Who's the real Power Broker? Know more about 'The Falcon And The Winter Soldier's' villain

The list of The Falcon And The Winter Soldier's villains, during the second episode of the same, found addition in the series' mysterious new antagonist, namely the Power Broker. As many would recall, The Falcon And The Winter Soldier Episode 2 saw a US government official making a call to a mysterious figure and simultaneously giving an update that the group which goes by the name of The Flag Smashers got away. Prior to that, The Power Broker gets mentioned by one of the Flag Smashers who was of the belief that they were being traced by the enigmatic person or entity in Bratislava. Since then, many have wondered about the supervillain's identity. This article has been curated with the intention of answering the questions surrounding The Power Broker's identity, the Power Broker's origins as well as the Power Broker's powers, if any.

So, who's the real power broker?

The true identity of The Power Broker is going to be a mystery for a while, which is very much in line with how Marvel unveils its secrets. But, the screenwriter of the series, Derek Kolstad, ended up revealing on an episode of the Script Apart podcast that makers of The Falcon And The Winter Soldier will be seen bringing in the actors that have been a part of the earliest of Marvel movies, going back up until a decade. While touching upon the same during a conversation with the host of the podcast, Kolstad, who also created the character of John Wick and wrote the scrips of the film featuring him, said that, "There are characters from the earliest of the Marvel movies that are coming back and they're layering them in and Reinventing them in such a way that it's going to kind of shift the storytelling structure", thus hinting at the fact that the power broker could be one of the characters that the Marvel fans have already met in the movies.

Could Samuel Sterns be the power broker?

The Incredible Hulk, starring Edward Norton as Bruce Banner, introduced its viewers to a character known as Samuel Sterns, who was portrayed by Tim Blake Nelson as an individual who was determined to replicate the serum ingested by Norton's Hulk in order to create more like him. As per the Marvel Comics, the Power Broker, very much like Sterns, is motivated by the creation of an army of super-soldiers. Due to the same, many have theorized that Tim Blake Nelson can be seen reprising his role as Samuel Sterns or his rumoured supervillain persona, The Leader.

Samuel Sterns as the comic-book villain 'The Leader':

Can the power broker be Thaddeus Ross?

Another Marvel Character who wanted the planet Earth to have more individuals like Captain America which he can control was William Hurt's Thaddeus Ross. Hurt's MCU version of Ross is a United States government official who wants to have an army of super-powered people who he can mobilize when people like The Hulk, Captain America, and Black Widow go rogue. It is believed that the events of 2008 The Incredible Hulk movie left him with enough equipment for the creation of a serum that will proliferate the number of superhumans in the world. This makes Thaddeus Ross a suitable candidate for the power broker, as per many. It is also believed that in the upcoming MCU presentations, he can also be seen as the Red Hulk.

Is Zola the real power broker?

The Falcon And The Winter Soldier Episode 2 has established that HYDRA may have very well been responsible for the creation of people like the ones who have formed the Flag Smashers. It is also believed that Zola, the World War 2 era scientist who was a part of the Red Skull-spearheaded HYDRA, is very much alive. One of the chapters that are a part of the Captain America Trilogy had revealed that Zola managed to keep himself breathing as a series of computers and hard drives, which now contain his mind and soul. Given the much like Samuel Sterns and Thaddeus Ross, Zola wanted to create an army of remarkably powerful humans and was credited for the creation of THe Winter Soldier, several MCU fanatics are of the belief that Zola, who may have very well been in HYDRA's chair since the banishment of the Red Skull to Vormir, may be pulling the strings as the Power Broker from behind the curtains. 

About The Falcon And The Winter Soldier:

The Falcon And The Winter Soldier made its streaming debut on March 19th. It stars the likes of Emily VanCamp, Georges St-Pierre, Daniel Brühl, Adepero Oduye, Miki Ishikawa, and Danny Ramirez, amongst others. The first two episodes of the same, titled New World Order and The Star-Spangled Man are now available for streaming on DIsney+, Disney+ Hotstar, and Hulu, depending upon one's geographical location.