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Since his first appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) has been intrinsically connected to the military. Running alongside Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), trying to keep up with the super-serum-powered superhero, Sam was introduced as a veteran who ran a counseling group for his fellow soldiers.The comics gave him a falcon sidekick named Redwing, but Marvel Studios replaced his loyal bird with a high-tech drone created by the U.S. military. And his signature wingsuit also came courtesy of the American government. So MCU fans may find it surprising to learn that the comic book origin of Captain Americas eventual successor isnt as a paramilitary soldier using next-level technology to stay competitive with powered superheroes, but instead as a social worker who dedicated his life to helping his community.Sam Wilson debuted in 1969s Captain America #117, created by Stan Lee and Gene Colan, but readers didnt learn his name until the next issue. Sam broke new ground for Marvel as their first African American hero, following the introduction of their first Black hero, Black Panther, just a few years earlier.Sam arrived at a wild time in Caps life, as the hero was in a Freaky Friday-esque situation where he had swapped bodies with none other than the Red Skull, who used the Cosmic Cube to dump him in Haiti, hoping to break his spirit. There, he met Sam, who was just chilling with his bird after being hired to help a hunting party, who ended up being the secretive Nazi bad guys known as the Exiles. Of course he took them down, with the help of some locals who didnt want Nazis in their neighborhood.With his street-level heroism and snappy green costume, Sam was such a popular addition to Caps adventures that the Captain America series title was changed to Captain America and the Falcon as of issue 134, and continued under that title for almost 100 issues. In that run, readers got their first glimpse into Sams life as a social worker in Harlem, trying to balance helping the kids in his community stay away from a life of crime and his new role as half of a superpowered duo.Having a character driven by an actual need to help the people around him immediately stands out in the musclebound landscape of Marvel heroes, who are more often than not driven by loyalty to the military-industrial system, spending time out in space, or desperately trying to stop some onetime rival turned immortal frenemy.From the outset, the comics version of Sam chooses to help people on a personal and street level, from defeating the Exiles while hes just out training his bird to connecting with his neighbors and their families when their kids are in danger. He doesnt need Tony Stark to mentor him or supply him with military-grade tech. The early days of Marvel Comics Falcon established him as someone who helped those who were often forgotten and ignored first, and his country second. Thats a refreshing and slightly radical take on often carceral superheroic figures, who we expect to be more interested in catching and jailing criminals than helping address root causes that lead to criminality. Falcons role as a hometown hero echoed Steve Rogers origins, but offered a different kind of hope as a Black hero with an understanding of what it was like to be marginalized by society.This iteration of Sam also reflected a changing view behind the scenes at Marvel, where Stan Lee became an outspoken advocate for the Civil Rights Movement in his now-famous Stans Soapbox columns. Lets lay it right on the line. Bigotry and racism are among the deadliest social ills plaguing the world today, Lee wrote in one of his most iconic missives. Though that edition of the Soapbox has now become a perennial viral quote thanks to regularly shared screen grabs of the original column being passed around online the column originally ran in 1968s Amazing Spider-Man #67, alongside other Marvel issues that hit the racks in September 1968.Lee spoke about the need to create more Black characters that reflected the diverse and flourishing readership of Marvel Comics. Though Falcons star waned in the 1980s, that was still an important era for him, as Christopher Priest (who began his comic writing career under his birth name, Jim Owsley) and Mark Bright became the first Black creative team on the comic, adding a more authentic voice to the character and becoming some of the earliest Black creators to work at Marvel Comics.At the peak of Falcons popularity in the 1970s, writer Steve Englehart took over Captain America and the Falcon. In #186, his final issue of the series co-written with John Warner and drawn by Frank Robbins he decided to retcon Sams history as a social worker. The storytellers unveiled a new plot that claimed Sam had actually been a violent hustler named Snap Wilson who had been transformed by Red Skull and the Cosmic Cube to essentially trick Cap into trusting him by pretending to be a social worker and heroic figure.It was an unpopular change, and for the most part, it was forgotten by later writers and readers, who were more interested in Sams inevitable future as the next Captain America. Most casual Marvel fans only know Snap from a brief reference in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, where the name was presented as a potential alias for Sam when he briefly goes undercover in Madripoor.Watching the newest MCU entry, Captain America: Brave New World, youd never know Sams comics history. The film begins with Sam firmly established as the new Captain America, and working for the often villainous President Thunderbolt Ross (Harrison Ford), essentially as Ross own private strike team. In the MCU, Sams relationship with the military has always been complicated, but its also always been part of his life. As