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Falcon and Winter Soldier Theory: The Power Broker Might Be A CIA Cover for Sharon Carter

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier has placed several hints pointing towards Sharon Carter being the Power Broker. But if she is indeed the big bad villain of the show, then it is a possibility that it is just her cover for the CIA or also for Nick Fury. The series has returned to the political action-thriller side of the MCU which was first established by Captain America: The Winter Soldier. As a result of the Blip, the world is in chaos. In between all this, a global anarchist network called the Flag Smashers has risen.

The goal of the Flag Smashers is to return the world into the borderless society of one shared nation like it was during the five years of the blip. It is up to Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes to put a stop to them. They have also got some help from Sharon Carter. She has been an important but underutilized ally of Steve Rogers in the MCU. She first appeared in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. She helped Cap against HYDRA.

Later she was seen in Captain America: Civil War. There she was a member of the CIA’s joint counter-terror taskforce. She played an important role and helped Steve, Sam and Bucky escape custody. She also retrieved their equipment and gave them back and gave it back to them. She was then branded as a fugitive by the U.S. government and had to go into hiding. But Avengers: Endgame unveiled that she was one of the dusted or maybe the Avengers thought her to be.

Sharon was seen again in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. But here she was a very different person. She was hardened, more cynical, and had no more belief left in heroism or her country, looking at how it abandoned her, and she still had to be in exile. She had to set up a booming art theft and forgery business, working from the lawless island nation of Madripoor. During her time there, Sharon had completely integrated herself into Madripoor’s criminal underworld.

Now everything points at her being the shadowy Power Broker, the one who controls everything that happens in it. However, this is not quite adding up. But Sharon Carter going undercover and adopting the guise of the Power Broker as a deep CIA cover makes sense. Let’s see why.

1. Everything that happened to Sharon Carter since Civil War

The story of Steve Rogers’ Secret Avengers team between the events of Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War is murky. All that is known for now is that they had to go underground. They didn’t have access to Tony Stark’s advanced tech or money. So, their costumes and equipment looked rugged and beat-up by the time when they appear from the shadows to fight Thanos.

Endgame Captain America Infinity War

Sam mentioned in Episode 1 of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier that they got by helping people out and those who would show their gratitude with food, payments and just enough to keep them going. But nothing is known about Sharon Carter after Captain America: Civil War. She stole their gear and gave it back knowing that the agencies would come after her and she would have to go on the run.

It is unknown where she went after everything. But considering how she is settled in Madripoor, it can be assumed that she went there. She has been a former S.H.I.E.L.D. and CIA agent. So, she would have known that Madripoor has a “no-extradition” treaty. So it makes sense that she would go there. Two years that passed between Civil War and Infinity War was probably enough time for a highly skilled, resourceful former covert operative like Sharon to set up a criminal enterprise.

Two years later, she supposedly became a casualty of Thanos’ snap before returning five years later. At this point, she might have gone back to her work in Madripoor. This is the simple version of Sharon’s story. But still, there are some things that don’t make sense.

2. Things in Sharon Carter’s story that don’t add up

Sharon’s story makes sense but it falls apart when some context is put to it. Even if Sharon went to Madripoor after going rogue in Civil War, she got dusted two years later. Falcon & Winter Soldier takes place three to six months after the Blip. The series has confirmed that the world was completely upended into chaos in the five years in-between. Virtually, there is no way that Sharon Carter, even as the Power Broker, could have disappeared for five years and come back and regained her position at the top of the Madripoor criminal hierarchy in just a few months. New crime lords and ladies would have risen to take her place.

Sharon has gone through a rough time. She had to be on the run and was exiled by the country she fought for, having to turn to crime. If you believe the latest episode of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Sharon has become so cynical, disillusioned, and ruthless during her time as the Power Broker, that she is also willing to work with the Flag-Smashers. Apparently, she is also willing to allow Batroc to kill Sam, looking at how she hired him to strike a deal with the Flag-Smashers and had to have known that killing Falcon was at the top of his list, or she agreed to it in her deal with him.

Why Sharon Carter Is Helping Batroc Kill Sam | Screen Rant

Her bitterness is so deep that it’s turned to her sanctioning terrorism and the murder of one of her former friends and allies. Sharon was aware of the risks of helping Sam, Steve, and Bucky escape. But still, she did it. This makes no sense that she would have done it and then grew bitter when things turned out exactly as she knew they might have. Sharon Carter was always good to her core. She always did the right thing, no matter what it cost her personally.

3. Sharon’s CIA Cover as the Power Broker explains a lot

The CIA might have reached out to Sharon and offered her a deal to go deep undercover and her slate would be wiped clean. This explains how the Avengers knew Sharon Carter was one of the victims of the Snap. It explains how she magically got her extensive Power Broker enterprise back up and running in Madripoor directly after returning in the Blip.

New Evidence Sharon Carter Is Falcon & Winter Soldier's Power Broker | LaptrinhX

The fact here is that Sharon was never dusted in the first place. It was just a story planted by the CIA to help her remain off the grid. The world was in disorder before Thanos’s Snap. After the Snap, it was complete chaos. It made perfect sense that an intelligence agency like the CIA might want an agent who owes them something planted deep in the Madripoor underworld to keep tabs on any rising threats in the wake of global turmoil. This explains how Sharon Carter has access to satellites. This shows how she embedded herself. It shows how she was at the top of Madripoor’s crime world and why she never tried to contact or get a message to Steve Rogers and the Secret Avengers.

4. Sharon might be working for Nick Fury

Sharon might be embedded in Madripoor at the behest of Nick Fury. He has more eyes in the sky and ears to the ground than any other intelligence agency. If anyone could have tracked down Sharon Carter after she went off the grid in Civil War, it’s Nick Fury. He was also shown to be dusted. But, it might have been Talos in disguise as Nick Fury. The actual Nick Fury is now known to be on SWORD’s space station, and not on Earth. Nick Fury is not the kind of man who would let a valuable asset like Sharon Carter go unused. He might have kept tabs on her and contacted her in the two years after Civil War, before Thanos unleashed his chaos.

Marvel Theory: Nick Fury's Phase 4 Setup Was All A Trick

It must be noted that Sharon called Batroc to help her broker a deal with the Flag-Smashers. Batroc was hired by Nick Fury anonymously in The Winter Soldier to hijack the “Lemurian Star” ship in order to give Fury’s team an excuse to board the ship and have Black Widow steal the intel about S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Project Insight, about which Fury had suspicions. If Nick Fury pointed Sharon in Batroc’s direction, this is not the first time that he or one of his operatives has hired Batroc to infiltrate a terrorist network and gain intel under the guise of committing a crime.

Since the beginning, nothing about Sharon’s story in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier has made total sense. Her story might have been a bit of hurried retcon on the part of Marvel. This might explain where she has been all this time. The second Disney+ Marvel series has also suffered from forced COVID rewrites and a chopped-up shoot. It will be a disservice to a character who has put her own life and career on the line to help Captain America and do the right thing more than once. Sharon is a character that deserves recognition for her actions and to be a hero in her own right. The final episode of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier would reveal if Sharon Carter has truly broken badly or not.

What do you guys think about this theory? Let us know your opinions in the comments.

Source: Screen Rant

Anupal Sraban Neog

Born and grew up in Guwahati, Assam. Wish to see a discrimination free India at some point. Love to travel and explore new places. Binge watching web series is my favorite time pass activity. A Cinephilia and an ardent follower of Marvel and DC.
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