Through the opening salvo of the Marvel Cinematic universe, the movies were often criticized for the villains they introduced. For every memorable Loki (Tom Hiddleston), there was a forgettable Malekith the Accursed, Aldrich Killian or Ronan the Accuser. It took time to build up to the bigger dogs such as Hela, Baron Zemo and, of course, Thanos. So far, the Disney+ shows have been taking bigger swings on offered bad guys. WandaVision explored grief, and also introduced witchcraft through the arrival of Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn). And now, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier brings on the Flag Smashers, and their lofty ideology.
One of the Flag Smasher’s apparent leaders, Karli Morganthau (Erin Kellyman), is fighting for open borders and a return to the way life was during The Blip. This is a concept we haven’t had time to explore in the MCU yet, so when Kellyman sat down with CinemaBlend, we asked her what the Falcon and the Winter Soldier team has discussed about this mysterious five-year era in Marvel Studios history. Listen to our conversation above.
Mind you, The Blip is a relatively new concept in the realm of the MCU. Introduced at the end of Avengers: Infinity War, the “Blip” removed half of the world’s population, the goal of Thanos to bring balance to an overpopulated universe. It’s maniacal… but now we are learning that people like Karli Morganthau and the rest of the Flag Smashers preferred life during this five-year span, and are trying to return existence to some form of that utopia.
When I asked Erin Kellyman what she knew about that time span, since we haven’t yet seen it on screen, she elaborated:
What I got from it was that people had come together out of the trauma of other people leaving, and there was more of a unity and people worked together more. Because they needed to. Because nobody knew what was going on, and this was just some thing that people had to accept and work through, and everybody was helping each other. I think that’s what made people unite a little bit more, and that’s what Karli wants to get back to.
I’m not 100% sure what that entails, though. The Flag Smashers don’t seem to have the power to eliminate half of the planet’s population, the way that Thanon managed to do. Also, Karli appears to have aggravated another villain, as she received an ominous text from a mysterious foe in episode two of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Also, let’s not overlook the act that the Flag Smashers all appear to be Super Soldiers. How is that the case?!
We expect to hear more as The Falcon and the Winter Soldier rolls on with its six-episode season. Make sure you keep it on CinemaBlend for all of our coverage, and also bookmark our guide to Upcoming Marvel Television for the latest updates.
