The Falcon and The Winter Soldier seems to have fully set up John Walker to be the new Captain America and following the events of the previous episode, it seems that Walker is taking on a new path not far from the tree where the apple fell, giving rise to the question, is he the US Agent now?
Warning! This portion may contain spoilers for The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. Read at your own risk!
In two consecutive episodes of the canon series of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, Episode 4, The Whole World is Watching, and Episode 5, Truth, we see John Walker breakdown and explode following the death of his partner, Battlestar, Lemar Hoskins during a fight with the Flag Smashers resulting to him killing one of them publicly and it all went downhill thereon.
He was stripped off of the title of Captain America, even losing his post in the government and all the benefits he could've availed of, and still walks as a free man with respect to the medals of valor he received prior to being the new Captain America.
As he was in shambles, a woman by the name of Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine approached him and has seemingly planted an idea to him as regards the shield not belonging to the government but in some legal gray area, which brings us to the mid-credits scene of Episode 5 where Walker is seen to have been forging his very own version of the shield.
Throughout the episodes, Walker seems to have built his head around the idea of being Captain America and refusing to let go of the title despite being sanctioned by the government itself. He is sure of himself, most especially after taking the super-soldier serum left, and that he is Captain America. With the trajectory of the story, it seems that Walker's journey is to becoming US Agent, and it looks like he has completed the transformation already.
Is John Walker US Agent Now in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier?
From being the new Captain America, Walker has finally molded himself to be the US Agent, even unknowingly, his character is on its way to completing the transformation and the last thing he needs to do is make his very own shield, which he already did, to be 100% the US Agent. It has some parallels to the debut of the character of the US Agent in the comics back in the ‘80s where Walker became a darker version of Captain America.
But based on Marvel comics, this current story arc of Walker has a strong resemblance to that of the "American Zealot" arc released in 2020 where he, instead of being removed of the title of Captain America, takes on the role of being US Agent and making him a rogue freelancer who goes out on his own missions trying to prove all those who doubt him wrong.
Although not entirely running on the same pickup point, it seems that Walker is on a self-discovery kind of path where he tries to redeem himself and prove that he is worthy of being a hero himself. Yes, he surely has a lot of shortcomings but with an episode still left on the series, what could possibly happen to him, right? He already lost the title, the shield, his partner, what else could he lose?
Given that Marvel has planned the future out and mapped out where characters could possibly turn up, this transformation of Walker as US Agent could give his character a real comeback, free from the strings of the government and probably building his very own hero version of himself just like the way he wanted to.
After all, a little redemption story wouldn't really hurt that much, don't you think? With Sam finally picking up the shield that Steve himself gave him, his road to redemption is on the way as he was seen training with it and he seems to be suiting up as the new Captain America, and with Bucky learning from Sam how to reconcile with his past, Walker could have his redemption as well.
Although his character has really cooked up some hate over the past episodes, that just makes him an effective character, to say the least. After all, we all hated Bucky at first when he hurt our precious Steve only to love him again as he goes through character development. Maybe a little benefit of the doubt on Walker could do as well.
Catch the debut of Walker's own shield on The Falcon and The Winter Soldier finale arriving on Friday, at 3AM, via Disney+.
Related: The Falcon and The Winter Soldier Series Finale Teaser Puts the Focus on Bucky
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