Some people are still talking about what they saw in Hall H at the San Diego Comic-Con this past weekend, and of course, one of the biggest panels that is still being talked about is the Marvel Panel.

Though much of the focus was on Iron Man 3, there were some title and release announcements. Unlike Iron Man, Thor and Captain America won’t be getting the generic numerical sequel, instead the two will be titled Thor: The Dark World and Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

The latter title pretty much confirms the presence of a villain, but more on that later. According to sources, actor Anthony Mackie is in talks to play Falcon in the next Captain America movie.

For those who may be unfamiliar with the character, Sam Wilson is the Falcon, a superhero with the ability to fly and see through the eyes of nearby birds. He also has an empathic link with his own pet falcon.

But just where will the story of Captain America: The Winter Soldier take us? Well the clues lie within the title itself.

Of course if you haven’t watched Captain America: The First Avenger by now, then spoilers will follow.

During an operation to stop Hydra, Captain America fails to save his childhood friend Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan). In the comics, Bucky is thought to be lost forever. But as it turns out, he was saved by the Russians. Not only were they able to revive him, but they implanted a cybernetic arm to him as well and performed psychological experiments on him. The Russians trained Barnes to be an assassin and sent him on missions to kill targets during the Cold War. Hence the name Winter Soldier. In between missions, his psyche became unstable, the the Russians were forced to put him under stasis in order to prevent him doing any unnecessary killing.

Mackie is an inspired choice, but the thought of seeing Winter Soldier so soon in the Captain America franchise is a bit of a surprise. One would think they would hold the villain out until the third film, and use the second film to slowly build Barnes into the third film. Since this is not the direction they are going, it would be interesting to see how they will approach Barnes changing into the Winter Soldier and the eventual reunion between him and Captain America.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier opens in theaters on April 4th, 2014.

[Source: Heat Vision]