The new Captain America in Falcon and Winter Solider is difficult in the comics

The first episode of The falcon and the winter soldier take time to remind us of all the things that happened to Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes recently – a Civil War, a five-year nap, the retirement of Captain America, ect. But the premiere of the Disney Plus series did not forget to end with a bang.

The final scene of episode 1 reveals a character who is brand new to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but who has a 30-year history in Marvel Comics. Let’s look at the themes of the comics The falcon and the winter soldier play with this particular superhero.

[Ed. note: This piece contains spoilers for the first episode of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.]

Photo: Alberto E. Rodriguez / Getty Images for Disney

In the last scene of the TFatWS premiere, Sam Wilson and his sister Sarah watch as a U.S. government official unveils a new Captain America. The man even has a shield from Steve Rogers, a few days after Sam gave a speech at the new Smithsonian exhibit of the thing.

‘While we love heroes who risk their lives to defend the earth,’ says the broadcaster, ‘we also need a hero to defend this land. We need a real person who embodies America’s greatest values. We need someone to inspire us again, someone who can be a symbol for all of us. ‘

The episode has not yet given us this new Captain America name, but from the information we see, we know that the man in the suit is the actor Wyatt Russell, and that he plays the role of John Walker, who is in Marvel Comics is known as the American agent.

Who’s American Agent?

Image: Mark Gruenwald, Kieron Dwyer / Marvel Comics

John Walker started out as an average American brother who grew up idolizing his veteran brother, but his own military service did not give him the feeling of being a hero he really wanted. Once later, he paid for a super-powerful program, and he got a job as the superhero Super-Patriot, and he spent a lot of his time arguing that he was a better representative (in the political environment of the mid 80s). of American values ​​as Captain America.

Around that time, Steve Rogers stopped being Captain America (which he does all the time), and just like in The falcon and the winter soldier, appointed the US Government John Walker as the new Captain America. The idea was that it seemed easier for him to do what they wanted than Steve “I could do it all day” Rogers, but Walker’s tenure as Cap was unpleasant and tragic.

After his secret identity was revealed on live television, extremist terrorists killed his parents, leading to a mental collapse in which he killed or maimed everyone associated with his outing and their killings. Eventually he resigned as Captain America so Steve could return, but things only got worse.

The same government officials who appointed him Captain America in the first place falsified his death, brainwashed him into forgetting that his parents were dead, and made him the American agent, a patriotic superhero who would do whatever the government did to him. all would ask without argument.

Image: Disney Plus

American agent has never been a villain exactly, but as a superhero he leaves much to be desired – there is a limit to how much a reader can sympathize with how exploited he is by his government and traumatized by his experiences, simply because he is such an unrepentant stubborn jerk.

His introduction to The falcon and the winter soldier was short and without much context, so there is no way of knowing how much of his comic Malcolm Spellman will use in the series. We’ll have to wait and see what happens in the next five episodes of Marvel’s latest TV series.

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