Falcon & Winter Soldier Easter Egg Sets Up The MCU's REAL Inhumans

Warning: SPOILERS for The Falcon And The Winter Soldier Episode 1 - "New World Order".

A curious line of dialogue in The Falcon And The Winter Soldier's premiere episode may have set up the "real" Inhumans in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Sam Wilson AKA The Falcon (Anthony Mackie) and James "Bucky" Barnes AKA The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) return to action in The Falcon And The Winter Soldier, which is set six months after Avengers: Endgame. As the realities of the world after the billions were returned to life by the Blip become clear, does a comment made by one of Sam's allies mean the Inhumans exist on the moon?

Of course, Marvel's Inhumans already appeared as a TV miniseries (which premiered in IMAX) in 2017. However, that iteration of the superpowered beings was not only poorly received, it was the product of what was then a schism between Marvel Studios and Marvel Television. Marvel Studios originally announced an Inhumans film to be part of Phase 3 but the property was soon handed off to Marvel Television. At the time, Marvel Studios and Marvel Television operated as separate entities, although the TV side, which produced Agents of SHIELD for ABC and The Defenders series on Netflix, tried to maintain a loose connection to its blockbuster films-making counterpart. However, Marvel Studios has since absorbed Marvel Television so that the film division now produces streaming content for Disney+. One by one, former Marvel TV characters like Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and The Punisher are folding back into the mainline MCU. Where this leaves the Inhumans is an open question.

In The Falcon And The Winter Soldier's premiere, "New World Order", Sam Wilson is winding down in Tunisia after a successful airborne extraction mission. His Air Force contact, Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez), starts quizzing Sam about Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) and tells the Falcon about the "crazy conspiracy theories" online regarding Captain America's whereabouts. "Some people, they think that he's in a secret base on the moon looking down over us," Torres says. Sam scoffed at that since he knows what has actually become of his best friend, although The Falcon And The Winter Soldier is keeping the details about Steve Rogers' fate a secret (for now). But does the Internet chatter about a secret base on the moon tease the presence of the Inhumans in the MCU?

The Inhumans are one of Marvel's classic concepts that debuted in Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's original run of Fantastic Four comics in the 1960s. The Inhumans are a race of genetically enhanced superbeings led by a Royal Family; they gain their powers through a process called Terrigenesis, and they live in a hidden city called Attilan. In Marvel's Inhumans, Attilan was located on the moon, although the mini-series ended with the Inhumans coming to Earth and making a new home in Hawaii. It's understandable to wonder whether The Falcon And The Winter Soldier's "secret base on the moon" is an offhand reference to Attilan and if the Inhumans are on the way to the MCU.

But if the Inhumans do appear in the MCU, it will very likely be a brand new take on the characters and concepts since the 2017 Inhumans miniseries is not considered actual MCU canon. Moreso, Marvel's Inhumans was one of the most disliked properties of the last decade and it's doubtful Marvel Studios would resurrect that failure as it was. Further, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige has also stated that he's not a fan of the Inhumans. It's safe to guess Feige's interest in bringing Inhumans into the MCU proper is low, especially considering the long-range plans to integrate the similar and far more popular X-Men line of characters. So while the moon base was a fun Easter egg, it's hard to believe it's a tease for the Inhumans.

This isn't to say the MCU may not have a secret base on the moon since it's quite possible S.W.O.R.D. or even Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and the Skrulls could operate one. Rather, Torres' moon base joke is likely another Easter egg referring to the 2014 Marvel Comics mini-series Original Sin. In that tale, Uatu the Watcher, the cosmic being who lives in the Blue Area of the Moon, is mysteriously murdered. One of the end results is that Nick Fury becomes the new Watcher while Bucky Barnes becomes "The Man on the Wall", one of the Earth's secret defenders. The Falcon And The Winter Soldier's "secret base on the moon" is best taken as a wink to Bucky's role in that Marvel Comics event - unless the unexpected arrival of the Inhumans in the MCU proves otherwise.

Next: Falcon & Winter Soldier: Every MCU Easter Egg In Episode 1