Steve Rogers isn’t in the best of shape these days. The Super-Soldier Serum which has long kept him the pinnacle of the human condition has worn off, leaving him an aged husk of a man. Obviously, this is no condition to be Captain America in.
Earlier this week on Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report, Joe Quesada, Marvel’s former Editor in Chief and current Chief Creative Officer, appeared to reveal who would take Rogers’ place. This was a fitting forum in which to do so, as Captain America has long had ties to the program, with Quesada appearing to gift Cap’s shield to Colbert following The Death of Captain America in 2007.
Quesada revealed on the program that in Rogers’ place, the all new Captain America will be none other than Sam Wilson, previously known as “The Falcon”. Fans know The Falcon as a long-time partner to Captain America, while the greater public best knows him for his appearance in this year’s acclaimed film Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
This isn’t the first time someone else has taken the reigns as Cap, with Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes filling in for a period between The Death of Captain America and Fear Itself story lines. This also isn’t the first African-American Cap; that title belongs to Isaiah Bradley, the first Captain America product of Tuskeegee-like experiments on African-American soldiers in WWII, as seen in Marvel’s Truth: Red, White, and Black.
This change-up echoes other changes sweeping Marvel’s “Big Three”, with an all-new female Thor and a sleek and silver Superior Iron Man, as Marvel gears up for its Avengers NOW! initiative, aimed at bringing new readers in at accessible story points. One question remains, however. If the Falcon is the new Captain America, who will be the new Falcon?
