Sharp-eyed Marvel fans watching The Falcon and the Winter Soldier on Disney+ this week noticed something a bit off: Some of the more violent scenes in the superhero series appeared to be edited to tone down the content.
While some assumed this meant Disney+ was censoring violent content on the streaming platform, perhaps due to the new parental control options made available to subscribers, EW has learned that an alternate version of the show had been uploaded by mistake. Disney is currently working to fix the issue.
The Direct was one of the first on social media to point out the discrepancy. Two scenes in the show’s third episode were among those cited by commenters online.
Marvel Studios Sebastian Stan and Anthony Mackie star in ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’
One featured Helmut Zemo (Daniel Brühl) shooting ex-Hydra scientist Wilfred Nagel (Olli Haaskivi). The shot of Nagel’s body, once depicted as being splattered with blood with his eyes open, appeared to have the blood removed, while his eyes were now visibly closed.
Another scene from the same episode originally saw Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) hurling a pipe at an assailant, with the weapon going straight through their shoulder. The alternate version showed the pipe now bouncing off the attacker.
This alternate cut of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was accidentally uploaded in an attempt to correct a credit, a source tells EW. We’re told Disney hopes to have the issue remedied as soon as possible.
EW has reached out to Disney for comment.
Disney+ recently introduced new parental controls to accommodate the more mature ratings attached to the Marvel shows Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, The Defenders, and The Punisher, which had all migrated over to the platform after Netflix’s licensing rights to host them ran out.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was among the first Marvel TV series produced specifically for Disney+ that tied directly into the events of the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe. Anthony Mackie, who starred on the show as Sam Wilson/Falcon, will now reprise his role as the new star of a fourth Captain America movie.
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