Significant interest has come toward the Flag Smashers group in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier due to how they’ve rocked the MCU altogether. Naturally, mainstream fans have started to look for information about the group in the original material of the comics.
What’s interesting to know is that there was no such group in the source material and it’s actually a character called the Flag-Smasher. He’s a supervillain that has popped up several times in the comic book continuity. Since several aspects of the character have been adapted for the MCU, it’s worth knowing all you can about him to be prepared for what’s to come in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
10 There Are Two Flag-Smashers
In addition to there being a person known as Flag-Smasher rather than the faction in the MCU, there are actually two people who have used the moniker. These are Karl Morgenthau and Guy Thierrault, with the latter taking on the identity second.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier has swapped genders to make Karli Morgenthau the character in the MCU. In the comics, Karl was a Swiss man who came from money and Guy was a Canadian who shared the original’s agenda.
9 Flag-Smasher Is Usually A Captain America Villain
The arc about Flag-Smasher couldn’t make the cut in the MCU movies, meaning Captain America didn’t come across the group. In the source material, though, Flag-Smasher is chiefly a villain for the Sentinel of Liberty and made his debut in Captain America #312.
That’s not to say that Captain America is the only protagonist he’s faced, as Flag-Smasher is also a foe to the Punisher, Moon Knight, Ghost Rider, and even Deadpool. Still, the bulk of his history has been in facing Captain America.
8 He Was Created As An Alternative For The Red Skull
The archenemy to Captain America is the Red Skull, who is responsible for committing the most crimes against him. At some point, though, it became too obvious for the Red Skull to be the villain of the story again, prompting writer Mark Gruenwald to create the Flag-Smasher.
The difference between the Red Skull and Flag-Smasher is that the former wants to rule over people with an iron fist while that’s not something Flag-Smasher is concerned with. To this end, Flag-Smasher is essentially a revere of the ideals that Captain America stands for.
7 He Found The ULTIMATUM Group
The use of HYDRA in The Winter Soldier made it one of the best MCU movies. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier may have been going for something similar with the Flag-Smashers, although the character had his own faction in the comics.
This was known as the Underground Liberated Totally Integrated Mobile Army To Unite Mankind, or ULTIMATUM to sum up. Their main adversary was Deadpool, who killed each and every member of ULTIMATUM to put an end to their terrorist activities.
6 Flag-Smasher Is Multi-Lingual
The Flag-Smasher group being inclusive in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is a detail the MCU adapted from the individual character as he has mastery in a number of languages that enables him to have a reach in multiple countries.
Flag-Smasher’s multilingual talents include knowing how to speak English, French, German, Russian, Italian, Japanese, and Esperanto, with this fluency being instrumental in allowing him to communicate with his subordinates who hail from different backgrounds.
5 A Version Of The Character Is Known As Captain Anarchy
Marvel never shies away from crossovers, with the Flag-Smasher’s alternate version crossing over with the Spider-Punk. This was the Earth-138 version of the character, who was known as Captain Anarchy in this universe.
He’s basically the Captain America equivalent of Earth-138, being empowered by a serum and wielding a shield. This version was also not a villain as the prime version, instead helping the characters out to their cause.
4 A New Flag-Smasher Was Created As A Life Model Decoy
When both Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson were using the moniker of Captain America, a new Flag-Smasher arrived to face him when he targeted Senator Herald. Since both Thierrault and Morgenthau weren’t around at the time, it created ambiguity over who this Flag-Smasher was.
It then turned out that he was a Life Model Decoy created by Erik Selvig on Steve Rogers’ behalf, who had been brainwashed at the time to believe that he was a secret HYDRA agent, and used the new Flag-Smasher to hide his own hit on Senator Herald.
3 Flag-Smasher's Main Skills Is In Shotokan Karate
Aligning with being similar in ways to Captain America, Flag-Smasher also partakes in combat using fisticuffs rather than relying on weaponry. In fact, his main proficiency lies in hand-to-hand combat, which he combines with his natural athleticism.
As far as particular skills are concerned, the Flag-Smasher practices Shotokan karate, which works well given his gifted physical prowess. It also makes him a villain who can go toe-to-toe with Captain America in physical match-ups.
2 Flag-Smasher's Ideology Is To Be Against Nationalism
Everything about Flag-Smasher is the opposite of Captain America, going from the outfit to all that the superhero stands for. Where Captain America is a true patriot who wants to uphold the American spirit, the Flag-Smasher is against nationalism in general.
The ideology he has is that people need to do away with having separate countries and should live in a combined world. He was fueled by his hatred of nationalism further when he saw people from certain countries being treated in a superior way compared to others, due to which his anger toward nationalities increased.
1 Flag-Smasher's Arm Was Bitten Off By Venom
The Guy Thierrault version of Flag-Smasher had seen better days before his confrontation with Venom in Amazing Spider-Man #654. At the time, Flash Thompson was the one who was under the symbiote’s influence and gave into its murderous tendencies.
The Flag-Smasher actually got off lightly compared to his ULTIMATUM subordinates, as he only got his right arm chomped off by Venom while the rest ended up being killed. This began the downturn for Theirrault, who was later defeated by Deadpool and watched the rest of his team get killed by him.