Both of the industry’s premiere superhero franchises look to be hedging their futures on having multiple different versions of the same characters existing simultaneously, as the genre bets big on the multiverse. Robert Pattinson, Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton are all going to grace the big screen as Batman in 2022, while if the avalanche of recent speculation is to be believed, then we’ll soon have official confirmation that Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield will be suiting up in Spider-Man 3.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, meanwhile, still doesn’t have a release date yet after being delayed until 2021, but we got our confirmation long ago that Wyatt Russell’s John Walker will be donning the star-spangled costume of Captain America, presumably after he’s chosen as the government’s preferred candidate ahead of Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson.
Of course, Steve Rogers is still technically out there enjoying his well-earned retirement, too, but we’ve now heard from our sources – the same ones that told us the show would be delayed weeks before it was confirmed – that a fourth iteration of Captain America could factor into a future season of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier as well.
According to our intel, Daniel Bruhl’s Zemo will become a member of the Thunderbolts, just like in the comic books, but with the added twist that at some point, he’ll suit up, take the super solider serum and call himself Captain America for at least a short time. The Incredible Hulk already revealed Thaddeus Ross’ previous experiments with the formula, and as the man behind the Thunderbolts, he’ll presumably be the one to hand it over to Zemo.
That would be a huge deviation from the comics, of course, but the character already held Captain America and the Avengers responsible for the death of his family. So, there’s at least a solid narrative explanation behind the decision, as we’re told that he’ll try to make himself a better version of Cap.