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The Falcon and the Winter Soldier showrunner Malcolm Spellman has revealed an alternate cut of the finale gave Bucky a new superhero name.
At the end of episode 6, a new title card appears, which reads: 'Captain America and the Winter Soldier.' It marks Sam Wilson's transformation into the new Cap, but a different ending would have given Bucky his White Wolf name – a nickname that comes from his time in Wakanda.
"I got to see that moniker [White Wolf] in watching one of the cuts, and man, it really affected me emotionally," Spellman told The Hollywood Reporter. "The reason [the closing title card] still says The Winter Soldier is solely based on Marvel feeling like they needed to keep some of the original title in there to land that feeling. I don't think it had anything to do with where Bucky is going or how Bucky evolved as a character. I think that they felt like if they went too far away from the original title, you wouldn’t feel the impact of those words. But I'm speculating here."
He added: "Again, I'm speculating here, but I believe they wanted the impact of Captain America and the Winter Soldier to land. And I do think that had they done Captain America and the White Wolf, it might not have been as emotional of a landing because it's too much math and too much evolution. But I don't know for sure what it was. I got blindsided by that while watching the cut – but I loved it."
Captain America 4 is reportedly in the works, so we'll probably find out whether Bucky now goes by the Winter Soldier or White Wolf there – though Anthony Mackie, Spellman, and series director Kari Skogland have all avoided confirming the movie is happening.
