BREAKING: Sam Wilson, Formerly "The Falcon," is Marvel's New Captain America

[MovieBob]

BREAKING: Sam Wilson, Formerly "The Falcon," is Marvel's New Captain America

Steve Rogers' onetime comic (and current movie) sidekick will inherit the shield

Just moments ago, Marvel Comics Editor in Chief Joe Quesada appeared on The Colbert Report to reveal the identity of the character who will inherit the mantle of Captain America from Steve Rogers, who in the current storyline has been stripped of the Super-Soldier Serum powers that give him his strength and keep him artificially young.

His successor? Sam Wilson, the Captain's good friend and sometime sidekick formerly known as The Falcon. [http://marvel.com/universe/Falcon_(Sam_Wilson)]

In taking up the shield, Wilson will become the first African-American to be officially recognized as Captain America in the mainstream Isaiah Bradley [http://marvel.wikia.com/Earth-616] was referred to as "The Black Captain America" in his day.

Though story details are still unfolding, the move seems to indicate a growing trend toward experimenting with race and gender diversity among top heroes of the Marvel Universe: Earlier this week, news broke on The View that The Mighty Thor Miles Morales [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/136159-Thor-Is-Getting-Gender-Flipped-Officially] to become the new Ultimate Spider-Man.


Source: The Colbert Report [http://thecolbertreport.cc.com/]

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[Sniper Team 4]

Oooooh...I wonder if this is going to carry over into the movies once Chris' contract expires and he's done. That would be a good way to keep the franchise going I think.

 

[Jacked Assassin]

But I wanted Sam Wilson to replace Wade Wilson.... Well until John Stewart would then steal Deadpool's actor again.... Curse you Warner Brothers....

 

[Mr. Omega]

Cap is black and Thor is a woman. All we need now is for Iron Man or the Hulk to come out of the closet and the bigots "Anti-PC" crowd's heads will all explode in rage. And nerdom will be better for it.

I'm all for it. We all know it won't last forever, but we can enjoy the stories that are told. And it's a nice way to shake things up. I've been enjoying a lot of Marvel's experiments, both in cinema and in comics.

 

[Tireseas_v1legacy]

You know what, suddenly dropping the news of the new Thor character on the View now makes a bit more sense. From the looks of things, Marvel is trying to greatly expand their readership to a much wider audience, and while View members won't necessarily be the ones to start reading, it's the headlines of that announcement that get to the people that may start that reading. "Comic books are mainstream now. Get them on your tablet."

Also, am I the only one who wants a Ms. Marvel movie based on the newer series?

 

[CrazyBlaze]

Cool. Sam is picking up the shield again. Wonder if he will keep the wings. I hope so. Sadly though I give it two years at most before Steve is back in action. Is Rick Remender still writing the title? If so I really can't wait to see this.

Also, am I the only one who wants a Ms. Marvel movie based on the newer series?

No you are not. I mean I want to see more Kamala first because she hasn't really been featured in any of the other books but I do want to see more of her. At least put her on the current Spider Man cartoon or something. AND GIVE US A CAROL DANVERS AS CAPTAIN MARVEL MOVIE ALREADY!

 

[Imp_Emissary]

Well good for Marvel. Mixing things up a bit recently. Though, they did kind of did this one before.

Hope it goes well.
I wonder if he'll give up the flying part of his power set. :/ I mean, it's not like he couldn't get the wings pained with stars and stripes, right?

 

[kajinking]

Ok so how long until some group accuses this of being an attack on traditional American values and more than likely starts a protest or something?

 

[Mike Hoffman]

Given the huge response to Anthony Mackie as Falcon in The Winter Soldier and the fact that Mackie seems to really love this stuff, it wouldn't be a huge surprise to start planting the seeds to make the switch after Evans finishes. After Avengers: Age of Ultron he only has two more films. We know Sam Wilson is in the new Avengers. We can have Rogers die early in Avengers 3 and have Wilson put on the Stars and Stripes before the climax. And we give audiences two movies to get used to the character.