he moves through the complexities of Brave New World, struggling to find his place in an ever-changing political landscape, the film leans into his abilities as a veteran counselor. Sure, we see Sam surfing on a rocket, but we also see him advocate for Isaiah Bradley after an assassination attempt on President Ross, talk down the Red Hulk, and engage in a battle of wits with the Leader. Sams voice and ability to connect with people is key.That aspect of MCU Sam Wilson feels like its reaching back to his social worker background from the comics. But without literalizing that element, and given his newfound military background, the character beat never quite lands as clearly as it should. Instead, Brave New World seems to put the onus on Sam to stay polite and reasonable and solve things with words, when those before him in this violent, action-packed world never had to.The most Steve Rogers was expected to do was drop a quip as he threw his shield at Hydra agents or Chitauri invaders. But when it comes to Sam, the fate of the MCU seems to hang on him being able to be the bigger person in any conflict, and talk people down even when they have no respect for him and no investment in rational solutions. It feels like as the MCUs first Black Captain America, hes expected to be perfectly calm, always composed, and never particularly threatening in the way other heroes like the Black Widows or Winter Soldiers of the world are allowed to be.To be fair, Captain America: Brave New World does have Sam reckon with this slightly throughout the film and directly reference it at the end while commiserating with the new Falcon, Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez), in his hospital room.Sam Wilsons militarization is depressingly in line with the MCU versions weve seen of other predominant Black Marvel Comics characters whove been reimagined as military war hawks. James Rhodey Rhodes (aka War Machine) in the comics was a disenchanted Vietnam veteran before the MCU recontextualized his service. On the page, Rhodeys experience was far more complex, as he often commented on the horrors of war. His connection to Tony also came after the playboy philanthropist renounced his time as a war criminal, and Rhodey was keen to be in a space that allowed him to follow his passion as a pilot and create tech that wasnt crafted or used to kill innocent people.Rhodey would also take on the Iron Man mantle when Tony was struggling with alcoholism, becoming the titular hero himself. Whereas in the MCU, Rhodey became the franchises head war hawk, acting as a stern liaison between the U.S. military and Tony.Monica Rambeau (WandaVision, The Marvels) worked for the New Orleans Harbor Patrol in the comics, but the MCU made her a legacy military character who works for SWORD, the intelligence agency founded by her mother, Maria. Even Wakandans have been militarized to a much higher degree than their comic book counterparts, with the entire nation practically acting as the Earths army to fight Thanos.Cosmic-level battles like the fight against Thanos have come to define the MCU, making one truth even starker: The billion-dollar franchise has always struggled to bring truly street-level characters to the big screen. While its Spider-Man movies have made more than a billion dollars, andthe teenage hero is Marvels most famous street-level character, the MCU also made Spidey a student of billionaire Tony Stark, who amped up his suit with military tech and threw him into the midst of an international (and later, intergalactic) incident. Though MCU Peter has at times touched on his street-level roots, he never lasts long as a community hero before hes entangled with an international security threat like Mysterio.Similarly, the charming Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani) broke the studios small-screen street-level dry spell, which had only previously been interrupted by the tangentially connected and extremely un-family-friendly Netflix shows. That made sense, as Kamala Khan was also Marvel Comics first new big street-level hit hero in decades, with her first issue going back to print seven times. But of course, after season 1 of her show gave her a street-level-ish MCU adventure, Kamala Khan was instantly flung into the high-budget, volume-crafted cosmos of The Marvels, becoming a timeline-hopping teen hero.It would be interesting if, in exploring his new role as Captain America, Sam also returned to those street-level roots while rebuilding the Avengers. If Marvel wants Sams characterization as a empathetic counselor to land, the studio should let him spend time in his community and with his loved ones while he reassembles a version of the team who saved the universe.Other MCU heroes have gotten that work-life balance. Tony Stark had a wife, a child, and a massively successful business. Clint Barton had a secret hideaway where his wife and kids lived a peaceful life while he was a crime-fighting serial killer. We got to spend time with Bruce Banner outside of his time as the Hulk, not only on his party planet where he was worshipped as a god and had a child but also when he was with his cousin chilling at the tiki bar in She-Hulk. We have to know these heroes to love them, and while The Falcon and the Winter Soldier gave us glimpses of that, Sam Wilson deserves more.Let Sam grow out of the insecurities hes rehashed again and again since taking on the Captain America mantle. Returning him to his roots would let him help and inspire people in a specific way that would let him move out from under Steve Rogers shadow. And in 2025, we need a hero who can remind us that community comes first, that helping begins in your neighborhood, and that there is more than one way to defeat a tyrannical ruler. Thats who Sam Wilson is in the comics, and its time that the MCU caught up.
