Last Friday, it was announced that actor Wyatt Russell, the son of Kurt Russell, (played Ego in Guardians 2) would be taking the role of John Walker aka U.S. Agent in the Disney+ series The Falcon and The Winter Soldier.
John Walker is best known for taking on the alter-ego of U.S. Agent in the comics. He originally introduced as a villain named Super-Patriot, the counter to Steve Rogers’ Captain America as he was a patriotic villain rather than a superhero. After serving in the military during peacetime he encountered a mysterious character named the Power Broker that grants him superhuman abilities but becomes indebted to him.
He would eventually take over as Captain America and was installed by the Commission of Superhuman Activities in the ranks of the West Coast Avengers as their watchdog of the team. The team included the likes of established MCU heroes such as Hawkeye, War Machine, Hank Pym, Scarlet Witch, The Wasp, Vision, and the newly announced Moon Knight.
Here’s how U.S. Agent might factor into the new Disney+ series.
The Commission of Superhuman Activities debates who should take over the Captain America mantle as Nick Fury and Sam Wilson aka The Falcon are considered as candidates, but ultimately they choose John Walker and partner him with Army buddy Lemar Hoskins aka Battlestar (the new Bucky).
There is a good chance that the government might not want Sam Wilson as the next Captain America for various reasons and this could cause some friction, given that Rogers is the one who appointed Sam with the role and his shield. One reason could be that Sam doesn’t have superhuman abilities outside of his technology that happens to be stolen military property. Another possibility they might reject him is that before the snap occurred Wilson was still a wanted international fugitive from the law.
The U.S. government might also consider the shield their property as well given it being made of vibranium.
We also know that there have been rumblings of Dark Avengers/Dark Reign potentially coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Walker does have a loose connection with the Dark Avengers and it remains to be seen if the series will attempt to introduce them either via Zemo or a version of the Thunderbolts. If we did get Thunderbolts as the government’s replacement for the Avengers that would make sense to have Walker involved with them as he has a connection to The Raft, the super-prison shown in Captain America: Civil War, as he was at one time its warden in the comics.
There is a good shot that Walker is being tasked to track down Zemo by the government as he’s one of the people that find escaped prisoners of The Raft.
Perhaps, Thunderbolt Ross is the one that has given John Walker his superhuman abilities as it was revealed in The Incredible Hulk he has some version of the super-soldier formula stashed away and gave it to Tim Roth’s Emil Blonsky (later becomes Abomination) so he can help track down Bruce Banner along with going toe-to-toe with the Hulk. I don’t really see Ross only giving out that serum to Blonsky over the last 10-15 years.
The Dark Avengers or Thunderbolts could actually be the government’s well-intentioned science project as an Avengers back-up for any other potential threats from Earth or beyond. The first step finding their new Captain America.
Then again, U.S. Agent might not be a direct rival of Sam’s but rather just the person the government wants in the role, his unfortunate replacement.
