“Nobody” can play Captain Americalike longtime Marvel star Chris Evans — not even Wyatt Russell, who will wield the shield as the John Walker Cap in Marvel Studios original series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Six months after Steve Rogers (Evans) retires the role and entrusts the star-spangled shield to Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) in Avengers: Endgame, the Department of Defense announces the United States of America has a new hero “who can be a symbol for all of us”: the red-and-blue-suited John Walker (Russell), the next Captain America.
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“He did have an unreal, unbelievable job,” Russell told USA Today about his predecessor, who first appeared in 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger. “That was a really different version of Captain America, with far less problems. He was fighting Nazis and he had less internal issues to deal with because everyone thought he was perfect. That’s just so hard to play, and he did such a great job of actually bringing some conflict with the character.”
Much like the viewers who reacted with #NotMyCap after Russell’s Captain America debuted in the series premiere, “New World Order,” Falcon and Winter Soldier will address what it means for someone who isn’t Steve Rogers to suit up as a symbol in a world still reeling after The Blip.
“He’s perfect. Who else can play Captain America like Chris Evans? Nobody,” Russell said. “And what’s good about this show is that it takes that in hand, where it’s like, ‘Well, who else is going to [expletive] play Captain America? This guy?’”
Walker is a soldier “at odds” with his moral compass, which comic book readers know doesn’t quite align with the good-hearted Steve Rogers.
“I don’t think there’s really been many [Marvel Cinematic Universe] characters who’ve had quite the dilemma he’s had in terms of trying to fit into this sort of moralistic superhero world,” Russell said of the MCU version of Marvel Comics’ US Agent. “He’s been thrust into this role as Captain America and he’s going to do it his way, and he wants to do it right. But his way is a very specific way that he has learned through being basically a trained human hunter. I mean, that’s what Marines are. They’re not Steve Rogers, they’re not the same. They’re not like Boy Scouts anymore. They’re a little bit more gnarly.”
Russell added, “There’s always an element of reality [in the show] where it’s like, well, sometimes you need that guy, and it’s not always pretty. It’s fun to play those characters because they’re always at odds with themselves. They’re always at odds with their own abilities and with their own moral compass. They know what is right, kind of, but they also want to win and they battle with that.”
New episodes of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier premiere Fridays on Disney+.
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