WARNING FOR SPOILERS FOR FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER EPISODE 1. IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN EPISODE 1, DO NOT READ THIS POST.

Falcon and The Winter Soldier episode 1 introduced us to a brand new set of villains:

The Flag Smashers. But just who are they? What do they want? And where can you read about them?

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I’ve got all the information you need right here!

Who are the Flag Smashers?

In the original Marvel Comics, the Flag Smasher was a single man: Karl Mogenthau. He was created as a villain for Captain America, but has also had run ins with Deadpool, the Punisher, the Runaways, Ghost Rider and Moon Knight.

What does he want?

Karl wants to create a world that has done away with nationalism and the concept of countries, to eradicate anyone’s need to feel superior to another person simply because they’re of a different nationality.

To do this, Karl used terrorist acts, such as hijacking planes and taking hostages. He created a society called Ultimatum (Underground Liberated Totally Integrated Mobile Army To Unite Mankind) and named himself the Supreme Commander.

He was eventually taken down by Captain America and S.H.I.E.L.D.

Where can I read more about him?

There aren’t many comics available for him, but a few good places to start are: Captain America 312 (December 1985), Marvel Team Up volume 2 and Cable & Deadpool volume 1.

How does this affect the show?

Currently, not much is known about the Flag Smashers in the show: We know that they’re a group, and we know that their leader is called Karli Mogenthau.

My thoughts at the moment is that they’re obviously the villains (apart from Zemo), and that they’ve been going for a while, given their level of organisation. Other than that, it’s just going to have to be a waiting game to see what Marvel is up to!