Empire Writer/EP Malcolm Spellman To Write Marvel’s Falcon & Winter Soldier Teaming Series For Disney Streaming ServicePosted by Wilson Morales
October 30, 2018
Source: Deadline
Deadline is reporting that Disney’s upcoming streaming service has hired Empire writer/executive producer Malcolm Spellman to pen a potential limited series that would team two of Marvel’s costumed characters: Winter Soldier and The Falcon.
Aiming for a late 2019 launch, Marvel Studios’ involvement was first tipped in September, that to magical characters from the Avengers franchise — Tom Hiddleston’s Loki and Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch — would be in spotlights of their own in TV miniseries to be offered exclusively through the Disney service (now expected to launch in late 2019).
Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige is overseeing the initiative (for continuity of story and handling of the studio’s big-screen talent) which is keyed toward limited-run TV shows (typically six- to eight-episode story arcs) to dig into the stories of fan-favorite Marvel characters that don’t have already their own film franchises.
That applies to the Falcon and Winter Soldier, who are played by Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan, respectively, in Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe. The pair most recently appeared together in the mega-hit Avengers: Infinity War. Details about their potential limited series are under wraps.
The Winter Soldier was a partner to Captain America in his previously established identity as Bucky Barnes, childhood pal of Steve Rogers (a.k.a. Captain America) and his WWII battlefield compatriot. In the comics, Bucky was introduced in 1941 as a cheery teen sidekick (not unlike Robin the Boy Wonder) and was killed off in the 1960s when he seemed too old-fashioned for the Marvel Comics of that era. He was revived given the Winter Solider backstory is a classic 2005 story arc that inspired the Marvel film Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
The Sam Wilson, a.k.a. the Falcon, debuted in the comics in 1969 and was introduced as Captain America’s partner and shared the title of his comic book. The Harlem native made history with his debut — he was the first African-American superhero. (The Black Panther had arrived three years earlier in the Fantastic Four series but he was born on Wakanda’s foreign soil). In the Marvel films, the two characters are both military veterans and each is a close friend to Captain America (Chris Evans) but friction and mistrust has marked many of their interactions.
Spellman is a producer and writer, known for Empire (2015), Our Family Wedding (2010) and Foxy Brown.
