At the end of Season 1 of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, a title card appeared with a new name that reflects the future of the Disney+ series — “Captain America and the Winter Soldier.” This title represents Sam Wilson’s transition from the Falcon to the next superhero to carry Steve Rogers’ shield. But according to head writer Malcom Spellman, there was an another title that almost made it to the screen.

The alternate title? “Captain America and the White Wolf.” Bucky Barnes has been referred to as “White Wolf” in the MCU since the end of Black Panther. The idea of renaming him White Wolf in the title would have wiped away his villainous reputation as the Winter Soldier, which was a codename given to him when he was a brainwashed assassin controlled by Hydra. Ultimately, it didn’t end up landing as much as the title they ended up using.

“I got to see that moniker [White Wolf] in watching one of the cuts, and man, it really affected me emotionally,” Spellman told CBM. “The reason [the closing title card] still says The Winter Soldier is solely based on Marvel feeling like they needed to keep some of the original title in there to land that feeling. I don’t think it had anything to do with where Bucky is going or how Bucky evolved.”

The alternate title is cool because it marks the progress made by both characters, but it strays too far from the established name people have been paying attention to for months. “I think that they felt like if they went too far away from the original title, you wouldn’t feel the impact of those words,” Spellman continued. “And I do think that had they done Captain America and the White Wolf, it might not have been as emotional of a landing because it’s too much math and too much evolution. I got blindsided by that while watching the cut – but I loved it.”

Gallery — Questions The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Left Unanswered:

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