[pinnochio]

It sounds like you're saying the setting was already commonplace in fictional media? But you don't reference such representations in your prior comment at all.

At any rate, while themes of technological surveillance and authoritarianism certainly predate Winter Soldier, I'm not aware of anything in popular culture prior to 2014 that really matches the moment _to the degree_ Winter Soldier does. And if you simply meant the actual state of America circa 2014, sure, Palantir existed, but DOGE and an authoritarian-controlled US military institution did not. ML, yes, but not the quasi-AGI of today that's a much closer match for the computerized Arnim Zola.

[pirates]

Metal Gear Solid 2 was talking about and predicted this 15 years before your example.