5
Thursday, April 29, 2021
GO! magazine — A&E in Northeast Oregon
The STORY behind the MCU’s fi rst Black Captain America
■ SPOILER ALERT:
This article contains
spoilers for the first five
episodes of “The Falcon
and the Winter Soldier”
Tracy Brown
Los Angeles Times
In the penultimate episode
of “The Falcon and the Winter
Soldier,” Sam Wilson (Anthony
Mackie) fi nally gets back Captain
America’s shield and chooses to
accept the mantle.
“What would be the point of
all the pain and the sacrifi ce if I
wasn’t willing to stand up and keep
fi ghting?” he says before a training
montage that shows his growing
mastery of the shield.
Since premiering last month,
the Disney+ series has explicitly
confronted the complicated legacy
of what Cap’s shield represents and
the complexities of what it means
to be a Black hero in America.
At times it has been the show’s
“villains” that have offered the
most incisive commentary. Karli
Morgenthau (Erin Kellyman)
points out in episode four that
the “shield is a monument to a
bygone era. A reminder of all the
people history just left out.” In the
same episode, Baron Zemo (Daniel
Bruhl) posits that “the desire to
become a superhuman cannot be
separated from supremacist ideals.”
That these points are raised by
villains complicates the messaging,
but they are still emblematic of the
ideas Sam must grapple with be-
fore choosing to take up the shield.
Like other offerings from the
Marvel Cinematic Universe, “The
Falcon and the Winter Soldier”
is not a direct adaptation of any
specifi c comic book storyline. But
there are comic book infl uences
throughout the show.
In the comics, the mantle of Cap-
tain America passed from Steve
Rogers to Sam Wilson in 2014. In
“Captain America” No. 25 by writer
Disney+/Marvel Studios/TNS
Anthony Mackie plays Sam Wilson (aka the Falcon) in “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.”
Rick Remender and artist Stuart
Immonen, an aged Steve gathers
the Avengers to introduce Sam
as the new Captain America and
hands him the shield.
This leads into the launch of the
“All-New Captain America” comic
book series (also by Remender and
Immonen), which sees Sam take on
missions with Nomad, a superhero
codename used by Rogers’ adopted
son, Ian, and occasionally check in
with Steve himself. But while the
series touches on the existence of
some civilians who don’t accept
Sam as the new Captain America,
it’s not until 2015’s “Captain Ameri-
ca: Sam Wilson” — by writer Nick
Spencer and artist Daniel Acuna,
as well as others including Paul Re-
naud and Joe Bennett later in the
run — that Sam is shown taking a
clear political stance.
In “Captain America: Sam Wil-
son” No. 1, Sam thinks, “Shouldn’t
Captain America be more than just
a symbol?” and decides to make
his opinions known because he
believes that could lead to positive
change. Instead, he faces more
backlash. “Captain America: Sam
Wilson” also engaged with several
major political and social issues
during its run, including immi-
gration, the border and policing.
(This was also the comic book run
that introduced Joaquin Torres,
who eventually became the next
Falcon.)
One of the most signifi cant char-
acters “The Falcon and the Winter
Soldier” has introduced to the MCU
is Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly),
who in episode fi ve explains to Sam
his experience of being forcefully
experimented on at the hands of
the government during the Korean
War.
According to Isaiah, “no self-
respecting Black man would ever
want to be” Captain America.
Isaiah’s MCU backstory is very
similar to that of his comic book
counterpart. Isaiah was introduced
in writer Robert Morales and artist
Kyle Baker’s 2003 comic book se-
ries, “Truth: Red, White and Black.”
In this miniseries, a group of
Black soldiers is experimented on
by the government’s secret super
soldier program during World War
II. The super serum in this phase
is wildly unpredictable, but Isaiah
is among those who endure the
procedure and is turned into a
super soldier.
He is sent on secret missions
with his squad, eventually emerg-
ing as the sole survivor of the
experiments. Despite his heroism,
he is ultimately court-martialed for
stealing a Captain America uni-
form (which he had used to carry
out a mission Steve Rogers was
late for) and serves years in solitary
confi nement.
These are just a few of the “Cap-
tain America”-related comic book
series that have addressed racism.
The ongoing nature of comic books
means these storylines are regu-
larly rebooted and history is rewrit-
ten; Sam’s run as Captain America
in the comics lasted only until 2017
and he has since reclaimed the title
of Falcon. “The Falcon and the Win-
ter Soldier” is Marvel’s chance to
leave a bigger, more lasting impact.
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