The Falcon and the Winter Soldier: How Marvel show references events of WandaVision in episode 1

Nod to recently concluded series arrives at the 15.30 mark

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier has arrived mere weeks after the conclusion of WandaVision.

Marvel fans were given a two-week breather before the second of the studio’s many planned TV shows comes to Disney Plus.

This series focuses on Sam Wilson, AKA The Falcon (Anthony Mackie), and Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), who is otherwise known as The Winter Soldier.

While they remain apart in the first episode, future instalments will see them clash in the wake of Captain America’s decision to hang up his shield at the end of Avengers: Endgame.

The show does find time to sprinkle in what appears to be a reference to WandaVision, though. It happens during an early interaction between Wilson and James “War Machine” Rhodes, who is played by Don Cheadle.

(Marvel Studios)

“World’s a crazy place right now,” Rhodes says. “People are… well, nobody’s stable. Allies are now enemies. Alliances are all torn apart. The world’s broken. Everybody’s just looking for somebody to fix it.”

Now, it’s worth noting that this show takes place six months after Thanos’ destruction was restored, and everybody returned from the Blip. This means it also occurs just less than five months after WandaVision, which saw Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff create a sitcom world out of grief for Vision (Paul Bettany).

In the show, it’s revealed that SWORD faked footage to make it seem as though Wanda stole Vision’s body from its headquarters.

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It’s because of these two things combined that it’s extremely likely that Rhodes is referencing the events of WandaVision in this scene – not least because of how that show ends.

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The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is available to stream on Disney Plus now.

Read our review of episode one here.