Captain America’s 4’s New Falcon Has a Weird, Tragic Origin (but Will We See It in the MCU?)

A new Falcon will soar in Captain America: Brave New World. Sam Wilson is retired from being the Falcon after officially donning the red-white-and-blue Captain America suit and shield. But Marvel isn’t letting the Falcon wings sit on the bench. Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez) from The Falcon and the Winter Soldier will become the new Falcon in Captain America: Brave New World. While he may be a new character for Marvel Cinematic Universe fans, readers of the comics are already familiar with how Joaquin adopted the Falcon mantle. Joaquin’s comics origin is a tragic tale that has us wondering if the same fate will befall the new MCU Falcon.

Sam Wilson and Joaquin Torres both sport metal wings on their Captain America and Falcon costumes. One of the major differences between MCU Joaquin Torres and his comic book counterpart is the latter has organic wings that he uses to fly through the air. Now, before you start speculating on Falcon being a mutant — even with Captain America: Brave New World referencing Wolverine’s Adamantium — he’s actually the victim of experimentation by another evil faction making their MCU debut: the Serpent Society.

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Marvel’s New Falcon Comic Book History Explained

Joaquin Torres was created by Nick Spencer and Daniel Acuna during their run on Captain America: Sam Wilson. This was during a time when Spencer was penning two Cap books, with Captain America: Steve Rogers being the sister title. While Captain America: Steve Rogers was deep in the storyline of Steve being brainwashed into being a secret Hydra sleeper agent, Captain America: Sam Wilson continued to follow Sam as he adjusted to his role of being the former Falcon and a new Captain America.

But Captain America needs a Falcon by his side to watch his six, which led to the creation of Joaquin Torres. He’s from the Mexican community and grew up in Arizona, where he was abducted by the Sons of the Serpent to gather test subjects for Dr. Karl Malus. The evil doctor has a long history and infatuation with superpowers, often conducting experiments to test the limits of his scientific knowledge.

Dr. Malus enhanced Joaquin Torrest with organic wings and talons from DNA taken from Captain America’s bird sidekick, Redwing. Joaquin also acquired Redwing’s vampirism, which prevented him from reverting back to his human form like all of Dr. Malus’ other subjects. It wasn’t until a fight with the Serpent Society that Joaquin decided to officially become the new Falcon. During his superhero career, Falcon has fought alongside Captain America while also joining Ms. Marvel’s Champions.

Will MCU Falcon’s Origin Follow the Comics?

Joaquin Torres had a small role in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, but will presumably have a larger profile in Captain America: Brave New World. We’ve yet to hear about Joaquin’s backstory and whether his Mexican roots and immigration factor into his drive to help people. What we do know is Joaquin is loyal to Sam Wilson, and someone he can trust will be important when dealing with espionage and characters with secret agendas.

While the MCU has borrowed loosely from the comics, the MCU has largely adapted many comic book storylines and made them their own. We don’t envision Joaquin Torres being turned into a human falcon, much like Sam Wilson doesn’t have a telepathic link with a real redwing bird. Instead, Redwing is a drone that Sam can control with technology. But if Captain America: Brave New World were to make Joaquin equal to the comics, the movie’s secret villain could probably make it happen.

Samuel Sterns, a.k.a. The Leader (Tim Blake Nelson), makes his MCU return in the fourth Captain America movie, after previously playing the character in The Incredible Hulk. He’s only been shown in the shadows of promotional videos and trailers for Captain America: Brave New World, but is most likely the puppet master behind the scenes pulling the strings. Leader is probably behind Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross’ (Harrison Ford) transformation into Red Hulk, so he could theoretically change Joaquin Torres into Falcon as well.

There are many possibilities for Joaquin Torres’ Falcon in the MCU. But as Captain America: Brave New World demonstrates, they all lead to him being another hero to eventually join Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.