfway. You control the banks. Shit, you can move borders, you can knock down a forest with an email, you can feed a million people with a phone call. But the question is, who is in the room with you when you are making those decisions? Hmm? Is it the people you’re going to impact? Or is it just more people like you?

I mean, this girl [the Flag-Smasher leader who died in the episode] died trying to stop you, and no one has stopped for one second to ask why? You’ve gotta do better, Senator. Because if you don’t, the next Karli will. And you don’t want to see 2.0.

People believed in her cause so much that they helped her defy the strongest governments in the world. Why do you think that is? Look, you people have just as much power as an insane god [Thanos] or a misguided teenager [Karli]. The question you have to ask yourself is, how are you going to use it?

The series ends tying up its various plot lines, but the upshot is that governments are evil and abuse people, America is irredeemably racist, and we need to end nations and become citizens of the world.

The series ends with a new title. The title, “The Falcon and Winter Soldier,” dissolves away to be replaced by “Captain America and the Winter Soldier,” with Sam taking up the red, white, blue stars and bars.

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Facebook at: facebook.com/Warner.Todd.Huston.

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