The Falcon & the Winter Soldier made a big mistake in killing off Karli Morgenthau. In the comics, the Flag-Smasher is a pretty low-level villain who typically takes on Captain America. He's a former Swedish diplomat who sought to destroy symbols of nationalist identity across the globe, which naturally meant he's targeted Captain America quite a few times. It's an interesting concept that the comics have never really made the most of, positioning the Flag-Smasher as a sort of extremist counter to nationalism.

The MCU switched up the Flag-Smasher, gender-swapping the character from the comics and having her lead a movement that spanned the globe. Played by Erin Kellyman, Karli Morgenthau actually looked back at the Blip with a strange sense of nostalgia. When Thanos snapped his fingers and erased half the life in the universe, he had given every human being a shared experience of grief for the first time in history, and national boundaries had been forgotten as people unified. But when the Avengers reversed Thanos' Snap, the lost were restored, and little by little the world is going back to normal. The Flag-Smashers resented that, arguing the world should instead look at what it should retain from the Blip, and they felt the refugee resettlement schemes were inhumane. It was a fascinating concept, although sadly it was one Falcon & Winter Soldier didn't quite explore as fully as it could have done.

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To be fair to Marvel, it's possible Falcon & Winter Soldier's Flag-Smasher plot suffered from a substantial rewrite due to the coronavirus pandemic. Back when the show began production, there were rumors it would feature a pandemic plot, and arguably there are still remnants of it within the final version; Karli and the Flag-Smashers steal vaccines from a truck at one point, and the death of Karli's mother-figure may be another leftover. Showrunner Malcolm Spellman confirmed Falcon & Winter Soldier had a lost storyline, although the precise details have never been stated (and probably never will be). Still, these would explain the disjointed and only half-realized Flag-Smasher plot. Unfortunately, though, if there were rewrites they ultimately led to a climax that didn't quite work.

Karli Morgenthau Had A Point

Karli giving a eulogy in The Falcon and Winter Soldier

The core problem is that Karli Morgenthau had a point. In the aftermath of the Blip, the world is suffering from a refugee crisis on an unprecedented scale, and governments have come together to form the Global Repatriation Council (GRC) in order to deal with it. Notice the underlying assumption, that every refugee should be "repatriated" - that is to say, returned to their country of origin. It really does feel as though the GRC's goal is simply to set the clock back, to bring back the pre-Blip status quo and erase the positive changes that came from the Blip. Making matters worse, a couple of scenes showing the leaders of the GRC in heated discussion demonstrated that they completely lacked any sense of empathy with the refugees whose fates they were deciding. And here's the disturbing thing: ordinary people, the civilians on the ground, appear to sense that Karli's argument is sound. The Flag-Smashers have popular support, and they're able to find places to hide wherever they go. They're organized via a mobile phone app, with countless supporters registered all over the world. The Flag-Smashers' motto, "One World, One People," clearly appeals to many.

This is essentially a power dynamic. The Blip changed the world, but now the people who benefited from the old status quo are working to restore their positions of power. The Flag-Smashers are a popular uprising against that, the cry of the powerless objecting to what is simply being done to them by the GRC and the world leaders who have signed off on its priority of repatriating refugees and restoring national boundaries. Viewed through that lens, there's actually a remarkable degree of cultural relevance to Morgenthau's argument, because here in the real world there are populist uprisings against long-standing power structures. Falcon & Winter Soldier's Flag-Smashers attempt to comment on this, but doesn't quite pull it off.

The Flag-Smashers' Villainy Was Mishandled

Karli smiling at Bucky in Falcon Winter Soldier

Karli Morgenthau and the other Flag-Smashers presented Marvel with a fascinating opportunity to explore the rights and wrongs of popular uprisings, and what lengths a movement like the Flag-Smashers should be willing to go to. From a certain point of view, their motives are laudable - but Falcon & Winter Soldier seems to realize it's made the Flag-Smashers too sympathetic, and consequently it rushes in a scene that portrays Karli as a villain. In Falcon & Winter Soldier episode 3, the Flag-Smashers raid a GRC depot housing six months' worth of supplies that aren't being used. It's the kind of act you associate with Robin Hood, but the show ensures Karli isn't perceived that way by having her set off a bomb and kill the people who'd been working there. Bizarrely, even the Flag-Smashers are surprised at Karli's act, commenting on it because it seems out-of-character. All this means the Flag-Smashers' villainy felt artificial, as though the writers remembered Karli wasn't supposed to be sympathetic and therefore attempted to write in a scene to ensure people viewed her as a villain.

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Comic books have always embraced politics, and the MCU followed their lead. Captain America: The Winter Soldier was a particularly sophisticated political thriller, contributing to a popular debate on the balance of safety and personal freedom and the overreach of intelligence agencies that was ongoing after the Snowden revelations. Falcon & Winter Soldier is positioned as a spiritual successor to that film, but unfortunately its messaging is a lot less consistent and well-thought-through.

Karli Deserved To Live, Not To Die

Karli Morgenthau with the Flag Smashers Falcon Winter Soldier

All this means Karli Morgenthau deserved to live, and not to die. Marvel seem to have viewed Karli as irredeemable, but the show itself doesn't consistently support that thesis; what's more, if Karli is irredeemable, then Sam Wilson's belief in her - his conviction she can be inspired to become a true force for good - feels like naivete. It would be better for Karli to have faltered, to have realized her grief and rage were pushing her down a dark path and actually compromising her mission, because that would have actually testified to the redemptive power of the new Captain America's belief in her. The ending of Falcon & Winter Soldier would have been very different; you wouldn't have had Sam flying down from the sky bearing Karli's body like the Angel Gabriel, delivering a lengthy speech that somehow turns the world upside-down. Rather than have a speech magically change the world, Falcon & Winter Soldier could have ended in an uneasy way, where you sensed the world was still reeling and in chaos, and where things could tip either way. It would have been less neat, less tidy, and frankly a lot more real.

It's possible to argue Karli deserved to die because she's a killer - but Falcon & Winter Soldier goes to great lengths to demonstrate that killing doesn't make you irredeemable. John Walker murdered a man in cold blood, bludgeoning a defeated foe to death with the edge of Captain America's shield, and Marvel definitely seem to have believed the finale redeemed him; you just need to check out the John Walker/US Agent merchandise Marvel is promoting to see they view Walker as a hero. So the show's message on redemption is inconsistent.

Rather than kill Karli, then, Falcon & Winter Soldier should have ended with Karli brought to justice - and potentially set up on a redemption arc. Karli could have been the MCU's next Scarlet Witch, an enemy who gradually becomes an ally, but - even more intriguing - one whose motives and agenda didn't entirely fit with those of the other heroes. Instead, Falcon & Winter Soldier essentially chose to kill Karli off simply because Marvel didn't have any long-term plans for her; the show served to position all its other major characters for their next steps in the MCU journey, but secondary characters like Karli and Battlestar felt as though they were killed simply because there were no next steps planned. That's a real shame, and Karli deserved better.

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