My favorite part about this whole initiative to bring some diversity to comics is that there are so many people criticizing it for being "too much" or "over-extending" or even sometimes complaining that now we're losing white male representation in comics and Marvel is just like, "Oh? You don't like Miles Morales, have Kamala Khan. No, not that either? Here, Thor is now a woman. Wait, that doesn't work for you? Sam Wilson gets the shield."

Edit: Oh yeah, it's worth pointing out that the Falcon was the first African-American super hero in mainstream comics (Black Panther, not an American, came before).

And of course this could very likely be temporary. There's a chance Marvel will stick to it, if they really want to change up and all. And I don't just mean with representation, but also with the whole thing with bringing characters back all the time.

 

[Something Amyss]

In taking up the shield, Wilson will become the first African-American to be officially recognized as Captain America in the mainstream Marvel 616 Universe; [http://marvel.wikia.com/Earth-616]

He already took up the shield in the 60s, didn't he take the monicker and wasn't he already the first African American Cap in Mainstream continuity? I mean, it was brief, but it's not new.

Cap is black and Thor is a woman. All we need now is for Iron Man or the Hulk to come out of the closet and the bigots "Anti-PC" crowd's heads will all explode in rage. And nerdom will be better for it.

Rhodey used to be Iron Man before War Machine. Maybe he doesn't need to come out, but pass the duties back to James for a while?

In fact, maybe we can have an all-black/minority Avengers now that I think about it. Maybe we can include Prowler as Spider-Man (sure, it was for like five pages of a comic, but it totally counts!)

 

[RandV80]

Man comics are weird. Any big shocking change or moments (deaths, costume swapping) are announced ahead of time to try and drum up sales, and the golden age hero's are so firmly entrenched that the stories are just the continuation of decades old hero's so if they want to add diversity rather than create something new they just gender/racial swap one of the usual suspects. And of course make a big headline out of it ahead of time to try and catch everyone's attention.

I can't really comment on whether that's good or bad, but they're the only fictional medium that works this way. I mean increasing diversity doesn't hurt but there's something that feels very cold and cynical about the way they do it, like it's more a business decision/marketing stunt than any real attempt to increase diversity. Or they want to hit these new markets so they only way they know how is to do these swaps with a popular character.

 

[Karadalis]

Oh look! Its Captain African America! (cause lets face it.. thats what everyone will call him instead of just captain america)

Seriously marvel.. i see what youre doing... swapping gender / skin color of characters so you can claim that youre "diversifying" while still writing the same ol bull about the same ol characters with the same ol storylines only with a different wrapping so to speak.

So what.. the new female Thor will also have "daddy" issues? The new Captain america will still have to cope with the fact that the US of A uses some shady tactics instead of his glorified idea of what America should stand for?

This isnt progress this is just an attempt to look as if they went with the times while still remaining in their old patterns.

 

[Something Amyss]

And of course this could very likely be temporary. There's a chance Marvel will stick to it, if they really want to change up and all. And I don't just mean with representation, but also with the whole thing with bringing characters back all the time.

I suspect this will be temporary, but I hope it gets a good run.

My favorite part about this whole initiative to bring some diversity to comics is that there are so many people criticizing it for being "too much" or "over-extending" or even sometimes complaining that now we're losing white male representation in comics and Marvel is just like, "Oh? You don't like Miles Morales, have Kamala Khan. No, not that either? Here, Thor is now a woman. Wait, that doesn't work for you? Sam Wilson gets the shield."

Well, you have to look at it from their perspective. There are like 40 ongoing or recent titles featuring different characters/teams (did the best I could to weed out the duplicates looking at lists), and now they're adding something like 5%[footnote]Guestimate based on the fact that several titles feature teams[/footnote] women and minorities to those titles.

I'd feel robbed, too.

 

[Something Amyss]

Seriously marvel.. i see what youre doing... swapping gender / skin color of characters so you can claim that youre "diversifying" while still writing the same ol bull about the same ol characters with the same ol storylines only with a different wrapping so to speak.

Yes, or, alternatively, they're changing up Cap for the same reasons with the last two, white guys who took over the mantle.

