The Falcon and the Winter Soldier: The heartbreaking Easter egg you may have missed in episode one

Debut episode held numerous Easter eggs for fans to spot

Fans may have missed this heartbreaking detail in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’s season opener.

The six-part series – which debuted its first episode last week – takes place in the immediate aftermath of Captain America’s last stand in Avengers: Endgame.

Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan star as the respective heroes of the title. Both characters were best friends of Steve Rogers aka Captain America (Chris Evans) in different time periods – Mackie’s Sam Wilson was chosen as his successor in Endgame, and Stan’s Bucky Barnes was a Second World War army sergeant turned brainwashed super-soldier.

As with most Marvel productions, if you look closely enough you’ll find a number of Easter eggs connecting one feature to a string of others.

Many viewers were quick to notice that the episode’s opening voice-over, in which Sam tests out Captain America’s shield, was lifted from 2019’s Endgame, but fewer people picked up on one heartbreaking detail that called back to a different interaction the duo previously shared. 

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Stan’s Bucky is introduced into the series initially through a flashback, which sees him (as The Winter Soldier) ruthlessly assassinate two people. The episode then shows Bucky waking up from the nightmare/memory sweating and distressed.

As pointed out by Inverse, Bucky is shown waking up on the floor of his apartment as a subtle reference to previous events that occurred in the MCU. 

In the opening scene of 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Mackie’s Sam and Evans’s Steve open up about their shared post-traumatic stress disorder and specifically how they find it difficult to sleep in a bed after their time in the army. 

(Marvel / Disney Plus)

Sam explains: “When I was over there, I’d sleep on the ground, use rocks for pillows like a caveman,” to which Steve responds that sleeping in a bed now makes him feel as if he is “sink[ing] right to the floor”.

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier takes place several years after Bucky’s brainwashing has been ostensibly fixed. 

This call-back, however, likely speaks to how Bucky is still haunted by his traumatic memories of the devastating crimes he had committed when acting as a brainwashed super-soldier.

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The Falcon and the Winter is available to stream on Disney Plus, and will run for six episodes until 23 April.