What MCU Fans Will Notice About The Falcon And The Winter Soldier's Action Sequences

After the massive success of WandaVision, fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe are now gearing up for the newest Marvel show to premiere on Disney+: The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. The series stars Sam Wilson, played by Anthony Mackie, and Bucky Barnes, played by Sebastian Stan, in their respective superhero identities of the Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and follows them as they adjust to life without Steve Rogers protecting the world as Captain America and as they battle the new, rather unpatriotic enemies known as the Flag-Smashers.

While the series appears to be grappling with some serious issues, including trauma and race, plenty of buddy comedy between Sam and Bucky seems guaranteed, as does the usual fun, Marvel-style superhero action. At a recent digital press event for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, at which Looper was present, Stan and Mackie gave eager Marvel devotees a lot to chew on in this regard. 

When Mackie and Stan were asked about how intense the action and stuntwork was in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier compared to previous Marvel movies they've appeared in, they offered up some intriguing teases. 

Stan shared that the stuntwork in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier isn't just on par with movies like Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Avengers: Infinity War – it's even more "evolved and intense" in certain ways. "Definitely, I feel like for Falcon, it feels like the action really intensified in a lot of ways — and also for Bucky as well," he said. "We were always finding new ways to have them evolve with their action sequences. But it's tonally the same as the movies."

The creatives at Marvel Studios are indeed always looking for new ways to enhance and change the action using the powers of their characters, and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was clearly no exception. In fact, according to Mackie, they used the same stunt team from the movies to film the series. Not only was the action in familiar hands, but having the same stunt team work on The Falcon and the Winter Soldier meant that quality wasn't sacrificed for a TV show budget.

"The great thing about what we were able to do with this was nothing was jeopardized or watered down," said Mackie. "The same stunt guys we worked with on the films are the same guys who choreographed and did all of our stunts on the show. Because of that, the stunts are really amazing."

One key difference between the Marvel movies and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, however, is that there'll be much more hand-to-hand combat in the series, and weaponry won't be as crucial to its fight scenes. Bringing to mind the ethos of Marvel's Daredevil series, Mackie said the action in Falcon and Winer Soldier will be very physical and based on characters using their key strengths against one another. "It's more physical. It's more assertive," he noted. "Because of that, the stunt guys had a field day. Wyatt [Russell, who plays John Walker on the show], Sebastian, and myself did a lot of stunt training [...] and some of the stuff you see is us, but we had amazing stuntmen to go in and kick a** for us."

Curious fans will get to see what The Falcon and The Winter Soldier's combat looks like when the show arrives on Disney+ on Friday, March 19.