Development

By October 2018, Marvel Studios was developing a limited series starring Anthony Mackie's Sam Wilson / Falcon and Sebastian Stan's Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films. Malcolm Spellman was hired as head writer of the series,^[1][2] which was announced as The Falcon and the Winter Soldier in April 2019.^[3] Spellman modeled the series after buddy films that deal with race, such as 48 Hrs. (1982), The Defiant Ones (1958), Lethal Weapon (1987), and Rush Hour (1998).^[4] Kari Skogland was hired to direct the miniseries a month later,^[5] and executive produced alongside Spellman and Marvel Studios' Kevin Feige, Louis D'Esposito, Victoria Alonso, and Nate Moore.^[6]: 15 Derek Kolstad joined the writing team in July 2019,^[7] and revealed in March 2021 that he had written the third episode,^[8] which is titled "Power Broker".^[9]

Writing

The episode visits the fictional country of Madripoor, which is one of the first X-Men-centric elements previously controlled by 20th Century Fox to be introduced to the MCU following the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney. The Princess Bar, which is frequented by Wolverine in the comics, is referenced with a neon sign, while the Brass Monkey Saloon appears. In the latter, Wilson, Barnes, and Helmut Zemo meet a character named Selby, which is the name of a mutant from the comics that understands binary code.^[10] During writing, Spellman had not initially envisioned creating Madripoor, but instead a setting that was based on an "outlaw city that actually felt like Madripoor in real life", as the creative process had been focused on telling the best story possible. Eventually, the creative producers allowed them to integrate Madripoor into the MCU as they felt its qualities had appropriately aligned with their vision of the MCU.^[11][12] Daniel Brühl was excited to portray Zemo with his comic-accurate outfit, and said the episode explored his backstory being an aristocratic baron, calling that "side" of Zemo "a bit arrogant, and posh, and suave". He also enjoyed Zemo's comedic moments in the episode, particularly during the scene in which Zemo, Wilson, and Barnes discuss Marvin Gaye.^[13]

Spellman said the writers "geeked out" at being able to use Madripoor in the series, while co-executive producer Zoie Nagelhout felt it was incredible to introduce the country to the MCU and expand that world. Nagelhout said Madripoor was used to make Wilson and Barnes feel like "fish out of water", and also as a place to reintroduce Sharon Carter to the MCU.^[14] Sharon's personality had changed following the events of Captain America: Civil War (2016). Emily VanCamp described Sharon as having "quite a bit more edge" that was not previously seen, observing that the episode subtly indicates her methods of survival had been difficult. Additionally, VanCamp also interpreted Sharon's primary goal as seeking a pardon for her alleged crimes as she had "sacrificed enough", saying "She comes from this bloodline of agents and has this tremendous love for her life that she had" and wanted her life to return to normal, perceiving Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes as her "ticket".^[15] She further described Sharon as being cynical and acting independently in a substantial manner, which she had enjoyed exploring, and stated that she was resentful towards the "establishment and government" rather than simply just Steve Rogers.^[16] Moreover, VanCamp felt that Sharon did not dismiss Peggy Carter's teachings regarding morality, but that they are rather "very repressed within her" due to her adversities.^[17] "Power Broker" also features Ayo, a member of the Dora Milaje from Wakanda. Matt Patches of Polygon felt including Ayo was satisfying for audiences and was a way to connect Wakanda to the series with "thematic resonance" beyond simply pulling from the MCU's lore because of Barnes' history with the nation, and because The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was dealing with racial issues in America and global class warfare which are themes that were addressed in Black Panther (2018).^[18]

Casting

The episode stars Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes, Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson, Emily VanCamp as Sharon Carter, Wyatt Russell as John Walker / Captain America, Erin Kellyman as Karli Morgenthau, Florence Kasumba as Ayo, Danny Ramirez as Joaquin Torres, Adepero Oduye as Sarah Wilson, and Daniel Brühl as Helmut Zemo.^{[19]: 47:36–48:10} Also appearing are Clé Bennett as Lemar Hoskins / Battlestar, Desmond Chiam, Dani Deetté, and Indya Bussey as the Flag Smashers Dovich, Gigi, and DeeDee, respectively, Renes Rivera as Lennox, Tyler Dean Flores as Diego, Noah Mills as Nico, Veronica Falcón as Donya Madani, Neal Kodinsky as Rudy, Nicholas Pryor as Oeznik, Imelda Corcoran as Selby, and Olli Haaskivi as Wilfred Nagel.^{[19]: 48:50} Haaskivi originally auditioned for a character simply called "Doctor", and did not find out his actual role until a few days before filming. He researched the comics once he knew the name, but did not find much information on the character and felt he was able to create his own interpretation instead.^[20]

