Explaining the motives of the Flag Smashers

Falcon and The Winter Soldier has started with a bang, a bang which Karli Morgenthau (Erin Kellyman) replicated when she blew up a GRC building during episode 3 of the show. Karli is the leader of the anarchist group, the Flag Smashers who despite taking a terrorist turn have a complicated history and motivation which has led to their dive into darkness. This radical turn for the group looks to continue as the show moves into the 2nd half which is why it’s important to understand the context behind what they are doing.

To understand the group we have to look at the 5 years during the blip. 5 years is extremely important which is summed up perfectly by the directors of Avengers: Endgame, the Russo brothers when they say, “We wanted to pick a time that was long enough to force everybody to move on. We wanted everybody to go through a life cycle where they had to commit to an existence where this was their new reality. Five years seemed like the right amount of time for that.” What this tells us that many people will have moved on with their lives and looked at the positives that came from the snap. Although Falcon and The Winter Soldier doesn’t directly say this, when Karli says “we got a glimpse of how things could be” she implies that things were better off during the blip which backs up the point that the 5 year period allowed many to move on and look to the future. The Flag Smashers are the heads of the movement of those whom want a return to life during the blip where they realised that life could be better this way.

This may seem stupid as the return of loved ones would have been a great joy for many. However, what hasn’t really been shown is the chaos that the blip would have caused. Again, the series only alludes to this and doesn’t give us enough background on the matter, but we can infer what the consequences of the return were. The main problem would have been the housing issue as many who returned would have had their houses occupied by new residents which would have caused issues as someone would have been removed from their home. Also, it wouldn’t be as easy as just assigning people a new house due to the state of the houses which have no occupants. We saw this in Endgame when Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) returned from the Quantum Realm and walked down a rundown street where houses were degraded and quite frankly disgusting. These houses ultimately would be unsuitable for living which would have resulted in a mass housing shortage when half the population returned. This issue is still causing problems as we see displacement camps for those without a home.

These camps are for those who lived through the blip which is implied by Karli when she says, “the GRC care more about the people who came back.” This supports the fact those who returned were the focus of the GRC and would be given the right to housing whereas those whom remained during the blip were removed from houses and forced into camps. Then just like in most situations where the population is dense there is a spread of disease. We saw this in episode 3 when one of Karli’s friends dies of tuberculosis. Now we can start to see a clearer picture to why the Flag Smashers want a return to how life was during the blip because of the shocking situation many people find themselves in.

With a greater understanding of the Flag Smashers we can begin to look at their actions during Falcon and The Winter Soldier. Described as Robin Hood, we know that the group is stealing supplies, money and anything which will aid those in need. This makes the group seem just in their cause and it’s clear to see why. However, where things start to take a darker turn is when Karli plants a bomb and kills many innocent workers from GRC. This is a terrorist act and the comparisons to Robin Hood stop and comparisons to the likes of Guy Fawkes start to appear. One thing which is important to remember about this act is that it was Karli acting alone and we are yet to see whether the group will follow her in the brutal direction.

Also, we have to ask the question as to why she blew up the building. The death of Karli’s friend seems to have had a major impact on her and has caused her to become angrier. Her actions are still not just but it’s clear that seeing her friends die in the disease run displacement camps has caused her to take a more violent approach to try and get those in power to help.

Another interesting point about the Flag Smashers is that they are all enhanced. We learn in episode 3 that Karli stole 20 super soldier serums from the Power Broker in Madripoor. We don’t know the full context of this, but what we know about Karli is that she does try and help. Having enhancements is what enables her and the Flag Smashers to steal what they need and without the strength they wouldn’t be as effective. Therefore stealing the serum thus far seems to be in order to help the cause although we think the story behind this may develop as the series continues.

Overall, the Flag Smashers are a unique group and although not being developed much during the series, we can infer a lot from what we see to make the group seem just in their actions. The struggles look set to continue for the anarchist group which could see even more drastic action being taken and I for one are excited to see Karli’s continued fall into darkness as her anger consumes her.

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