The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Episode 5 Has a Cameo by a ‘Well-Known Performer’

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier episode 5 will feature a mystery cameo by a “well-known performer” playing a “grounded” Marvel comics character we haven't seen before nor is set to appear in upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, according to multiple reports. There are about half a dozen theories on who this might be. With just two episodes to go, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier has to reveal the identity of the Power Broker, whose reputation has been built up over the last three episodes.

Additionally, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier episode 5 will make you “cry” and will be the longest episode in the series, yet at 61 minutes (including the credits that usually run for about seven minutes), per other reports. The fifth episode runtime comes from a Reddit user who has accurately revealed this info for other The Falcon and the Winter Soldier episodes.

“Hands down, [episode] five, it just gets real. And [in episode] five, you're going to cry,” The Falcon and the Winter Soldier creator and showrunner Malcolm Spellman told ComicBook.com in an interview prior to the Marvel series' premiere in mid-March.

To Rotten Tomatoes that same day, Spellman added: “There are characters in our series who I would love to see partnered with like — it's a very, very grounded character — one of the big world-shakers like Thor or someone like that who hasn't moved on. Because the personality is so strong; it's the episode 5 character. I'd love to see that character with Thor.”

Then last Friday — a few hours after the release of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier episode 4 — SlashFilm said it has confirmed that the episode 5 cameo character “is not one that we've seen in the MCU before and not one who is primed to appear in an upcoming film. […] It is an existing Marvel Comics character who is played by a well-known performer.”

Maybe we ought to take all of this with a pinch of salt. Remember the time when WandaVision star Paul Bettany teased a major cameo of his own — he said he really enjoyed acting opposite a star he had never been on set with — and it turned out to be himself? That said, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier situation is not the same. Spellman isn't hyping it to a similar extent, and nor did we have trade reports for WandaVision that confirmed what the creators and stars had been teasing.

We shall find out this Friday when The Falcon and the Winter Soldier episode 5 drops April 16 on Disney+ and Disney+ Hotstar. It will be followed by the series finale — The Falcon and the Winter Soldier episode 6 — on April 23.

Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast, has a double bill this week: the OnePlus 9 series, and Justice League Snyder Cut (starting at 25:32). Orbital is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts.