Will Marvel Ever Figure Out What To Do With Sam Wilson?
Captain America 4 should have been a showcase for Sam Wilson. Instead, it’s a sum of Marvel’s failures.
In the world of comics, superhero mantles are passed from character to character without a second thought. That’s especially true within the Marvel universe: multiple versions of iconic heroes exist in tandem, sometimes even simultaneously. There are two Hawkeyes, multiple versions of Captain Marvel, and at least 10 characters that have taken on the Captain America name. For the most part, it’s a system that makes sense — but keeping that same energy within Marvel’s Cinematic Universe has been practically impossible.
It’s not easy saying goodbye to the characters that formed the foundations of the MCU: one needn’t look further than Robert Downey Jr’s upcoming return (as Doctor Doom, of all people) to see how fiercely Marvel is clinging to the past. But it’s been five years since Iron Man, Black Widow, Captain America, and more departed in Avengers: Endgame, and the franchise is struggling to move on with new heroes.
Behind the scenes, Marvel seems to be working hard to reinvigorate its cinematic world with fresh blood. But for one reason or another — be it production delays, Hollywood strikes, or the franchise’s general decline in quality — it’s taken a while for the new regime to find its footing. Marvel’s newest era effectively begins with Captain America: Brave New World, the franchise’s most overt attempt to position Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), formerly the Falcon, as the new steward of the shield. Turning Sam into the next Cap has been a slow, occasionally frustrating process, one that’s gone from the big screen to streaming and back. Even with all that time to percolate, though, Marvel still doesn’t seem to understand what this next chapter should look like for Sam — or even how Captain America’s responsibilities change in the hands of a Black character.
It’s been a long time coming for the new Captain America, but Brave New World is not the exhibition he deserves.
Sam has spent the past five years trying to live up to Steve Rogers’ legacy. Though he makes a fine Captain America, holding his own in Brave New World’s many action sequences — and even finding creative ways to wield the shield — he still struggles with the “pressure” of straddling two worlds. Sam feels he owes his allegiance to the government, and has a fierce responsibility to uphold the virtues that Steve and countless others worked so hard to defend. But as a Black man, he can’t ignore the systemic prejudice that still runs rampant through the nation. He can’t turn the other cheek when Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (Harrison Ford), the new U.S. President, calls him “son,” and — as he explains to his protege, Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez) — he can’t shake the fear that he’s not enough.
Brave New World presents Sam’s inner monologue plainly enough, but it never goes much deeper than surface-level anxieties and disgruntled one-liners. Instead of allowing him to confront his fears and overcome them (as each Captain America film once did for Steve), it shoves his imposter syndrome and his political ideals to the backburner. Brave New World is much more interested in the consequences of a 16-year-old film, 2008’s Incredible Hulk, and how it’s affected Ross in the interim. It’s obsessed with the question of his redemption, as Ross nearly destroyed New York in the pursuit of the Hulk and a new super soldier serum. The script doesn’t do his character many favors either, frequently tethering his humanity to a character we neither see nor hear from until the final moments of Brave New World. But Ross at least goes through some change by the time the credits roll. The same can’t be said for his foil in Sam.
Brave New World is an overcrowded affair, forcing Sam to play a supporting role in his own story.
As the new Cap, Sam barely gets the opportunity to react to the circumstances around him. That’s partially because so many of these events have already happened in some variation in other Marvel projects. Even when Sam is emotionally affected by the drama unfolding around him — and even when he tries to handle familiar situations in his own way — it still somehow rings hollow. Brave New World doesn’t seem to know who Sam truly is apart from Steve, Joaquin, or Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan). It also fails to depict just how the new mantle has changed him... beyond sucking most of the fun out of his character.
Frustratingly, Brave New World had plenty of chances to fill the vacuum at its center. There are those who could actually challenge Sam’s status quo — like The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’s Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly), or Sidewinder (Giancarlo Esposito), the leader of the Serpent Society — but they’re essentially narrative afterthoughts here. Isaiah finds himself pulled into a new cycle of anti-Black violence, while Sidewinder is little more than a tease for a conflict to come. With the addition of another villain in Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson), Brave New World is entirely too crowded. Sam doesn’t have the room to truly come into his own... and with the MCU now barreling toward a conflict in the multiverse, it’s hard to say if he’ll ever get the chance.
After five years and ample opportunity, Marvel seems to affirm the fears that Sam’s been carrying since he picked up the shield. In another timeline, he could have carried the MCU into its next phase with ease — but until Marvel allows him to stand on his own, he’ll never be the Captain America the franchise needs.
