The Falcon and the Winter Soldier to address Steve's whereabouts 'in a roundabout way'

Where in the world is Carmen Sandieg— we mean Steve Rogers? That's the million-dollar question because the original Captain America (played by Chris Evans) hasn't been seen since he showed up as an old man and bequeathed his famous Vibranium shield to Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) at the tail end of Avengers: Endgame.

Steve may be gone, but his legacy lives on in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Speaking with Empire for the magazine's May 2021 issue, Kevin Feige teased that the show will address Mr. Rogers' whereabouts "in a roundabout way." The MCU mastermind added that while it's "a fair presumption" to think that Steve is still alive somewhere, it's "not necessarily the case."

Earlier this year, it was reported that Evans would reprise the role of Cap for some kind of mystery project, although that rumor was quickly shot down by the actor himself on Twitter.

"I rarely answer no to anything anymore because things are always surprising me with what happens, but that rumor, I think, was dispelled rather quickly by the man himself," Feige added during a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly.

So yeah, the OG red, white, and blue hero is apparently gone, but that's not stopping the U.S. government from trying to fill the patriotic void. At the end of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier's debut episode, the folks in Washington, D.C. decided to dub John Walker (Overlord's Wyatt Russell) as the next Captain America instead of Sam. Naturally, this choice drew a lot of ire from fans and rightfully so.

It represents a huge slap in the face to the man who truly deserves the title after first turning it down. Russell even sounded off on the matter, voicing his hope that audiences don't hate on Walker too much.

Also chatting with Empire, series creator and showrunner Malcolm Spellman explained that U.S. Agent isn't exactly a villain in the traditional sense. He's just an overachiever who'd do anything for his country. And we mean anything.

"[He's] someone who's dedicated every minute to being the perfect person to inherit the shield and represent the country," Spellman said. "He has to confront that — 'Was all the stuff I did righteous, if it's not enough for me to be honored or accepted as the rightful heir to this mantle?' Wyatt crushed it — the humanity of that, and the scar tissue of his journey."

The more direct villains here are the Flag Smashers (a militant group that wants to restore the anarchy of the Blip years) and Zemo (Daniel Brühl), who is still on his bitter quest to rid the world of superheroes. Brühl, who previously played the villain in 2016's Captain America: Civil War, got a welcome performance boost from the opportunity to don Zemo's iconic trench-coat and purple ski mask from the comics.

"It's not just the mask, it's the costume," the actor said. "It does something with him as a whole. He's evolved. He's a different man now ... The characters that talk to Zemo thoroughly and listen to him will maybe agree that this is not all wrong, and that he's not just a horrible villain for no reason."

Hmmm. We'll have to wait and see about that. Let's just hope Bucky (Sebastian Stan) can make amends with Zemo before the man does something he really can't take back.

Episode 2 of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier premieres on Disney+ this coming Friday — March 26. There will be six episodes in total.