The Marvel Comics universe has found yet another man to wear the mantle of Captain America. Somehow robbed of the powers provided to him by the super-soldier serum, Steve Rogers is taking a strategic role as his old buddy Sam Wilson, aka The Falcon, becomes the new Captain America. Marvel made the long rumored announcement Wednesday night on The Colbert Show.
The change will begin in ALL-NEW CAPTAIN AMERICA #1 which will be written by Rick Remender and drawn by Stuart Immonen and has a November street date.
In an interview with Marvel.com, Remender reveals this change was in the works for some time and that Wilson is very much his own man.
“This is the fireworks factory we”re arriving at, and now everything”s going to blow up and be very pretty and exciting to look at,” Remeder says. “It leads into an evolution of Steve Rogers” character that I had very early when I was given the job. I think that it”s important with these stories to do things that are natural and make sense and have an inherent logic to the universe, but are also constantly shifting and exciting, keeping the drama high. In order to do that it really comes down to creating new dynamics.
Remeder adds, “I”ve been having a lot of fun writing Sam. It”s a completely different attitude. The fact that he”s not a soldier shifts things up a bit. Sam”s not going to be Steve. Steve can be very rigid. That can be kind of joyless at times, whereas Sam is absolutely not that.”
Wilson, who was portrayed by Anthony Mackie in this spring's blockbuster “Captain America: The Winter Solider,” will still dawn his Falcon wings and fly, but he's got a new weapon in Cap's admantium shield. He'll also have something of his own sidekick in a new Nomad (think an older Bucky). Rogers will still be around acting as something of an oracle giving intelligence and advice to Wilson for his missions.
This is the second major sea change in Marvel over the past week after a female Thor was introduced on “The View” yesterday. With the “death” of Wolverine already in the works, the company promises even more change to come. Why the Disney division would play with their key characters so close to the release of “Avengers: Age of Ultron” is somewhat reckless, but we'll assume it's part of a larger storytelling strategy.
Very little in Captain America's world has remained constant over the years. He's changed identities for numerous reasons referring to himself as Nomad (an earlier version) or the Captain. A little less than six years ago, Rogers “died” and was replaced by his old buddy Bucky Barnes who had gone as The Winter Soldier. The original Cap was soon “resurrected” and returned to his star-spangled mantle. No matter what Marvel says, most comic book fans will expect the same with this change.
You can get a better look at the new Captain's uniform thanks to this art by Immonen.