The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is easily one of the best projects in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and does an amazing job of showcasing its characters. The series features several returning characters from the Captain America trilogy as well as introduces new characters to the franchise.
Even though none of the actors look exactly like their comic book counterparts, they do get pretty close, with many of them even getting perfect adaptions of their costumes. While looks aren't the only thing needed to make a character comic accurate, visual similarities between the onscreen and comic book versions do help bring the characters and the story to life.
Captain America
Anthony Mackie is a pretty spot-on casting for Sam Wilson, sharing the character's dark brown eyes and short black hair. The only real difference between the two is that Mackie is just a bit shorter at 5'10" than Sam who is typically 6'2". Sam also gets two costume upgrades in the series. The first comes in the pilot episode, which is a white and red wingsuit that is much closer to his classic look as Falcon in the comics than the previous ones.
The second upgrade comes in the season finale when he finally takes up the mantle of Captain America. Sam's Captain America suit, which was made in Wakanda, features a new set of Vibranium wings and a red, white, and blue color scheme that looks like it was ripped directly from the comics.
Winter Soldier
The show's other lead, Sebastian Stan, who plays Bucky isn't as close to looking like his character as Mackie is to his considering he has blue eyes and is 6'0" while comic Bucky is 5'9" and has brown eyes. The only real similarity between the two is their brown hair color.
While he still has his Winter Soldier look in the comics with his hair being kept long, in the MCU, he looks closer to what he looked like in The First Avenger with the character's brown hair being short. Bucky also has a different prosthetic arm than he does in the comics; instead of the silver arm with the red star, he has a silver arm with gold accents (which he got from Wakanda).
Joaquín Torres
One of the new characters introduced in the series was Joaquín Torres played by Danny Ramirez, a friend of Sam's and a member of the Air Force. Ramirez is 5'9" with black hair and light brown, and while no exact height for Joaquín is given in the comics, he and the actor have the same eye and hair color.
In the comics, Torres was subjected to experiments that turned him into a human bird hybrid. While there's still a chance Torres could go through that evolution, it seems more likely that the MCU will take a more grounded approach considering the last scene between him and Sam shows the new Captain America leave his old set of wings with him.
Isaiah Bradley
After learning that Sam gave up the shield, Bucky takes Sam to Baltimore so he can meet Isaiah Bradley, played by Carl Lumbly, one of the many Black men that were experimented on with the super-soldier serum. In addition to being aged up for the series, Lumbly also had to bulk up for the role, making him look even more like the character.
While he towers over Sam and Bucky in the show, Lumbly is actually 6'1" which is 3 inches shorter than his comic book counterpart, who is 6'4". Another physical difference between the two is the fact that Isaiah in the comics has no hair while the Isaiah in the series still has his hair. However, both of them share the character's brown eyes.
Eli Bradley
When Sam and Bucky go to visit Isaiah, they also meet his grandson, Elijah Bradley, played by Elijah Richardson. In the comics, Elijah has no hair, like Isaiah, but in the series, he has short black hair.
In the comics, Elijah is a member of the Young Avengers and goes by the name "Patriot." Since the movies seem to be setting up this team, with many of the other members already existing in the MCU, there's a good chance that fans could see him get a suit in a future project.
Batroc
One of the minor characters from the Captain America trilogy that resurfaced in the series was Georges Batroc (aka Batroc the Leaper), who was played by former MMA fighter, Georges St-Pierre. Batroc is 6'0" with brown eyes and black hair, while St-Pierre is 5'10" with blue eyes and dark brown hair.
The main aspect of the character that wasn't brought to the screen is his instantly facial hair, a dali-style mustache and goatee, which was ditched in favor of a more natural look. While he had a uniform in The Winter Soldier closely resembled the purple and yellow outfit he wears in the comic, in the series, he wears street clothes with those colors.
Baron Zemo
Another character that returned Helmet Zemo played by Daniel Brühl and although many expected him to be the main antagonist, he instead solidified himself as a fan favorite anti-hero.
While they are similar heights, with Brühl being 5'9" and Zemo being 5'10", they don't look that similar since Brühl also has dark features like his light brown hair and dark brown eyes compared to Zemo who has blond hair and blue eyes. However, those differences don't really matter as much considering that the series also finally gave him the iconic purple mask that he usually wears in the comics.
John Walker
Fans first meet John Walker, played by Wyatt Russell, at the end of the first episode when it's announced by the government that he's been chosen to carry on the mantle of Captain America. Aside from the fact that Russell is two inches shorter than Walker at 6'2", he's quite literally perfect casting, sharing the character's blue eyes and blond hair.
While he first appears in the series as Captain America, most comic readers knew him as U.S. Agent but wouldn't get to see that version of the uniform until the end of the series. His U.S. Agent uniform, which is identical to the comics, is basically the same as his Captain America suit except it's black rather than blue and features white, which his Captain America suit did not have.
Lemar Hoskins
Shortly after meeting John, fans got to meet his partner, Lemar Hoskins (aka Battlestar). They look pretty similar physically since both Clé and Lemar have black hair and brown eyes but the most noticeable difference is that Clé, who is pretty tall at 6'0", is still 6 inches shorter than Lemar who is 6'6". Another big difference with how the character looks comes from the way his costume was updated for the series.
In the comics, his uniform is much more brightly colored but in the show, it's much more tactical, featuring a bulletproof vest with the red and blue of the uniform being more muted and the white gloves, as well as the white star on the chest, replaced with black.
Sharon Carter
The series also brought back Emily VanCamp as Sharon Carter, revealing that she had escaped to Madripoor after becoming a fugitive for helping Steve in Civil War, becoming the criminal known as the Powerbroker.
Despite the evolution the character gone through, she still looks the same as she did when she first appeared in the MCU, which is almost identical to how she looks in the comics. Both Emily and Sharon are 5'8" and have blond hair, the only difference between them is that Sharon's eyes are blue while Emily's are brown. She also normally wears a white costume in the comics which fans have yet to see in the MCU.
Valentina Allegra de Fontaine
One of the biggest surprise appearances came from Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who debuted in the show's fifth episode and introduced herself to John Walker as Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. While Julia manages to look like the classic Marvel character, there are some clear differences between the two versions.
For one, Julia, who is 5'3", is 5 inches shorter than Valentina who is 5'8" and they also have different eye colors (with Julia's being hazel and Valentina's being blue). Even the streak in the character's black hair has been changed from white to purple.
Karli Morgenthau
In the comics, the alias of Flagsmasher belongs to one person, Karl Morgenthau, but in the series, the Flagsmashers are a group led by a gender-swapped version of the character, with Karli Morgenthau played by Erin Kellyman. Kellyman bears almost no resemblance to her comic book counterpart since Karl is 6'2" with brown hair while Karli is 5'6" and has dark red hair. The only thing they share is dark brown eyes.
Even elements that were carried over, like the character's symbol that appears on his belt in the comics, has been updated and is used on the masks that the group wears. However, rather than it just being a simple black globe, the now red symbol shows the planet in the middle of a handprint.