Danny Ramirez is the latest actor to join Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan in Marvel Studios series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, the Disney+ action-thriller spinning out of Avengers: Endgame. The On My Block and Top Gun: Maverick actor, who played Wes in Fox-Marvel’s X-Men TV spinoff The Gifted, boards the Kari Skogland-directed series in a mystery but key role. Along with fellow Marvel Cinematic Universe newcomers Adepero Oduye (When They See Us) and Wyatt Russell (Lodge 49), Ramirez appears opposite returning Captain America: Civil War stars Emily VanCamp as Sharon Carter and Daniel Brühl as Baron Zemo.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, who broke the news, Ramirez plays a “pivotal” role in the next Marvel Studios series out after WandaVision.
Plot details remain under wraps, but The Falcon and the Winter Soldier takes Sam Wilson (Mackie) and Bucky Barnes (Stan) on a global adventure while introducing Captain America-wannabe U.S. Agent (Russell). A since-retired and 112-year-old Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) handed his star-spangled shield to Wilson at the close of Endgame, also passing along the mantle of Captain America.
Production recently resumed on the series after a several months pause caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, delaying the Winter Soldier-styled series until 2021.
“What I loved about it was that, tonally, it was very much in the same world that Captain America: The Winter Soldier was, which was one of my favorite experiences that I’ve ever had, period. So, in a sense, it was grounded and very much in the world as we know it,” Stan previously told THR, adding the series is similarly “jam-packed with a lot of massive, massive action scenes mixed with deep focus on character. That’s what’s really exciting about this.”
He continued of Barnes’ sometimes strenuous relationship with Wilson, “We’re getting to keep it in the world of the movies, so it’s recognizable that way, but at the same time, these characters are getting so much more mileage for all of us to explore them. We can put them in situations that we’ve never been able to put them in before because you now have six hours as opposed to two. It’s always a discovery.”
WandaVision, reuniting Avengers stars Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany, launches the MCU’s Phase 4 when it reaches Disney+ before the end of the year. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier will premiere on the streaming service in early 2021.