The United States is a mess. Every day the most powerful nation in human history seems to be inching closer and closer to losing it’s collective mind. The news is plagued by unimaginable acts of violence, apocalyptic environmental news and talking heads screaming at each other. And in case those weren’t enough, troubling economic forecasts have joined the stress cocktail.
But perhaps the scariest thing is that instead of coming together to face and hopefully solve the problems threatening their day-to-day existence, people are at each other’s throats. Everyone seems seem intent, seems determined, to scream and fight and hate. Religion. Race. Gender. Sexual Orientation. Politics. Even where you live, what you do for a living and how much you have in your savings account all seem to be an invitation for conflict and contempt.
America’s vaunted culture war has evolved into an actual civil one. Worse yet, her violent internal strife has made the United States vulnerable to malicious interlopers intent on wreaking havoc.
And the entertainment world has become the flashpoint for this nightmarish stew (have you seen a Star Wars or Star Trek fan board lately? Yikes).
At Disney’s huge D23 news dump earlier this summer, Marvel revealed that it had cast Wyatt Russell (son of Kurt) to play John Walker in the upcoming DisneyPlus show Falcon and Winter Soldier.
It was an announcement that snuck under just about everyone’s radar since the freshly announced DisneyPlus shows, The Eternals cast and Marvel’s costly divorce from Sony was the talk of the entertainment town. But it may just turn out to be the most intriguing bone Kevin Feige tossed our way.
John Walker began his comic book career in the 80’s as the villain Super-Patriot. He was a dark mirror version of Captain America, embracing a much more extreme, much darker version of the American ideal. Writer Mark Gruenwald said he created the Super-Patriot to illustrate the darker side of patriotism, a subject that was taboo in cold war America.
While Steve Rogers hailed from the streets of New York, Walker grew up in rural America, deep in the bible belt. While Cap tempered his duty as a soldier with compassion, mercy and restraint, Walker carried out his orders with a scorched earth policy. The enemy was to be crushed, no matter who they were or what they stood for.
Cap was never above questioning the wisdom of his orders while Walker obeyed without question and was known for taking violent liberties. Cap did everything in his power to avoid killing; Walker didn’t blink when sending someone to the great beyond. Cap was a team player who leaned on the skills and strengths of his team mates. Walker was the stereotypical alpha male on steroids and it was his way or corporal punishment (if you were lucky).
Steve Rogers embodied the ideals America was supposed to stand for. He was the personification of the Statue of Liberty, the Civil Rights movement and the phrase We the People all rolled into one. John Walker was a rabid attack dog that reflected America’s darker, baser instincts.
In short, John Walker was Captain America’s bearded Spock.
While there will eventually be accusations of political bias (aren’t there always?), the 80’s were pretty conservative politically south of the 49th and Walker wasn’t meant to be a critique of Conservatism (even mainstream Regan/Bush Conservatism was too timid for Walker). Rather he was a reflection of the danger of unquestioning obedience and unwavering idealism. He was arguably alt-right decades before there was an alt-right (though he was never racist).
Walker even assumed the mantle of Captain America for a time after Rogers quit in protest. While the role as America’s titular champion began softening Walker, he and Rogers ultimately came into conflict over who was going to carry the shield once and for all (and the two barely tolerated each other after that).
But it didn’t end there for John Walker, who could have been relegated to the stereotypical villain of the month dust-bin following his defeat at Captain America’s hands.
Despite suffering personal tragedy (is parents were murdered by a far-right militia after bis secret identity was revealed), Walker pulled himself back from the brink of self destruction and obscurity and managed to turn himself into something better (though seeds had been planted during his brief tenure as Captain America and inspired by Rogers himself).
He eventually became the U.S. Agent, a hero modelled after Captain America (the man Walker had previously tried to destroy and would never actually get along with). While he would still often rub his colleagues the wrong way (he didn’t get invited to a lot of parties), he became a reliable comrade in arms. He would fight alongside the Avengers numerous times (including a brief stint leading the West Coast team) as well as a number of other hero teams. He would even briefly lead Omega Flight, a replacement for the then deceased Alpha Flight during the first Civil War event.
While Walker was still pretty much a government operative and a giant pain in the posterior, he clearly fought on the side of angels. As far as comic books are concerned, he is not and never has been an A-lister (he got a single mini-series in the early 90’s, though nothing ever came of it). He’s strictly a supporting actor that is dolled out every once in a while whenever the “event of the month” needs, even though he’s arguably now one of the good guys (even if his personal politics still grate on a lot of people).
But in the hands of Kevin Feige and Marvel studios, he can be so much more. Falcon and Winter Soldier will be around six episodes in length and Walker will share the role of protagonist with a returning Baron Zemo (Daniel Bruhl will be reprising his role from Captain America: Civil War) so there isn’t going to be a lot of time for character development. But . . .
There will be opportunity to introduce the character (with a few tweaks to his origin), establish his motivations, set him at odds with the heroes (and quite possibly in the corner of Zemo) while still planting some seeds of redemption. The U.S. Agent may make a great recurring character for a possible second season or for a potential solo Sam Wilson/Captain America series.
If Marvel plays its cards right, they may create a character popular enough to carry his own show or appear in a movie or two.
The genius is the evolution against the stereotypical grain. This would be easy to label as another volley in the vaunted culture war; “liberal Hollywood elites” making the villain a “conservative, bible thumping red-neck,” but the fact is that Walker isn’t the sum of his labels (and neither is Hollywood, for that matter). Walker grows beyond his shortcomings (narrow for anyone on either side of the political spectrum) and overcomes his ideological limitations. And he does that while preserving his values and beliefs.
Walker becomes proof that people “on the other side” aren’t evil. He becomes proof that people can indeed come together to fight on the same side even if they voted for different parties. When John Walker becomes U.S. Agent he becomes an example that people we don’t see eye-to-eye with politically aren’t automatically our enemies.
None of this is to say that Marvel/Disney has anything as nuanced planned for Walker. He could easily be tossed aside once the final fisticuffs are done. He could merely be a generic villain, a glorified red shirt waiting to be done in by the good guys. But Disney has earned the benefit of the doubt when it comes to the fine balance between real world politics and live action super-heroes.
While Marvel has often been criticized for being too optimistic, a place where the hero always win in the end and the good guys are morally infallible more times than not, the MCU has deftly tackled a lot of political challenges on its way to the top of the box office food chain.
They confronted the history of slavery and colonialism in Black Panther without being preachy or condescending, making one of the most compelling and politically self-aware villains along the way (though their were still plenty of people who found a reason to complain). They didn’t miss a beat when handling the unprecedented campaign of hate and misogyny that faced last spring’s Captain Marvel. And remember the James Gunn controversy? The one no one’s talking about anymore even though the director is back with both the company and the brand?
They even made Baron Zemo-a former spy committing mass murder on a quest for revenge-into a sympathetic character. So Marvel knows a thing or two about walking political tightropes.
At the end of the day John Walker, whether he’s Super-Patriot or the U.S. Agent, will be a solid villain, pushing Sam and Bucky to their limits (Walker had super human strength, stamina and endurance and was trained by supe-merc the Taskmaster, making him a formidable opponent).
Or he could be a more compelling character, one with a lot more storytelling potential that transcends America’s currently violent bi-polar culture. It should be a fun ride either way.
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