It would be safe to say that both Marvel Cinematic Universe fans and Disney Plus subscribers have become hugely invested in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier over the last four weeks. The franchise’s second episodic series is a whole different ballgame from the weird and wonderful WandaVision, but it’s still dominating the online conversation every Friday as the story continues to unfold.
The show scored the biggest Disney Plus premiere ever, with Wyatt Russell’s John Walker almost instantly becoming a figure of hatred as soon as his smug face appeared under Captain America’s helmet at the end of the first episode, while Sebastian Stan has taken the ball and ran with it in terms of finally being given the spotlight to dive into what makes a 106 year-old war veteran with a history of murder and brainwashing tick.
However, one person who isn’t very enthusiastic about The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is comic book writer Ed Brubaker, who co-created Bucky’s villainous alter ego and is famed for his work on Marvel Comics’ Captain America among many other titles he’s worked on over the years. In a new interview, Brubaker was scathing in his assessment of how Marvel Studios has adapted his stories, as well as the lack of both credit and compensation that he’s been awarded for his efforts.
“As the years went on, I started to just think, well, ‘Why am I not getting anything for this really?’. Like, how can we really get a ‘thanks to’ or a credit, but like these movies are making billions and billions of dollars, and it feels like we just kind of got a bad deal. And I remember sitting there during the third movie, and knowing how much they, like I had actually turned down this tiny little thank you check, because I was like, ‘This is in insult’. I write these things and I was watching Captain America: Civil War, and a plot line that I wrote for a year in my comic book, about Bucky training all these other Winter Soldiers, it was like their B-Plot.
A lot of the emotional architecture of the movie was like stuff that would not exist had I not written these comics. It’s ridiculous that being a co-creator of the Winter Soldier, I should not have to be worried about providing for my wife if I die. Like right now, I don’t live a high life, it started to feel like this kind of hurts a little bit. To be overlooked this way. I know that they’ve made deals with other people that have had less input on what they do. And I just kind of felt like, it just sucks. Some press, fans, everybody wanted me to talk about the show. ‘Aren’t you excited about the show?’. And I’m like, I think I might be the only person in America not excited about this show. When I see the ads for the show, it actually makes me feel kind of sick to my stomach.”
The MCU has always used its extensive back catalogue of comic books to inspire the movies rather than translate them directly to the screen, and the broad strokes of many classic runs have formed the basis of the franchise’s biggest films. That being said, you can understand why it’s tough for Brubaker to be on the outside watching in as one his creations shares top billing in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, when he poured his heart and soul into creating the character.