Countdown to Captain America: Brave New World - Falcon

Course Description: We are continuing our Countdown to Captain America: Brave New World. This time the Falcon is on the docket, and not just Sam Wilson but we peel back the wings on Joaquin Torres the new Falcon as well.

Today's Syllabus: 

That seal of approval

Turning tragedy into triumph as a young superhero

Carrying on the legacy of The Falcon

Guest Lecturer(s): Zero Cool

Required Reading/Listening: 

Champions 2016

Additional research: 

Actors/Actresses

Danny Ramirez https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6639989/

Harrison Ford https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000148/

Characters

Joaquin Torres https://www.marvel.com/characters/joaquin-torres

Sam Wilson https://www.marvel.com/characters/sam-wilson

Misty Knight https://www.marvel.com/characters/misty-knight/in-comics

Bucky https://www.marvel.com/characters/winter-soldier-bucky-barnes

Champions https://www.marvel.com/teams-and-groups/champions

Ms. Marvel https://www.marvel.com/characters/ms-marvel-kamala-khan

Miles Morales https://www.marvel.com/characters/spider-man-miles-morales

Cyclops https://www.marvel.com/characters/cyclops-scott-summers

Viv https://www.marvel.com/characters/viv-vision

Redwing https://www.marvel.com/characters/redwing

US Agent https://www.marvel.com/characters/us-agent-john-walker

Steve Rogers https://www.marvel.com/characters/captain-america-steve-rogers

Red Skull https://www.marvel.com/characters/red-skull-johann-shmidt

TV/Movies

Falcon and Winter Soldierhttps://www.marvel.com/tv-shows/the-falcon-and-the-winter-soldier/1

Endgame https://www.marvel.com/movies/avengers-endgame

Office Hours: Monday 8:30p EST on Twitch

Chapters

• 3:00 Introduction of Joaquin Torres
• 6:00 Origin of the Falcon
• 13:00 Comics and Movie comparison
• 23:00 Handing over a legacy

Transcript

What's up, enthusiasts? Welcome to the Nerd O Dome. You are listening to I Am A Nerd, where we celebrate nerdy things, old and new, with our like minded peers, and that means you. I'm your host, Direct Edition, and today we are wrapping up our countdown to Captain America Brave New World. It's due out this Friday. 

And to help shed a little light on our star spangled high flying hero, I have here with me Zero Cool. What's up, Zero? What's up, what's up? So, there are two things I would say we'd have to get into when talking, the Falcon. And that's Sam Wilson and his progression to carry on the legacy of Captain America. 

Which we get in this [00:03:00] movie and then, this movie and the comics as well. Absolutely. And the introduction of Joaquin Torres as the new Falcon. Let's take the new Falcon first, this film is not his first time showing up. It's his first time showing up as the Falcon, but it's not his first time showing up. 

His premiere came in Falcon and Winter Soldier, correct? And he was helping, Sam Wilson in the first episode if you remember Sam was on a rescue mission and Joaquin was the one he was offering ground support. Yep. He was a part of a military unit at the time, which is, you know, just a tad different from the comics. 

But, uh, yeah. Absolutely important for the, the origin of Joaquin 

He was a United States Air Force Lieutenant and an intelligence officer and he was helping Sam and it was the rescue of Captain Vasant. [00:04:00] Vasant, I think it was from LAF and oh, he also, there was another episode. He got jumped or something. He was trying to get information on the flag smashers. 

Yep. And he ended up getting hurt. With that, I think by the end of that series that's when Sam finally accepted that, that role of Captain America and moved on, He left his initial suit. With Joaquin Torres. Correct. Yeah. And we got that little hint of kind of like the passing of the torch just like he got past the shield. 

Right. He also passed his torch down to Joaquin. Right. I did have to look up what was what LAF stood for. Cause in that first episode of Falcon and Winter Soldier, they had to rescue Captain Vasant from LAF. And it was Les Aviators Francois, which I didn't know, but Batroc the Leaper was connected to that group [00:05:00] too. Oh, was he? I didn't know that. 

