I am an avid Marvel fan. I grew up reading Marvel Comics, and I was particularly drawn to Captain America. I grew up reading Cap in the late 70s and through to the early 90s. I remember the Red Skull literally dying in every issue only to return the next issue. It was ridiculous, but I loved it anyway, and the first appearance of Helmut Zemo as Phoenix when he wanted to dunk Cap in a vat of Adhesive X? I had that in a comic and .45 vynil combo pack (they were a thing in the 70s.) Predictably Zemo gets adhesive X in the face, and has to wear the mask.

So naturally I was very pleased with Daniel Bruhl and his portrayal of Zemo in Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Finally, the MCU got a real Baron Zemo. I really enjoyed Falcon and the Winter Soldier. I think the idea of a black man as Captain America is great, and I liked the way they handled the tension Sam had in taking up the mantle of Captain America. What I didn't like was what the series did with Sharon Carter.

It's not that she didn't have cause to become bitter and become the Power Broker. She absolutely did, although I still contend that her choosing to become power broker is a bit out of character for the neice of Peggy Carter. Ultimately my complaint isn't that. It's that it was poorly planned and poorly written.

Zemo leads Falcon, and Bucky to Madripoor, and after a lethal meeting with a local crime figure, Sharon intervenes (when she doesn't have to.) So keep in mind, even though they don't know it, Zemo, Falcon, and Bucky are face-to-face with the Power Broker. They ask her about the super soldier serum and she willingly tells them about Dr. Nagel. Not only that, she leads them to him. She has set him up in this fancy lab built under a shipping container. She has gone to extraordinary lengths to hide and protect this man since the Flag Smashers are out there looking for him, and she willingly leads Baron Zemo... BARON ZEMO, whom she knows is against the super soldier serum and all metahumans, right to his doorstep. Then while they are inside interrogating him, and somehow Zemo finds a pistol hidden under a counter, where he just happened to know exactly where to look for it, he shoots Nagel while Sharon (Power Broker) is outside protecting them from the bounty hunters that she hired to kill them. None of it makes any sense.

Then, in the finale comes the big reveal. Sharon Carter comes face-to-face with Karli Morganthau, and Batroc, and Moganthau reveals that she is Power Broker. It felt like it instantly deflated the whole scene. I heard that, and I went "womp womp." I can just imagine the production staff sitting around the table mid-season discussing who the Power Broker should be, and somebody suggesting Sharon Carter and everybody shrugged and said "feh."

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Emily Van Kamp or her performance as Sharon Carter, I just hope Marvel Comics doesn't follow this story arc for her, because it's dumb.