WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Episode 4, "The Whole World is Watching," now streaming on Disney+.

The Falcon and The Winter Soldier doesn't deal in incomprehensible, world-devouring threats. Instead, the Disney+ series focuses on the reality of displaced citizens forced from their homes following the "Blip," which saw half of the Earth's population return after a five-year absence. Borders between countries became less stringently enforced during those years, and there were millions of empty homes. This led to an improved quality of life for those that remained, and now, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier finds Sam and Bucky fighting against those trying to preserve that temporary status quo. Karli Morgenthau is struggling to keep alive what she thought was a better way of life, and her fervor hints at a sinister conclusion -- Thanos was right.

Thanos' philosophy is inspired by his home planet of Titan, which collapsed due to overpopulation. In order to prevent other worlds from suffering the same fate, he set out on a decades-long crusade to purge life from half of every civilization he could find. His belief was that those left behind in his wake would prosper, finding themselves with an abundance of resources after his massacre. He completed this goal on a universal scale in Avengers: Infinity War and Earth's fate during the five years that followed suggests his hypothesis was accurate. Those who were previously without food or shelter found themselves with an abundance of it, and the world even moved towards a more unified means of societal organization.

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Infinity War Thanos on Titan

But while Thanos' ideas bear a seductive logic, they're ultimately flawed. He believed the end justified the means, and that the good he would create outweighed all the deaths he would cause. Karli thinks similarly, even revealing to Sam she'd kill any roadblocks in her way. In contrast, Sam (who the show positions as its moral center) believes that the act of murder isn't justified, even when it's performed in service of a just cause.

And he's right. Violence begets violence, and even acts of revolution can be performed with compassion. But with that being the case, it makes one wonder why Thanos' massacre created a better world. The reality of the Blip and those worse off after the return of old-world systems hints at an obvious truth -- what Karli's doing is right. Sam even says as much, pointing out that his issue isn't with Karli's end, but with her means. Similarly, there are few who would take issue with the problem Thanos lays out. Overpopulation and the uneven distribution of resources present a danger to the continued well-being of society.

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Falcon and the Winter Solider - Bucky and Sam

Thanos' murder of innocents is obviously wrong, just as Karli's is wrong. But her villainy doesn't change the truth of the problem he was trying to solve. She takes aim at the correct enemies, calling out "these corporations and the beasts who run them." The structures that make up our world are cold and uncaring, and they cause death in their own way -- not by murder or massacre, but by silent starvation and poverty. Karli and Thanos tried to solve these problems and got them wrong, but The Falcon and The Winter Soldier shouldn't just stop there. It's easy to make up violent strawmen and decry them as extremists. It's a lot harder to approach the issues involved and figure out what needs to be done. Thanos was right about the problem, and it's up to Bucky and Sam to be right about the answer.

Directed by Kari Skogland, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier stars Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Emily VanCamp, Wyatt Russell, Noah Mills, Carl Lumbly and Daniel Brühl. New episodes debut on Fridays on Disney+.

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