A censored version of Marvel Studios The Falcon and the Winter Soldier recently appeared on Disney+, causing controversy among the audiences of the MCU show. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was originally released in March 2021. The series ran for six episodes and chronicled Sam Wilson's transformation into Captain America while exploring his friendship with James "Bucky" Barnes as Bucky attempted to make peace with his past as the Winter Soldier.

Falcon and the Winter Soldier was decidedly more grounded in style and tone in comparison to other Disney+ shows like WandaVision and Loki. Because of this tone, the action of the show tended to lean on the more graphic side of things, though still not on the levels of Netflix's MCU attempts. As the show focused on some darker themes, such as Bucky's time as the Winter Soldier and his PTSD, and more socially relevant topics such as Sam Wilson becoming Captain America as a Black man, the action in the show tended not to shy away from some more graphic elements.

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It came as a surprise to many then, when a censored version started popping up on Disney+, changing two scenes from The Falcon and the Winter Soldier episode 3, "Power Broker." The first of the changes was made to the scene in which Zemo shoots Wilfred Nagel, the scientist who created the super-soldier serum responsible for the creation of the Flag Smashers. The original scene shows Nagel clearly dead, surrounded by blood and with his eyes still open. The censorship removed the blood completely and closed his eyes. The second change was made in the action sequence that came directly after this. The original version saw Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier throw a metal pipe at a mercenary with enough force that it punched through her arm and impaled her on a shipping container, whereas the edited version simply saw the pipe bounce off the enemy and out of frame. These changes caused a great deal of outrage from viewers, leading to people being upset, believing that Disney was attempting to censor some of the more adult elements of the show. The outcry was especially fierce as more adult, mature content is something that MCU audiences have been wanting for a while. Others speculated that it had to do with Disney+'s new content settings, and that if users set their viewing preferences to mature content, then the uncensored version would show.

Captain america 4 risks undermining falcon and the winter soldier ending

However, shortly after these edited scenes were pointed out, it was revealed by TVLine that the censored version of the Falcon and Winter Soldier episode was merely a mistake. Reportedly, the censored scenes were inadvertently published due to a quality control issue and the alternate cut of the episode was accidentally uploaded when trying to correct a credit error. While no official statement has come from either Marvel Studios or Disney themselves about The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Disney+ has swiftly moved to restore the episode back to its original version as quickly as possible.

As with most situations involving big superhero franchises on the internet, this inadvertent censorship led to a lot of people jumping to conclusions and criticizing Disney for what is now revealed to be a mistake, though potentially for the right reasons. However, with the mistake now being rectified and the censorship revealed to have been an error on Disney's part, audiences can rest easy knowing that the MCU's slightly darker side, and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, remains intact and unaltered. Perhaps the outcry will show Disney executives there's a big appetite for more mature Marvel content on its streaming platform.

Next: Why MCU Phase 4 Is So Much Darker Than Phases 1-3

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