Design

Production designer Ray Chan built the sets for Madripoor at Pinewood Atlanta Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, as the production team originally planned to film Madripoor scenes in southeastern Asian countries such as Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam, but could not due to scheduling difficulties.^[21] Skogland wanted to create a signature look for Madripoor, something that she hoped would be "exotic and a bit familiar but off-grid; to have a real street feel but be quite colorful and eye-popping". Many different real-world locations were used as inspiration for the fictional country.^[14] Skogland and Chan had used a lookbook containing photographic references, while Chan also created concept art with Feige, which was later incorporated into the sets once they were approved.^[22] Cinematographer P.J. Dillon wanted to make sure the final product had the feeling and tone of the concept art, knowing that the team wanted it to be dark, but colorful. He added that Madripoor was subconsciously inspired by Blade Runner, feeling that every futuristic sci-fi show "absolutely references" the franchise because it set the benchmark.^[23] The Madripoor location had influences from Asian style and culture, and was divided into two regions, Hightown and Lowtown. Chan and art director Jennifer Bash researched Vietnam and was inspired by the "almost claustrophobic space" people lived in. Costume designer Michael Crow had also added that the "general idea was to create something that didn't have a specific time or a specific place to it". When choosing the color palette of the location, Crow had used green, brown, gray, and darker shades of blue and purple in order to give it a "greasy grimy feel" and an "oil slick kind of vibe to it", and had mainly implemented this color palette for Lowtown, but was also used for Hightown. The team also researched real-world gangs, mafias, and criminal groups located around the world and incorporated that into the design. While designing Hightown, Crow wanted to maintain the "oil slick vibe" but also wanted it to represent the richer class of the residents. He wanted to "elevate" the fashion, but wanted to "make it feel a little seedy and have a little bit of a dark undertone".^[24] Chan built steel bridges and commissioned many custom neon signs and over 80 light boxes for the set.^[21] As for the Brass Monkey bar, Skogland described it as being like a street bar that had a sense of it "emerging out of the bricks" from the starting bridge location.^[14] The Brass Monkey Saloon contained a 270 degree aquarium with 100 Orange goldfish, while a Los Angeles graffiti artist, Jake, decorated the wall with a "unique style of gangster art".^[21]

Filming and visual effects

Filming took place at Pinewood Atlanta Studios in Atlanta,^[25][26] with Skogland directing,^[5] and P.J. Dillon serving as cinematographer.^[6]: 15 Location filming took place in the Atlanta metropolitan area and in Prague.^[27][28] Prior to filming the shipyard action sequence, VanCamp had discussions with the stunt team regarding how they would depict Sharon's combat style. They felt that as the comic books depicted her as a competent special agent, the choreography was essential in demonstrating her fighting capabilities. As such, during the shipyard combat sequence, Sharon uses any weapons she can find for fighting, which VanCamp felt "made it a little bit more brutal and gritty and interesting" and described the stunt training as being challenging.^[17] Similarly, Bruhl was excited at being able to portray Zemo with his mask and bought comics during filming to understand his character better.^[29] Additionally, he also improvised a moment in which he plays with Barnes' chin cleft and said there were a "couple of takes where he couldn't deal with it" and enjoyed how his "funky choices" had been used in the final footage.^[30]

Quick Facts External videos ...

External videos
One Hour Dancing Zemo | Marvel Studios' The Falcon and the Winter Soldier | Disney+ presents the full dance sequence with Zemo as an hour-long loop, YouTube video from Marvel Entertainment's channel

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A brief moment of Zemo dancing and fist pumping in the episode spawned various internet memes after its release. This was improvised during filming by Brühl, who felt that since Zemo had been in prison for years he needed to "let off some steam and show his moves". He thought it would be cut from the final episode.^[31] Approximately 30 seconds of footage existed of Brühl dancing, more than what was included in the episode, and Marvel released the full sequence on social media on April 8, 2021, along with a looping hour-long version.^[32] VanCamp called filming during that day as "insane", and said footage also existed for Mackie and Wilson dancing too.^[17] Disney's president of marketing, Asad Ayaz, said his team was aware of fan reactions and trends on social media, and when they saw that Zemo dancing was a trending topic they worked quickly to release all of the available footage. Ayaz felt this was "not traditional marketing and advertising, but... a sensation" that "just took off".^[33] Despite the COVID-19 pandemic affecting various parts of the series' production, Oduye and Mackie were able to film the phone call scene where Sarah accidentally blows Wilson's cover in Madripoor together, with Oduye calling Mackie generous for doing that so she did not have to talk to a random person.^[34]