Weird how it's only become a sticking point now that a black guy is taking over.

 

[Kameburger]

Of all the ones so far, I kind of like this one the best, but is anyone else a little bit fried from all the giant comic book marketing announcements lately? I mean Thor is a woman, Archie died protecting his friend who also happens to be gay, The fantastic 4 will not be the fantastic 4 in their most up coming fantastic 4 movie, danger mouse gets gender flipped characters, Lobo is not Lobo... Aren't we giving these individual character changes too much attention?

I see this and I think... Ok? So who else is gonna get a turn as cap once Steve Rogers comes back and then leaves again?

 

[Jacked Assassin]

My favorite part about this whole initiative to bring some diversity to comics is that there are so many people criticizing it for being "too much" or "over-extending" or even sometimes complaining that now we're losing white male representation in comics and Marvel is just like, "Oh? You don't like Miles Morales, have Kamala Khan. No, not that either? Here, Thor is now a woman. Wait, that doesn't work for you? Sam Wilson gets the shield."

I don't have a problem with most characters no longer being White Males. What I have a problem with is classic characters trying to be force into fitting in a "modern setting". I like Captain America as a White Male because he represents an era that is pretty much gone. I like Thor as a White Male because he (barely) represents the actual mythology. And I like Iron-Man as a White Male because its easier to hate a Rich White Male than it is to hate a Rich Black Male without it coming off as somehow racist.

I don't have a problem with Rule 63 or a change in skin tone . If anything X-Men seem like the perfect candidates for all these alterations. In some cases I want to see Black Fantastic Four. Especially if Mr. Fantastic could come off as Neil deGrasse Tyson. And I would've preferred a Black Dare Devil over a Black King Pin. Especially when Black King Pin fitted a stereotype. Whereas White King Pin was practically a rich super genius.

And how is it more empowering for Miss Marvel to now be labeled Captain Marvel? If anything Marvel has now unintentionally made Female sound like being a lesser Gender. Especially when Captain Marvel was a lesser character than Miss Marvel.

This over doing of diversity may eventually come off as the next 1990's "extreme" mentality.

 

[AidoZonkey]

Something tells me there doing all of this not only to increase sale numbers, but to try and make a change to the dynamic stick. I get the feeling they will go back to the characters original format in the future but by making all these changes in one sweeping movement, they might be able to keep at least one of the changes stick. Although saying that I doubt that they would keep Captain Falcon around for too long just because part of the charm of Captain America was the fact he was a throw back to a World War 2, American goody two shoes, always trying to do his best for the sake of America, but the Falcon never stuck me as that kind of hero. Either way what marvel is doing now is a positive so I cant wait to see it effects how the industry act as a whole.

 

[lord's voken]

im hoping this doesnt happen in the movies too.
falcon should replace war machine in the movies. we just a pair of wings
Falcon has done more iron maning then rodes has done in 3 three movies with an
actually iron man suit.

 

[Kameburger]

OH MY GOD... Marvel is planning a slash fan fiction romance between the New Thor and Sam Wilson aren't they... Of course they are...

 

[Callate]

Shrug.

Honestly, this doesn't raise a huge reaction in me, one way or another. I don't think some sort of sacred ground has been desecrated by this, but I can't really see it as the huge progressive step some people seem to want to get up and cheer about.

I mean, if the people who are under-represented in comics say this makes them feel more included, I don't want to rain on their parades; more power to them. But at the same time, I can't help but feel these kind of steps are kind of tantamount to admitting that the existing black and female characters aren't worth the effort of turning into spotlight-stealers in their own right, nor that they're really interested in creating new ones. Instead, they'll just kind of slap the existing backstory and iconography onto more inclusive characters. Hey, it's "X"; it says so on the cover.

Perhaps I'm overly cynical. Maybe they'll craft some really interesting stories with these new versions of the characters. Maybe it won't prove to be a marketing stunt. Maybe this is just one front of a genuine effort to build a more diverse cast.

Pardon me while I hold on to my confetti, though.