Even John Lewis saw virtue in working within the system. Barack Obama wanted to meet people halfway, too. Sam isn’t to blame because he believes in compromise. “I mean you ain’t no Malcolm or Martin,” he says, but it’s meant as friendly ribbing, and effectively suggests that Sam may indeed belong in that company. It even sways Isaiah Bradley, whose fierce denunciation of compromise mellows into avuncular agreeableness. His rhetoric, of course, sways those in power, who are good at heart. We can’t demand that people step up if we don’t meet them halfway.” “The only power I have is I believe we can do better. “I’m here, no super serum, no blonde hair or blue eyes,” he says, openly acknowledging the racism he faces. In last week’s finale, Sam, clothed in the flag, saves a bunch of politicians and then delivers a stirring speech. The life of the foreigner he beat to death doesn’t matter enough to quibble about. John Walker, the imperialist murderer, is casually rehabilitated because he opposes Karli. By the end, she can be dismissed as a “misguided teenager,” in Sam’s words. The writers carefully delegitimize Karli by having her murder civilians (a narrative tactic also used to turn viewers against the Black radical Killmonger in Black Panther). Nor does he need one, because the superhero genre conventions are all on his side. Sam has a more positive view of America and of working within the system, but he has no real response to Isaiah. ![]() Lumbly’s anger and bitter dignity is riveting it is easily the most compelling performance in the series. “And even if they did, no self-respecting Black man would ever want to be.” “They will never let a Black man be Captain America,” he tells Sam, who listens with sympathy and horror. “justice” system, and his indictment of his captors is searing. But his story echoes that of many other Black people imprisoned and brutalized in the U.S. experimented on him and punished him for performing a heroic rescue against orders. Isaiah was imprisoned for thirty years while the U.S. Other Black soldiers who were given the serum died. John Walker (Wyatt Russell) as Captain America, holding the shield he used to beat a refugee to death. The evocation of the infamous Tuskegee experiments is surely intentional. Back home, Sam visits Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly), a Black man who was given the super-soldier serum as part of racist medical trials by the U.S. Nor is the violence and death reserved for those overseas. It’s a symbol of violent subjugation and death-the flag of drone strikes, of war in Iraq, and of refugees callously turned away. The American flag, in this context, is not a symbol of freedom. The image of the red, white, and blue shield stained red with the blood of a person-of-color is a shockingly direct depiction of imperial violence. In perhaps the most memorable scene of the series, John Walker, wearing the Captain America suit, and standing on foreign soil, beats one of the super-powered refugees to death. It’s a symbol of violent subjugation and death. and international organizations provide housing and help to the people displaced after the catastrophic events of Endgame. ![]() Karli, who is Black herself, leads a group of multi-racial refugees who demand that the U.S. Though Falcon and Winter Soldier is at first coy about addressing racism directly, it becomes more and more explicit as it goes on. They are led by Karli Morgenthau (Erin Kellyman), a teenager who has been injected with the super soldier formula that gave Steve his powers originally. the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), spend most of the series trying to hunt down the Flag Smashers, a radical group advocating for open borders. immediately turns around and creates a new Captain America, John Walker (Wyatt Russell), a decorated veteran of Afghanistan. Sam, as a Black man, is conflicted about taking on the role, and gives the shield to the government for preservation. In that movie Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) abandoned his role as Captain America, and willed his shield to the Falcon, a.k.a. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is set after Avengers: Endgame (2019). The series is a masterclass in just how thoroughly superhero genre conventions can rationalize, and ennoble, power. The series presents a radical condemnation of the American way precisely so that Captain America can neutralize that condemnation with a mixture of brawn and high-mindedness. This isn’t a contradiction so much as it is a tactic. It’s also the most direct and frustratingly blithe defense of American virtue despite that racism. Chuck Zlotnick/Marvel Studiosĭisney (DIS)+’s six-episode series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s most forthright critique of American racism, both at home and abroad. Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) under his new Captain America identity in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
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