Marvel's New Captain America Repeats Iron Man 3's Mistake
In The Falcon and the Winter Soldier characters in the Marvel universe are set to repeat one of the biggest mistakes made in Iron Man 3. Marvel Studios' first TV show will soon arrive on Disney+ as the first wave of a whole new initiative for the MCU, taking Phase 4 to Disney's streaming platform. And while it will be a brave new world for the MCU, the show is also destined to revisit some ideas established in Iron Man 3, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Captain America: Civil War. Crucially, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier will see the new Captain America repeating an old mistake of Tony Stark's Iron Man era.
That mistake, which was never quite explored deeply enough in Iron Man 3, is the idea of state-sponsored superheroes being a real alternative to the so-called vigilanteism of the Avengers. In Iron Man 3, James Rhodes was unveiled as the Iron Patriot, wearing the upgraded Mark II War Machine armor he (and the government, effectively) stole from Tony Stark during the events of Iron Man 2. Daubed in jingoistic red, white, and blue and with some new bells and whistles fitted by Aldrich Killian's A.I.M., he was presented to the media as the US' most valuable weapon.
That same idea - of a government "borrowing" the image of superheroes to weaponize them for their own interests - looks set to be explored in greater detail in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier with the arrival of a new state-sponsored Captain America: John Walker. And that attempt to appropriate the image of Captain America to their own ends will be their biggest mistake, as they come to blows with Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes.
The second real era of the MCU was always going to face a challenge in dealing with the end of the first. Characters would have to be killed off or retired as actors moved away from the MCU (or were aged out of roles) and a new breed of characters would be shepherded in. And no matter how much Kevin Feige insisted that there was an almost infinite well of characters to draw from, the shadow of those who went before - Captain America and Iron Man most pointedly - would inevitably loom large.
Cleverly, it looks like the narrative framework of Marvel's Phase 4 will lean into the issue of legacy and the fallout from retired or absent characters. That idea has been played with already in Spider-Man: Far From Home - which was as much a story about Tony Stark's legacy as it was about Spider-Man - but it's in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier that it looks most important as an idea. That is, after all, the formative story of the other new Captain America, after the mantle was passed implicitly by Chris Evans' Steve Rogers at the end of Avengers: Endgame to Sam Wilson.
That decision to pass on the Captain America role to Sam is clearly not one the government agrees with, as they unveil their own alternative Captain America (Wyatt Russell's John Walker) on the back of a similar marketing campaign to that which heralded the Iron Patriot program in Iron Man 3. The message there is loud and clear: Sam Wilson, the former war criminal who fled into hiding with Steve Rogers, is not their idea of a great Captain America.
In the wake of the Battle Of New York, James Rhodes' is transformed from being a secret weapon in America's armory to being a very public trophy and deterrent. He is the natural, more modern successor to Captain America since that public-facing role was precisely what Steve Rogers was tasked with doing during the Second World War. Eventually, faced with ridicule by Tony and the media, Rhodey quietly drops the Iron Patriot look and name and goes by War Machine from then on. But that doesn't mean the government gave up on the idea behind the program or the Captain America initiative before it: they will, in fact, revive it to bring in their own new Captain America.
It's important to also remember that the Sokovia Accords are not entirely over in the MCU, even as Phases 1 to 3 are done. Or at least the fallout from the idea of superhero registration and accountability is not over. That entire agenda was put together by the world's governments as a direct response to the unknowable threat that unlicensed heroes represented to the world and what their unsanctioned actions could mean. Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Civil War both established that the US' most valuable asset could choose his own morality when charged with bringing a mass-murdering assassin to justice. Rhodey's arc from Iron Man 3 through to him defying General Ross in Avengers: Infinity War also proved that a key government asset could simply step away from his role as he pleased.
The government will not have forgotten that. As a reminder that the fallout of the Sokovia Accords is still ongoing the returning Sharon Carter (Emily VanCamp) is described as having been on the run since the events of Civil War. And the introduction of a new Captain America with the Avengers and their fellow heroes seemingly in disarray after Avengers: Endgame looks like a conscious attempt to control the superhero narrative. It is a mistake not only because it's likely to go badly, but also because of the conflict it brings them with Falcon and Bucky.
Coming full circle from the early days of Cap in Captain America: The First Avenger, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier will see a battle over ownership of the Captain America brand. It was, after all, a US government initiative in the first place, long before Steve Rogers took it upon himself to change what Captain America was. And with the government taking back what was initially theirs, the conflict with Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes that will drive part of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier's narrative is set.
Just as Spider-Man: Far From Home dealt with Tony Stark's legacy and Peter Parker's desire to protect his name, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier will see Sam and Bucky fighting for Steve Rogers' good name. Ultimately, thanks to perhaps uncovering some of the more distasteful histories of the Super Soldier program (as suggested by the heavily rumored involvement of Carl Lumbly's first Captain America Isaiah Bradley), Sam and Bucky may come to realize that what they're fighting for is more important than just a brand. Because if they don't manage to reclaim it and remind everyone what it really means, the very name of Captain America may have to be retired entirely.
Ironically, by the end of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, the US government may learn that placing their faith in someone unsuited to the job - even under their own tighter control - works out badly for them. Because if the show follows the comics, John Walker (or US Agent as he was known on the page) will take his patriotic duty too far in seeking to emulate Captain America and turn out to be something of a bad apple. Thus, the government's blind faith in the idea of state-sponsored heroes - ignoring that it takes that unquantifiable special stuff and flexibility that restrictions and Accords can't account for to be a true hero. In that respect, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier might see the US government stumble its way to beginning to realize that the Accords and sanctioned heroes are a big mistake.