TFATWS Showrunner On Sharon Carter Skrull Speculation And Whether A Steve Rogers Cameo Was Discussed

@ElricReturns - but I also think that every scene Isaiah appeared in is already perfect as is. The Isaiah stuff is the only aspect of this show I think was handled perfectly. We didn't need Steve.

@Godzillakartt - I mean, assuming that Sharon was a Skrull in Civil War, it makes little sense that she would help Steve & Co out by stealing the shield.

No, I'm inclined to believe this was very poor writing that needed to make Sharon a plot device yet again, this time in service of the bad guys instead of the heroes.

@dwightskatana - because Skrulls don't just want Intel on the government, they want to know about our heroes and our super soldier programs and outside organisations and networks like Madripoor and stuff like that.

@OmegaDaGrodd -
"For all we know this could lead directly into her playing a part in Armor Wars or some other series as an antagonist."

Then it's still poor writing either way. Her character was hugely underdeveloped in the movies and even moreso in FATWS. Just because she had a rough time in Madripoor isn't enough to explain why a character who was inspired by, again, freaking Peggy Carter, who was always a steadfast ally to Cap and the Avengers, would do such a massive Heel Turn. It's ridiculous. But of course it's Marvel and they can get away with whatever they like.

@dwightskatana - Notice how they are low key calling you stupid, just because you have valid critiques. Welcome to cbm.com.

@OmegaDaGrodd -

Putting aside the fact that we've now switched from "they didn't know what to do" to the ever reliable "well it's just poor writing",

I'd say that one inevitably ties into the other, no? It's fairly obvious when writers don't know what to do with a certain character, because it shows up in the way that they're developed or used on screen.

"I'd like to point out that Sam Wilson went from having like 6 lines between Infinity War and Endgame to having an entire 6 episode series dedicated to developing his character, fleshing out his backstory and building him up to convincibly (in the eyes of many) take on the role of Captain America."

Except that the lead-up to Sam being handed the shield in Endgame made perfect sense, because he was one of Steve's closest friends, a steadfast ally, a soldier and someone who had always shown he was morally sound. The 6-episode series was there to flesh out his character a bit more, sure, but I for one didn't go into the show raging how Sam becoming Cap didn't make any sense at all, because it did. Sam had also received a lot of a lot more screentime and importance than Sharon ever did in the movies.

Her turn didn't happen in a post-credits scene, it happened when Batroc found out she was the Power Broke and when she gunned down the 19 year old girl she had recruited, trained and then exploited.

We had what, a few second-long scenes and Sharon feeling betrayed by her friends to make this huge switch from becoming someone who constantly fought for the greater good to the Tony Soprano of the underworld? Sorry, nope, not buying it.

@OmegaDaGrodd -

“As someone who's had to do a fair bit of writing, I'd say this is pretty far from accurate. A writer can know what they want to do with a character and the direction they take can just be bad, which happens pretty much all the time.”

As an editor, I can safely say that EVERYTHING that went on with Sharon’s character was clearly thrown together haphazardly last second, because so little of what she did made sense. I cannot think of ONE director who would have approved this mess. Why did she lead Sam, Bucky, and Zemo to the scientist, her Golden Goose, when he was the only one who knew how to make the serum, ESPECIALLY since she knows that the unpredictable Zemo loathes Super Soldiers? On the same note, why put herself at risk from bounty hunters and fight them off herself? Just to maintain a cover from Bucky and Sam? As the ruler of Madripoor’s underworld, there must have been a better way of handing it.

Just, bad, bad, bad all around. Truly sloppy. Even hiring Batroc to spy on Karli didn’t make sense, especially since all he wanted to do was to kill Sam. Why would she risk that? Whether she needed Sam to get her a pardon or whether she still viewed him as a friend for whatever reason, why not hire someone else who didn’t have a vendetta against Sam?

“Just because someone has a defined vision and direction doesn't mean the things they come up with are going to be good, coherent or interesting. That's just not how writing works, and I think learning that distinction is important when assessing character work in this context.”

I know how writing works, thanks, and it’s true that nothing regarding the Power Broker storyline was anywhere remotely good or coherent. It had the potential to be interesting, but the writers dropped the ball.

“Yes, and so since Sharon isn't being built up to become an MCU A lister, she won't need a 6 episode series to get where she needs to go.”

a.k.a She just needs to be a plot device, got it.

“She just needs something that places more than a passing focus on her, which could very easily be the next thing she shows up in.”
Ah, so now we get to my next point – sexism and double standards. Interesting to see how Sam, Bucky and even John Walker got an interesting, fleshed-out arc, but Sharon gets pushed to the side – even though she was the show’s MAIN VILLAIN! She would have been, and IS the perfect candidate to become the next A Lister in the Cap movies/series, considering that she’s a major player in the comics (she’s not an original character like Darcy so there is precedent for building her character up more) but no, Marvel just took the lazy way out. There is no way they would have managed to get away with this for a major character that Disney needs to sell merchandise for, hah.

Truly I haven't seen such amateur storytelling since Daenerys Targaryen torched King's Landing.

@OmegaDaGrodd -

There is so much of your argument I could pick apart, but I would just be repeating myself. However, I just really need to highlight the below:

"The Power Broker is not the villain of the show, and I feel like that misreading on your part may be part of why you're having so much trouble here. Sharon isn't even really an antagonist, she's just a fairly bad person who set the show's main (sympathetic) villain Karli on the path to self destruction."

Are you serious? Of course the Power Broker is the main villain. The very fact that, as you said, Sharon set Karli on the path to self-destruction makes her the agent of chaos. The Lawful Evil of the show, if you will. She is the only antagonist that was not shown to have any redeeming motivations. As wrong as her actions were, Karli initially joined Sharon because she wanted to change the world for the better. Her entire goal throughout the show was to help the powerless - she just chose the wrong way of going about it.

John Walker is another one, yes. He was hot-headed, arrogant fool who should never had the shield to begin with, and who ultimately lost the title of Cap due to his own hubris and temper, but he really did want to be the best Captain America he could be. As unlikeable as the audience (and myself) found him, the narrative clearly set him up at the beginning as wanting to do good.

Sharon's only motivations were self-serving. She agrees to help Sam and Bucky because she wants a pardon. She agrees to help Sam and Bucky in the States because she wants to track Batroc, who she broke out of prison to spy on Karli (supposedly). She kills Batroc and Karli to conceal her own identity. She brought Karli into her circle to be used as a pawn and then discarded her as a pawn. Unlike Karli and John she never had any good intentions to begin with - as far as we can tell, her only aim is money, power and revenge.

And the final scene is damning. If you really think that, on an American show, a character who's shown as willing to betray the US and sell state secrets ISN'T being set up as a villain, idk what to say. They didn't let Nicholas Brody off the hook on freaking Homeland, they're not going to let Sharon commit treason on a Disney show and not portray her as villainous.

@dwightskatana -
At least they didn't do this to her:

@String - Another thought, Sharon Carter often talked about the Power Broker as a different person throughout the series. This could also be true. Sharon Carter could had been under the tutorage of the original Power Broker, the one Zemo's knows by reputation, between 2016-2018. And ran the organization and lived in the lap of luxury when the Power Broker was snapped (2018-until 6 months ago). The Power Broker could be back and Sharon is back to being his/her second-in-command. The actual Power Broker could be who Sharon was talking to the mid-credits scene in the final episode.