WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Episode 6, "One World, One People," now streaming on Disney+.

Sharon Carter is one of the biggest characters in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, aside from show's titular duo. She showed up in Episode 3, "Power Broker," to help out Sam and Bucky, having made her home in the criminal haven of Madripoor after being charged with treason by the American government. She helped the pair find what they were looking for in the city, and continued to provide them with intel and assistance after they left. But underneath that aid was a sinister ulterior motive, as the show's finale revealed she was actually the Power Broker. Sam got the government to pardon her as thanks, and they saw fit to give her back her old position at the CIA. This put Sharon in a better position than ever to sell the secrets of the American government and military to the highest bidder.

This was a fairly sudden change for Sharon's character following Captain America: Civil War, which saw her act against the government in a fairly small way as she recovered Sam and Steve's gear for them. Prior to that, it seemed like she believed in what she was doing, first at S.H.I.E.L.D., then at the CIA, and her new position as the Power Broker appeared to be a complete reversal of her previous morals. It's been over five years since she was blacklisted, and while all sorts of dramatic events could have happened in the intervening time, none of that was shown or even hinted at to the audience. This has led some to speculate that she's a Skrull, as more and more have been popping up in the Marvel Cinematic Universe since Captain Marvel. But there's a third possibility — she could still be working for Nick Fury.

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Fury has been an elusive figure in the MCU after Avengers: Endgame, reappearing in the aftereffects of Hulk undoing the Snap but only making a brief cameo at Tony Stark's funeral. The next fans really saw of him was at the tail-end of Spider-Man: Far From Home, where it was revealed that the Skrull Talos had been impersonating Fury for most of the film. The director himself was in the far-off reaches of space aboard a Skrull ship, and apparently in charge of a vast number of the shapeshifting aliens. As such, he definitely needed eyes and ears on Earth to keep tabs on what was going on. He undoubtedly has Talos to take care of most of the day-to-day operations of whatever new incarnation of S.H.I.E.L.D. still exists, but someone like Carter could still be an asset in managing the international superhero community.

While Carter certainly acted sinisterly throughout her appearance in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, she did also genuinely help Sam and Bucky out. Some of that might've been to ensure she got pardoned and could return to the United States, but Sam offered to make sure that happened regardless. Her efforts to help their mission, including her decision to kill Karli Morgenthau, were at least partially motivated by some desire to keep them safe. This recharacterizes a lot of her actions as the Power Broker, which seem more focused on amassing power and wealth rather than doing anything outright villainous.

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That sort of slow undermining certainly makes sense for a Skrull agent, but is also exactly what someone personally loyal to Fury instead of the government might be doing. Either way, Sharon's overall plot will likely to come to a head in Secret Invasion, an upcoming Disney+ series based on the comic series of the same name. That storyline originally saw a Skrull invasion of Earth, with a mélange of different heroes being replaced by Skrulls. If Sharon is a Skrull, she'll probably be revealed as such in Secret Invasion. And if not, Fury's return to Earth will be the perfect time to call upon his hidden lieutenant.

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. The series is now streaming on Disney+.

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