After weeks of online fan chatter over Sam Wilson’s absence in What If…? Season 2, head writer A. C. Bradley has finally explained why the character wasn’t included in the Disney+ animated series.
“We also couldn’t do Sam Wilson’s Captain America because we didn’t know when that would be coming out,” Bradley revealed during an appearance on ComicBook.com‘s Phase Zero podcast. “Again, we were writing Season 2 as The Falcon and The Winter Soldier paused shooting and the scripts were being re-written because of other things. We don’t know when anything is airing. So, we couldn’t touch it because we’re not allowed to introduce . . . It makes sense, you let the character live in live-action first and then go play in the multiverse.”
Sam Wilson returns as Captain America in 2025
Sam Wilson/Falcon made his first appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the 2014 movie Captain America: The Winter Soldier, played by Anthony Mackie. He then appeared in Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Ant-Man (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), and Avengers: Endgame (2019), with Mackie reprising the role.
The character then headlined the 2021 Disney+ miniseries The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, opposite Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier. The well-received MCU entry ended with Sam officially donning the mantle of Captain America, complete with a new suit that blended Cap’s iconic red, white, and blue costume with his Falcon wings.
While MCU fans have not seen Mackie as Sam Wilson/Captain America since the conclusion of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, the Avenger is set to return to the big screen in 2025’s Captain America: Brave New World, the fourth installment in the Star-Spangled Man’s film series.
Brave New World features Incredible Hulk characters
While plot details remain under wraps for Captain America: Brave New World, the superhero movie will seemingly serve as a sequel to both The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and the oft-overlooked 2008 MCU installment The Incredible Hulk. Tim Blake Nelson and Liv Tyler are confirmed to be reprising their Incredible Hulk roles as Samuel Sterns/Leader and Betty Ross, respectively, with the character of Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross also set to appear. However, following the passing of William Hurt in 2022, the role will be portrayed by Harrison Ford.
Other cast members for Brave New World include Mackie’s Falcon and the Winter Soldier co-stars Danny Ramirez (as Joaquin Torres) and Carl Lumbly (as Isaiah Bradley), as well as Shira Haas, Xosha Roquemore, Seth Rollins, and Rosa Salazar.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and What If…? are streaming on Disney+ while Captain America: Brave New World hits theaters on February 14, 2025.
