How Does Falcon Become Captain America in the Comics? Sam Wilson Captain America, Explained

A brave new world needs an all-new Captain America. And when Captain America: Brave New World soars into theaters on Feb. 14, it will be Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) slinging the star-spangled shield as the Sentinel of Liberty following the events of 2019’s Avengers: Endgame and 2021’s The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. After a now-elderly Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) named his wingman his successor and entrusted the former Falcon with the mantle and shield of Captain America — a legacy that “is complicated to say the least,” as Sam told Bucky (Sebastian Stan) in their Disney+ series — Sam embraced his destiny and has been living up to those words: “I’ll do my best.”

Videos by ComicBook.com

Introduced in the pages of 1969’s Captain America #117 by Stan Lee and Gene Colan, an issue titled “The Coming of the Falcon,” Sam Wilson met Steve Rogers for the first time on the Red Skull’s Exile Island. Steve suggested the falconer adopt a name and costume as a symbol, so Sam took the name inspired by his sidekick, Redwing, a hunting falcon.

In “The Falcon Fights On” (Captain America #118), Sam teamed up with the living legend of World War II to defeat Cap’s Nazi nemesis, who used the power of the Cosmic Cube to switch bodies with Steve. Sam returned to his hometown of Harlem, but he reunited with Steve not long after. When the mad scientist M.O.D.O.K.’s android replica of Cap’s World War II-era partner, Bucky Barnes, failed to destroy Captain America, he unleashed another humanoid robot called Bulldozer on the streets of Harlem in Captain America #133. Steve and Sam became partners, and so the book was retitled Captain America and the Falcon with 1970’s issue #134.

1975’s Captain America and the Falcon #186 revealed that Sam was once the criminal “Snap” Wilson, and that the Red Skull used the Cosmic Cube to rewrite reality and turn Snap into a pre-programmed partner for Captain America. (This convoluted backstory was eventually retconned, and later revealed to have been concocted by Red Skull as a way to discredit Sam.)

The real Sam Wilson is a social worker who was inspired to help his community after losing his parents in two separate instances of street violence (as told in 1982’s Captain America #277-280). And like his MCU counterpart, whose Captain America suit was made of vibranium from Wakanda, Falcon took to the skies with a pair of glider wings created by the Black Panther in 1973’s Captain America and the Falcon #170.

After accepting Nick Fury’s offer to lead his own super-powered team, the short-lived S.H.I.E.L.D. Super-Agents, Sam ended his tenure as Cap’s partner. He went on to join the Avengers, named a member of the team by government agent Henry Gyrich. Sam officially joined the ranks of Earth’s mightiest heroes in 1979’s Avengers #184, but after an 11-issue stint, he respectfully resigned from the team (in Avengers #194) because the “government quota” that made him a member no longer existed.

When Steve was thought killed in 1999’s Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty #8, Sam briefly suited up as the new Captain America to fend off the white supremacy group The Sons of the Shield. “No matter who’s in the suit,” Sam said, “Cap fights against bigotry and injustice.” He later reunited with Steve in a battle against the rogue agent Anti-Cap during the events of Avengers Disassembled in 2004’s Captain America and the Falcon Vol. 1, and Sam sided with Steve’s underground team of Secret Avengers in opposition of the Superhuman Registration Act during Civil War (in 2006’s New Avengers #21).

Shortly after Steve surrendered to end the destructive superhuman civil war, the Falcon watched from above when the villain Crossbones seemingly assassinated Steve before he could be tried for crimes committed in violation of the SHRA (2007’s Civil War epilogue in Captain America #25). In a world without Captain America, the Falcon fought alongside Sharon Carter and then-S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Tony Stark to hunt down Steve’s killers: the mind-manipulating Doctor Faustus, the disembodied HYDRA scientist Arnim Zola, and the returned Red Skull.

Ultimately, Steve’s once long-lost wartime partner, James “Bucky” Barnes, succeeded him as the new Captain America (2008’s Captain America #34), a tenure that lasted until Steve returned (in 2009’s six-part Captain America: Reborn). When a villain named the Iron Nail neutralized the serum that turned the once-scrawny Steve Rogers into America’s first Super-Soldier, he rapidly aged into an old man and was a Super-Soldier no more (2014’s Captain America Vol. 7 #21). Falcon saved Steve’s life when he nearly sacrificed himself aboard a downed helicarrier.

Falcon also nearly died when he flew a powerful bomb into the atmosphere (in Captain America #24), foiling the plans of Cap’s old enemy Arnim Zola. The aged Steve Rogers then assembled the Avengers to name his successor as the all-new Captain America: a star-spangled Sam Wilson (2014’s Captain America #25).

While the elderly Steve became Commander Rogers, Sam’s Captain America first took on the terrorist organization HYDRA and Baron Zemo by thwarting a plot to infect the world with a human-sterilizing toxin (2014’s All-New Captain America). After battling the racist Red Skull’s terrorist daughter, Sin, Sam made a point to become a more socially-active Captain America amid increasing division in the United States (2015’s relaunched Captain America: Sam Wilson).

After Steve’s powers were restored, he returned to action as Captain America at the same time Sam took on a new partner: Joaquín Torres, the Falcon. But when a young Black hero named Elvin Haliday, a.k.a. the OG Rage, was brutally beaten and arrested by the fascist police force the Americops (in Captain America: Sam Wilson #17), Sam felt he could no longer solve social injustice as the red-white-and-blue-clad Cap.

Sam stepped down from the mantle of Captain America in protest (in 2021’s Captain America: Sam Wilson #21), saying, “If Steve’s Captain America is a symbol of a great country pushing forward, then let Sam Wilson’s Captain America have been a reminder of the people it’s leaving behind.” He then returned the shield and mantle of Captain America to Steve (in the 2017 one-shot Generations: Sam Wilson Captain America & Steve Rogers Captain America).

As Sam resumed the Falcon identity, he was joined by a young superhero as his partner — Rayshaun “Shaun” Lucas, the new Patriot — and took to the skies over Chicago (2017’s Falcon #1). No longer flying solo, Falcon and Patriot were joined by Misty Knight and, of course, Sam’s trusty sidekick: Redwing.

However, Sam retired his original identity once more and returned alongside Steve, both serving as co-Captain Americas, when he was inspired by the Captains Network: a heroic movement of people across the country who took up the fight as amateur Caps (in 2021’s United States of Captain America #1). Most recently, Sam has been leading the Avengers as the high-flying Symbol of Truth: Captain America.

Marvel Studios’ Captain America: Brave New World — starring Anthony Mackie, Danny Ramirez, Shira Haas, Carl Lumbly, Xosha Roquemore, Giancarlo Esposito, Liv Tyler, Tim Blake Nelson, and Harrison Ford — flies into theaters on Feb. 14.