By Angelica Melara
**Spoilers**
Steve Rogers was the beloved Captain America that every Marvel fan knew. He was the first Avenger and the man who fought for what was right in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He was a man out of time, and when he had the opportunity to go back and live his life after delivering all of the infinity stones to the moments in time that they were taken, he did. He left his shield to Sam Wilson (Falcon) and left his best friend, James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes (The Winter Soldier), in 2023.
Marvel has released a new show titled The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. The Show is about how Sam and Bucky are working together to stop a group of individuals trying to make the world go back to the way it was during the “Blip.”
In the first episode, Sam gives the shield back to the government because, as he told Steve Rogers, “It feels like it belongs to someone else.” We later learn that another big reason Sam gave up the shield is because of his race. He felt as though America was not ready for a Black Captain America.
This is true. The episode ends with a man named John Walker becoming the “New Captain America.” Fans of the show were outraged and took to social media after the first episode to express their feelings of the “New Captain America.”
“Walker is an arrogant man. He expects people to respect him now that he’s Captain America,” said Brianna Fitzgerald, a SUNY Plattsburgh junior. “He hasn’t earned the title. Yes, he carries the shield, but that doesn’t mean anything.”
Fitzgerald explained that Walker is a puppet for the government. She is correct in saying this because, as Walker mentions in episode two, he has gone to many events, and he hasn’t had much action.
Since the initial arrival of Walker as the new Captain America, he’s shown that he is a bit of a hot head. Rogers grew with his trauma, and it made him a better person. He only hurt people when necessary, and he was always fighting for those who couldn’t fight for themselves.
In episode two, we see how Walker fights. He throws the shield at direct targets, and it comes back to his arm, whereas Rogers is able to use the shield to take down multiple opponents at once by using his surroundings to his advantage.
Another main fighting difference between the two is that Walker pulled out a gun and shot one of the super-soldiers they were fighting. Rogers would have never done something like this. Later in the episode, when Walker talks with Wilson and Barnes, he says, “I’m kinda the government,” which shows that he is using his power to his advantage, and the men should work with him. They don’t.
Episode three shows that Walker cares about getting the job done. He says that he wants to get the job done no matter what it takes. This means that he was willing to hurt innocent people to get what he wanted. A couple of minutes later, when they find the people they are looking for, they don’t get the information they need, and a man spits in Walker’s face. Walker gets mad, pushes the man to a wall, and says, “Do you know who I am?” The man replies with, “Yes, and I don’t care.”
This act of aggression shows that either the pressure that Walker feels is affecting him to the point where he is lashing out, or it means that this is just who he is as a person: A short-tempered man who is starting to get a bit too carried away.
“He’s the type of guy the government wanted Steve to be,” said Chris Sumba, a Marvel fan. “He’s the type of guy that is going to follow orders no matter what. Captain America is not supposed to be for the government. He’s supposed to keep the government in check.”
Walker was created as Rogers’ opposite to show how different the world would be if it originally had a man like Walker as the first Captain America. He is meant to be a person that Marvel fans don’t like. There’s no telling what will happen in later episodes, but hopefully, Walker learns what it truly means to be Captain America.
APN 