Visual effects for the episode were created by Crafty Apes, Rodeo FX, Digital Frontier FX, QPPE, Stereo D, Tippett Studio, and Cantina Creative.^{[35][19]: 50:09–50:20} Creation of Madripoor was built digitally by Rodeo FX, led by Sébastien Francoeur working alongside over 250 VFX artists. Francoeur was inspired by panoramas and skyscrapers of Hong Kong while the team sought to clearly distinguish the locales of Hightown and Lowtown. Francoeur and his team envisioned Madripoor as being a "spooky" version of Las Vegas with a complex criminal underworld, with Rodeo FX Producer Graeme Marshall citing Singapore and Shanghai as additional sources of inspiration for Madripoor. They also had to make the appearance of Madripoor consistent across the episode, and did so by repositioning establishing shots. The establishing shots were created from plate footage filmed in Prague, with the "Trojo Bridge" [sic] being a main focal point.^[36]

Music

Selections from composer Henry Jackman's score for the episode were included in the series' Vol. 1 soundtrack album, which was released digitally by Marvel Music and Hollywood Records on April 9, 2021.^[37][38]

Audience viewership

Nielsen Media Research, who measure the number of minutes watched by United States audiences on television sets, listed The Falcon and the Winter Soldier as the second most-watched original series across streaming services for the week of March 29 to April 4, 2021. Between the first three episodes, which were available at the time, the series had 628 million minutes viewed, which was identical to the previous week.^[47]

Critical response

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an 86% approval rating with an average score of 6.9/10 based on 36 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads, "Falcon and the Winter Soldier is still spreading its wings when it should be soaring during this transitionary installment, but 'Power Broker' is still a lot of fun thanks to the return of Daniel Brühl and Emily VanCamp to the MCU."^[48]

Sulagna Misra at The A.V. Club was critical of the episode, giving it a "C" grade, saying it "seems to be about gathering intel on the super-soldier serum and the Flag-Smashers, and even expanding Sam and Bucky's universe of associates. But it seems most interested in playing into action movie tropes more than anything else", and Misra felt it failed at that, elaborating, "The whole episode, I was just thinking of the times I've seen better versions of each of these scenes." She was also critical of the episode's characterizations, especially Sharon's which she described as a "failure of writing".^[9] Alan Sepinwall of Rolling Stone said the episode was "mostly just competent and not much more. We know Marvel Studios is capable of doing much better." Sepinwall compared the episode's action to Marvel Television's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. since it felt "pretty utilitarian" and was "cobbled together from ideas that have been done to death elsewhere, in the hopes that the mere presence of familiar (or, in some cases, semi-familiar) faces from the MCU will make it seem brand new and thrilling". He did enjoy Brühl's performance as Zemo.^[49] Writing for Entertainment Weekly, Chancellor Agard was ambivalent on the episode, saying it moved the story forward but was not satisfying enough on its own, and indicated that the show's creators were trying to stretch a two-hour film across six episodes. Agard did find that the introduction of Zemo helped to complicate the Wilson/Barnes dynamic while avoiding hitting the same beats as the previous episode, and he enjoyed Zemo's assessment of Trouble Man along with Ayo's appearance. He had a "cold and unsatisfied" feeling with the Nagel scene, even though he felt the exposition was necessary, and ultimately gave the episode a "B−". His colleague Christian Holub added, "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is definitely playing with some interesting ideas, but I don't yet have the sense that the show knows exactly what it wants to do or say with them", feeling a bit confused by the various story elements but intrigued by what their conclusions would be.^[50]

Matt Purslow of IGN was more positive on the episode, calling it a "chunky chapter that efficiently unpacks many of the story's main plot threads" while also not sacrificing character development. He praised Brühl's performance, noting that his line delivery came with "a small smile and a dash of dry humor", and pointed out the similarities in the episode to the John Wick films which were created by this episode's writer Kolstad. Purslow concluded that after three episodes the series was "firing on all cylinders", and gave "Power Broker" a 9 out of 10.^[51] Den of Geek's Gavin Jasper gave it 4.5 out of 5 stars and felt it was a "breath of fresh air" and a true sequel to Captain America: Civil War (2016) since it was "a new spin on the same general concept". Jasper said Brühl's performance made Zemo "incredibly likeable and charismatic", likening it to Loki's role in Thor: The Dark World (2013), and was hopeful Marvel was planting the seeds to eventually introduce the Thunderbolts team from the comics to the MCU. Jasper did criticize the origins of the Flag Smashers, since it felt like "the status quo is the status quo and the MCU refuses to be changed too much by the developments of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier".^[52]