WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Episode 3, "Power Broker," now streaming on Disney+.
The latest episode of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier entails a trip to Madripoor, a fictional South Pacific metropolis where Sharon Carter has been laying low since the events of Captain America: Civil War. The city's been a staple of Marvel Comics since the '80s, but this is the first time it has appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Madripoor's basics are easy to understand, and Winter Soldier spelled out the kind of place it was before wading into the action. It’s a city-state built on a small island in the South Pacific -- somewhere between Singapore and the Indonesian island of Bangka -- where dangerous criminals come to work, play and do business. In return, the city provides the MCU with a wretched hive of scum and villainy without having to denigrate a real-world city.
Chris Claremont and Steve Leialoha created Madripoor in 1985 in New Mutants #32: founded by pirates and serving as a haven for the lawless and hunted. In that sense, it was patterned after classic “pirate havens” like Tortuga and Kingstown, places where buccaneers on the run could find comparative safety until their pursuers gave up. The influx of dirty money into Madripoor creates banks and large corporations where various criminal organizations can wash their cash. The city is thus divided into two halves: Hightown, a playground for the rich, and Lowtown, a crime-ridden slum.
The city's biggest spotlight likely came in the debut of the Wolverine solo comic in 1988. The X-Men had gone into hiding in the Australian Outback -- the world believed them dead -- and Logan adopted the alias “Patch” to move through the city. Madripoor held the same gritty feeling as the celebrated Wolverine limited series from a few years earlier, and help set the tone for the character’s first long-term foray away from the X-Men.
The city retained the mutant connection in the ensuing years, often serving as a haven for those fleeing persecution, which makes it a natural addition to The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, more specifically the ongoing fallout of the Blip. A sudden influx of refugees after the events of Avengers: Endgame would be a boon to human trafficking operations, and a large dissident population might flee to a place like Madripoor to escape extradition elsewhere. The city gives Winter Soldier a place to explore those ideas without having to slide them around a real city with a real history.
More telling is its history with the X-Men, which meant Disney only regained the rights to use it after purchasing Fox. Its appearance in Winter Soldier carries strong ramifications for the entry of mutants into the MCU. It may end up being a red herring on that front -- fans are still stinging after WandaVision’s Quicksilver false flag -- but it also means that Disney isn’t being precious about using its newly bought creative properties. Sharp-eyed fans have already caught Easter eggs like The Princess Bar, whose heavy association with Wolverine suggests anything but casual use.
In any case, Madripoor remains a compelling part of Marvel comics in and of itself, and while huge swaths of the city remain unseen so far, its appearance in Winter Soldier is well in keeping with the show's tone. With the position and identity of Power Broker unknown, and with his roots clearly planted in Marvel’s favorite underworld hangout, it’s likely only a matter of time before Sam and Bucky find their way back to its mean streets.