The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was the second MCU show that was released on Disney+ in 2021. With the success of WandaVision, fans were excited to see what has happened with their favorite heroes after the events in Avengers: Endgame. Sadly, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the world was in complete pause including the filming of the series.
There was a rumor that suggested that a storyline from the series was cut out. Filming began in the fall of 2019, but production was completely paused in March 2020. The storyline that was rumored to be cut depicting the heroes trying to stop a fast-spreading disease. Even though it was confirmed that something was removed, the details about it were never confirmed by the studio….until now.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’s “Lost” Subplot Removed
According to the MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios written by Joanna Robinson, Dave Gonzales and Gavin Edwards, it was revealed the details of the controversial subplot that was removed from The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
“The Falcon and the Winter Soldier‘ had already canceled location work in Puerto Rico after a devastating earthquake in January 2020. The Pandemic not only forced the show to abort a shoot in Prague but made a planned plotline about the heroes rushing to stop a fast-spreading disease feel a bit too close to reality. (Spellman acknowledged that the series had removed the side story, although he said that it wasn’t because of the coronavirus.)”
-MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios-
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The series director Malcolm Spellman spoke to the Fade to Black podcast and acknowledged there was a subplot that was removed, but he claimed that it had nothing to do with the pandemic. “I’ve been told to stop saying that [referring to the “lost” storyline]. I loved it, and it had nothing to do with the pandemic… I want to see if we can get some of the writers to do a book run on it because I think Kevin [Feige] does it. I’ve been told to stop talking about it.”
CHANGES TO THE MCU DUE TO COVID-19
In 2019 when Kevin Feige took the Hall H stage at San Diego Comic-Con, Phase 4 looked like it was going to be an exciting time. A few months prior, Avengers: Endgame was a big hit at the movie theaters, leaving fans wondering what will happen next. By the following year, the world stood still as the COVID-19 began to spread globally which led to many of the projects for Phase 4 to pause and a lot of the plans for the new MCU phase to be changed.
Phase four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe was originally scheduled to begin in 2020 with Black Widow being released in the first weekend of May of that year. After this film, the Eternals was next to hit the theaters in November 2020. The Disney+ era of Marvel programming was originally supposed to start off with The Falcon and the Winter Soldier in August of 2020. Everything was eventually pushed back due to production freezes which led to everything being released the following year in 2021.
When it came to WandaVision, the finale was originally set to have a big fight between Wanda Maximoff and the townsfolk she brainwashed. Due to the restrictions of filming during COVID, this caused the scene to be cut and reformatted to a more dialogue-based interaction. Xochitl Gomez who plays America Chavez was set to make her first appearance in Spider-Man: No Way Home when it was scheduled to release after Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Eventually, the script had to be rewritten and Chavez was cut from the Spider-Man script and was switched to make her first appearance in the Doctor Strange sequel.
These are some of the examples of how much Marvel had to quickly change everything when the pandemic first began. The MCU would’ve looked a lot differently but no one could have ever imagined that something as a pandemic would’ve changed the outcome of everything.
What do you all think? Do you think it was a good call for the subplot of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was cut off from the series? Do you think the changes that were made for multiple MCU projects was a good thing to do? Which Phase Four series or film was your favorite? Let us know and don’t forget to check out our socials! If you like articles like this, make sure to follow us for more content.
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Source: The Direct | Collider
