Captain America 4 will see Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson continue his tenure as Steve Rogers’ successor. The story will follow on from The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, meaning it’s likely that Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes will also be along for the ride.
We know that the movie is officially in pre-production, that The Falcon and the Winter Soldier writers Malcolm Spellman and Dalan Musson are on script duties, but everything else remains a mystery.
But fans have begun the traditional process of trying to puzzle out what’s going to happen, with one interesting theory currently being debated on Reddit. User GlennStePhony argues it now makes sense for Sam Wilson to finally receive the Super Soldier Serum. The theory says he’d get it after being seriously injured and requiring a blood transfusion, waking to find he’s been dosed with blood from Carl Lumbly’s Isaiah Bradley.
Other users pointed out that this is “tone deaf” as the over-arching message of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was that the most important quality of Captain America isn’t superpowers but your moral character. It’s also true that as Bradley was understandably furious about being given the serum against his will it’d be a betrayal of his character to use his blood to do the same to Wilson.
I think the Sam Wilson Captain America is much more intriguing as a ‘normal’ human being going up against super-powered enemies. Okay, maybe a guy with a flight suit, an autonomous drone, expert combat skills, and that shield isn’t exactly your average joe, but it’s fun to lean more into the human side of the character when there are so many superpowered heroes in the MCU.
I doubt we’ll get confirmation of the Captain America 4 story for a while, though we’ll almost certainly get some indications of what Sam’s up to post-The Falcon and the Winter Soldier in Disney Plus shows or in post-credits scenes of upcoming movies.