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So, with a great deal of inner turmoil and conflict, Sam Wilson took up the mantle of Captain America in the series finale, very publicly announcing to the world that Cap was back. As "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier" progressed, however, it became clear to Sam that America needed its Captain and that John Walker (Wyatt Russell) was not the answer. Steve brought him into the Avengers, after all, and had embodied the American ideal for decades. Nevertheless, Sam's doubts about taking up the mantle were made clear early on when Steve told him to try on the shield and then asked how it felt, Sam's response signaled his misgivings: "Like it's someone else's."īut, of course, it's only natural for Sam to be ill at ease with the idea of becoming Captain America. Though nothing was set in stone when Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) gave Sam the shield during the denouement in "Avengers: Endgame," that would have been a monumental symbolic changing of the guard to just suddenly undo.
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Sam Wilson aka Falcon (Anthony Mackie) became the new Captain America in the finale of "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier." Who could have seen that coming? Well, besides millions of comic book fans familiar with the "Captain America" series from Marvel Comics or the millions of people who streamed the first five episodes of the hit Disney+ series that takes place within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And maybe sometimes the world is right, but most of the things Captain America stands for hold up: that we are defined by our convictions, that bullies need to be stood up to, and that there's no price too high to pay in order to help out a buddy you care about.Contains spoilers for "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier"
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It's also a clever use of the character's stoic Greatest Generation origins in order to portray a more emotionally rounded form of masculinity.Ĭaptain America works as a character because he holds that there is value in goodness and friendship and ideals in a world that forever asks for compromise-a world that insists to him that things are different now than they were before. Yes, there's plenty of the Ooh-rah, never-leave-a-man-behind Black Hawk Down sentiment to be found, but a portrayal of male friendship that involves one character moving heaven and earth for a single companion-you know, the kind of portrayal usually reserved for romantic love-is kind of incredible. This is important, because platonic male friendship is not often portrayed in action movies in this way. It's in Captain America's moral fiber to fight until his last breath if he believes there's something to save in a person, and his struggle to save Bucky from the people who turned him into a weapon is the driving force of both The Winter Soldier and Civil War. Literally half of the reason Captain America comes into conflict with Iron Man in Civil War is because of Cap's feelings for Bucky, which are firmly rooted in the kind of person Captain America is: someone who ultimately believes in people above all else. They're the ultimate expression of platonic bro love, taking bullets and breaking laws for each other. (And with a dozen movies and nearly twice as many heroes in the bag now, there remains very little reason for Marvel to not have some sort of queer relationship in the mix.) Textually, though, their relationship is currently one of two straight war buddies.īut romantic or not, there isn't really a relationship in any of the Marvel movies as strong as the one between Bucky and Cap. Sure, there are fans who have long interpreted the relationship between Bucky and Cap as a romantic one, and there are just enough shots that can be GIF'd in a winky way that fan that particular flame. And let's not even talk about Black Widow and Hulk. (Forgot about that one, huh?) Other comic-book romances start out endearing but ultimately undermine the women involved, like Gwyneth Paltrow's Pepper Potts in the Iron Man movies (who gets a nice arc in the first film but isn't nearly as fleshed out in the sequels) or Zoe Saldana's Gamora in Guardians of the Galaxy (who really has no reason to fall for Star-Lord but does anyway, because Chris Pratt). Think Natalie Portman's Jane Foster in the Thor films, or Liv Tyler's Betty Ross in Incredible Hulk. Nearly all of them are as vanilla as they come many of them are chaste and taken for granted. However, when Marvel's romantic subplots are held under any sort of scrutiny, it's hard to see them as anything but anemic. Superhero movies tend to put spectacle (and jokes) above all else, and they're good enough at those things to make you forgive them for this in the short term.