Marvel Studios has never been afraid of tweaking comic book lore in order to make the MCU more palatable for widespread audiences and to ease the production process of so many different movies and that is likely to continue as the MCU expands to Disney Plus streaming. However, in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, the studio has taken one of their more radical approaches by completely altering the identity of the Flag-Smasher.
In Marvel Comics the Flag-Smasher, named Karl Morgenthau, is born to very wealthy European parents with his father dying due to political protests while working as a diplomat. These events instill Morgenthau with a fervent drive to banish the concepts of nations as a whole -hence the name Flag-Smasher-, also somewhat overlapping with Red Skull’s anti-American ideals, except for the fact that Morgenthau despises every single country. Communists, Nazis, America, and its allies; he wants to smash every single one of them.
Meanwhile, in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier the leader of the Flag-Smashers in the gender-swapped Karli Morgenthau, probably Marvel’s first freckled villain. Or at last that’d be the case if the Flag-Smashers motives were not so seemingly noble and well received by so many people.
Unlike her male counterpart, Karli Morgenthau’s origins -though still unknown- would pin her to a more humble upbringing. Whereas Karl Morgenthau used his vast inheritance to establish his ULTIMATUM organization, the Flag-Smasher group is described in the first episode of the series as a grassroots online movement, basically something that in real life could have stemmed out of a subreddit like WallStreetBets.
The Flag-Smashers execute bank heist flash mobs in order to fund their activities and -as seen in episode two- rely on the charity and kindness of their supporters to carry out their agenda across Europe. But just what exactly is this agenda? Well, from what’s been revealed so far the Flag-Smashers are mostly unhappy with the way the Global Repatriation Council (GRC) John Walker is working for has been policing the post-Blip world partly due to a questionable distribution of resources six months after Avengers: Endgame.
Though that’s still to be settled, the Flag-Smashers seem to have acquired their powers by getting their hands on the Power Broker’s precious super-soldier serum stash and he’s definitely not happy about it. That would point to the Flag-Smashers either having established a working relationship with the Power Broker and then betraying him, or just outright stealing the substance from him.
Unlike all those deranged Marvel villains they are apparently putting their powers to good use, at least in their own perception, by carrying out missions that deliver supplies like vaccines and other essentials to those they feel need it the most, and their efforts are recognized by people referring to them as a modern Robin Hood of sorts. All the facts point to the Flag-Smashers simply not being framed as good or bad, but rather something more akin to misguided anarchism; the Flag-Smashers are humanitarian anti-heroes despising every ruling nation-state out there because they feel the world would be better off without them.
By painting Karli Morgenthau as a sympathetic leader that cares for her teammates, it’s hard to imagine The Falcon and the Winter Soldier framing them as evil; instead, it’s far more likely Sam and Bucky will look to negotiate or reason with them at some point, much like the comics’ Captain America does with his own Flag-Smasher. It’s very possible the Flag-Smashers are eventually presented as victims of a true force of evil like the Power Broker or Baron Zemo, whatever the latter’s role is; or maybe they could be the result of a first attempt of Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross to establish his own superpowered team that can fight the Avengers he despises so much.
Ross’s potential appearance is hinted at as his name appears in the show's end credits and the character’s deep government ties would also make him the perfect boss for John Walker’s Captain America. Speaking of which, Walker’s pursuit of the Flag-Smashers could eventually lead to the new Cap’s moral downfall, as his sense of duty could betray his moral compass and eventually force him to bargain for some superpower medicine in order to defeat them; or utilize excessive force and violence in their capture, which would also fit perfectly with Walker's Super Patriot or U.S. Agent’s origins.
At this stage it would be naive to consider the Flag-Smashers and Karli as villains of any sorts, their political agenda aligns itself perfectly with the kind of grey political plots that Captain America films have looked to carry across so far. To question more the role and power of governments against one’s best interest, something Steve Rogers learned throughout the years and that Sam will likely be exposed to, especially after getting to know Black Captain America, Isaiah Bradley.
One sad part is that Marvel Studios isn’t shy of killing its villains and secondary characters very quickly limiting them to single appearances, so Karli and the Flag-Smashers’ lofty goals could see her not make it past this complicated world of geopolitical power games they’ve gotten themselves into. So it’s probably for the best not to get too attached to them.