The enigmatic new villain of the Falcon And The Winter Soldier, The Power Broker, is slowly becoming the series’ most mysterious man…or woman and throughout this post, we’re gonna be breaking down all the best theories over whom this could be and the character’s origins in the comics.
There might be some spoilers here so if you don’t want anything ruined then I recommend that you turn off now.
Now though the MCU doesn’t adapt the comic stories in a way that makes it easy to predict exactly what’s gonna happen, we can look at the source material to see the way that things originally ended up going to add some basis to our predictions.
Power Broker in the Comics
In the comics, The Power Broker’s name has been taken on by several characters and at one point it’s even been an entire organisation made up of mad scientists and villains.
Now in the comics, the Power Broker was firstly named Curtis Jackson…no not that one and through the comics he was basically a businessman that wanted to destabilise society so that he could gain control.
The villain worked with many people, the most notable of these being Doctor Karl Malus a mad scientist that experimented with genetic mutation and human augmentation. Under the name Power Broker Incorporated the pair carried out several experiments and the general population.
This included John Walker, who was supplied with super soldier serum and this led to him becoming the villain super patriot. Their work was extremely dangerous and risky. Most of the people that were experimented on ended up either dead or deformed and they ruined more lives than I did when I spoiled the ending of Avengers Endgame.
Power Broker Inc was supposed to show the commercialisation of super-powered people and rather than doing things for the good of humanity it turned it all into one big industry to make money. Superhero movies in general have sort of become this in which almost every single property is getting adapted so that movie studios can milk it more than I milk theory videos and almost all of these heroes were playing on already established ones.
In the comics, Malus recreates The Falcon and we also see in the show that Cap has become a commodity with several action figures and products.
Now Jackson eventually ended up using the augmentation devices on himself when he was attacked by a vigilante known as The Scourge Of The Underworld. Curtis learned that Karma’s a b**ch when he too faced the side effects of the process and this left him almost completely paralysed.
Malus took advantage of this and sent in Vagabond to steal his fingerprints so that he could gain access to all of Jackson’s accounts but this failed and The Power Broker power broke his legs for betraying him. Shortly after though he rehired him to help cure his condition and from here on out, they had an uneasy alliance.
Who is The Power Broker in the Show?
Now the Power Broker could easily be Curtis Jackson, and there is a high possibility that he could be revealed as a shady businessman running things behind the scenes. This would fit in well with the location of Madripoor which we learned is divided into two sections, just like how it is in the comics.
Low Town is a haven for crimes like murder and narcotics whereas High Town is reserved for things like dodgy art dealings, which we’ll talk about later on in the video.
It’s not personal there, strictly business and therefore Jackson would fit in well with the aesthetic. The genetic experimentation also fits in well with his origins and general MO. Add to that US agent and you do have a series that seems to be pointing in the direction of it probably being him.
However, if you’ve been following our breakdowns then you’ll know that we’ve also theorised quite a lot that it might actually be Malus behind it all. This is because, in the comic book run Sam Wilson Captain America, he appears as the first major villain. The series is heavily based on the book and in it we see Sam struggling with taking on the mantle of Captain America and all that comes with it. He also ends up gaining Joaquin Torres as a sidekick, teams up with The Winter Soldier, and faces down against US Agent and the Flagsmasher.
Flag smasher is just a Life Model Decoy but even so, there are a lot of similarities. In that Malus is carrying out experiments on humans to make them animal-human hybrids and though this isn’t present in the show, his ties to Power Broker incorporated do seem to line up.
Now there was also a second iteration of the Power Broker called Power Broker 2 who became the latest owner of the Incorporated company. Responsible for giving the character Hardball his powers, he’s also capable of firing energy bolts from his hands and whenever we see him he appears in a battle suit.
Now for the moment, none of these characters or versions is in the MCU at all and there haven’t been any leaks or cast lists that seem to indicate they’re in the series. Even if there where we all saw what happened with James Spader being listed as playing Ultron in Wandavision so for the moment we can’t trust anything online until we see it in the show for ourselves.
Superhumans
The series is focused around the Power Broker and the Super Soldier serum itself and whereas in Civil War we saw that the formula could turn people crazy, it’s now been refined to create more grounded superhumans.
Now huge shoutouts to Screen Crush for unearthing an interview with series writer Derek Kolstad who stated that Marvel was bringing back some characters from the earlier MCU movies and weaving them throughout the plot lines to carry on seemingly dropped plot lines.
This led Ryan to theorise that the Leader could be returning and he definitely fits the mould of a super-intelligent character that could be controlling things from behind the scenes. Whereas Hulk got super strength, the Leader got super intelligence and due to him already being a character that has carried out human experiments to try and unleash untapped potential, he does line up quite a lot.
Similar to how Ross has returned and is now playing a big part in the MCU, the leader could too and though this fan theory is pretty unlikely, I actually think that it would really work.
Could Sharon Carter be the Power Broker?
Now the big theory that’s going around at the moment is that Sharon is actually The Power Broker. It’s enough to break her poor old aunty’s heart but let’s look through the evidence and weigh up whether we think she is or not.
When we meet her she’s operating in High Town as a stolen art dealer and throughout the series, we discover that she’s been on the run since Civil War because she broke the Sokovia Accords. Now an enemy of the state she’s had to relocate to Madripoor and lives under the gumption that the hero lifestyle that she once sought was simply all a lie.
So she does have the right mind state and operation area to potentially be a candidate. Whatever way you look at it she’s not the same character we last saw in Civil War and clearly has people working for her as underlings.
Now in the episode, Sam, Bucky and Zemo try and gain information on a scientist named Nagel from an information broker called Selby. This is extremely hard to come by and yet somehow later in the episode Sharon can gain it from one of the guests at her party.
Now, this guest may have simply been besotted by Zemo’s dance moves or potentially Sharon already knew where he was.
When they arrive at the location she stays outside and easily takes out all the guards that show up, going completely Atomic Blond on them.
She seems genuinely angry that Zemo decided to take Nagel out and if she were the Power Broker then this would make a lot of sense.
From here on she decides to remain in Madripoor and then goes and meets her driver who says that they have some big problems.
Now whilst the theory does have some things that make it seem like it could be true, there’s also a lot that contradicts it.
Why CAN’T Sharon be The Power Broker?
Firstly, we know that the Power Broker is someone that doesn’t like to get their hands dirty and I can’t see Sharon putting herself in the line of fire if she was indeed one and the same.
She’s also never had any interest in genetic augmentation and it would also break her poor aunties heart. Surely if she was the Power Broker too she would enter the container to keep a close eye on what Nagel was saying and there’s absolutely no way she would allow him to be killed if he was really paramount to her operations.
Sharon also seems desperate to get a pardon and I think that someone as high up as the Power Broker now it would actually have little interest in seeking out returning to a conventional life.
Thus I think that this big problem scene is simply a red herring and that Sharon, at best, is simply working for the Power Broker. Things just don’t line up and the use of the word him, whenever the Power Broker is brought up, makes it seem unlikely.
Does Zemo Know?
Now strangely, Zemo describes the Power Broker as him, despite being confined to a cell since the events of Civil War. We do see that he has a guard card and he may even be the character, operating from his prison and sending things out into the world.
I think that’s pretty unlikely but I just thought I’d cover it as I know a couple of people have mentioned it. Overall I would love to see the Leader rise up and be revealed as the villain, however, I do think that they might do something similar to the comics and unveil a brand new character, namely Curtis Jackson.
Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.