Yeah, and matter of fact, he shows up in a later episode to fight Sam Wilson Falcon. And I was just like, oh, okay. And I didn't put two and two together at the time when I was watching, like, that episode. Well, you know, Marvel, they always like to slide in those minute connections that, you know, keep these characters together and give them the connectitude into, you know, how they all end up in the situations that they're in. 

So, you know, those little Easter eggs are not little. Yeah. But, you know, when you're, when you're drawing from such a huge history of content, I can't blame them because there's so much that you could, you could stick into these things. Yeah. So Easter eggs become, you know, reference points for the actual source material that we've come to know and rely on for the storylines. I mean, think about it. Sam Wilson's first appearance [00:06:00] was back in 1968. That's a lot of material to work with, right? You know, trying to determine when, Joaquin's first appearance was. It was more recent as far as his comic appearance goes. And, and I think we brought up on the, earlier episode that Marvel seems to be pulling from. 

At least the last 10 years or so, about 10, about the last 10 years, as far as that goes. Yeah. Of comic book history, but Joaquin, we're going to talk a little bit about his, his comic origin, it's very different than the MCU version that we get typically. Yeah. And the MCU version seems to be. 

Almost like everything's militarized. Like in a lot of ways. I mean, look at Sam himself, right? Form of paratrooper. You know, he, the, they did keep some of the same themes from the comics where he was a social worker, an urban planner and things of that nature. But Sam Wilson, paratrooper [00:07:00] military, right? 

Steve Rogers, military, right? You know, a lot of the same themes are working out here. And then Joaquin Torres, you know, United States Air Force. Absolutely. So, but as far as the comic origin goes, he had some type of human falcon hybrid? Or, I don't know if that's where he started off as? 

Well, from what I, 17 years old, And this is the comic origin. He was, kidnapped by the Sons of Serpents. They took him to New York where Dr. Carlon Malice aka Dr. Carl Malice, experimented on him. And by performing the genetic, experiments on Joaquin, using a vampiric falcon red wing genetic material, he was able to turn Joaquin into like a falcon human hybrid. 

Okay. And it kind of gives him wings, a regenerative healing factor, and a psychic link to red wing. Okay. He wasn't in the military as far as comics, he was just like a normal teenager. He was a [00:08:00] normal teenager from, Tucson, Arizona. Just out for a run one day and got snatched up. Well, that's not funny, but. 

Not funny at all, but, you know, that's basically how it happened and, I mean, we're talking, you know, the comics, so, it may be dated a little bit, so, we're gonna move on about that. So, he ends up getting the psychic connection. And then he joins up with Sam Wilson and this is at the time that Sam has already become Captain America in the comics. 

Yes, so from what I was able to dig up, once they found out that Joaquin, and they didn't really know Joaquin, but they found out that he'd been kidnapped, Sam Wilson as Captain America and Misty Knight. Gets that information and, they go off and they, they liberate him from Mouthless's base in New York. And I haven't read the actual origin of Joaquin, and I'm just wondering why he actually picked this particular person. Was it just at random? [00:09:00] Right. Or was there a reason behind it? And what was the reason why he experimented on him to give him these, these type of powers? Yeah, we probably can dig deeper into that as far as his origins go, as like why he was chosen, but I was, I was trying to figure out why I guess Sam decided to take him under his wing and like it more or less pass on the, the legacy of the Falcon, because at that point the Falcon became a legacy type character because um, mhm. 

Before Sam had stepped into the role of Captain America, everyone knew him as Falcon. And no one thought of it as a role to be passed on. Until Joaquin comes along. And I guess they wanted to keep that synergy for Captain America and Falcon. Well, you know, at that point You know, we'd already knew that Bucky was, uh, was a partner. 

I mean, these are, these are comments gone back to the [00:10:00] forties. Bucky was always Captain America's partner. It always seemed like even though Captain America is a symbol of his own, he always worked well with a partner, right? You know, typically, you know, not saying per se, but having someone who wasn't quite as, let's say enhanced as they were, but On a level that they were able to participate in those missions and be an effective part of that team seemed like the natural progression for Sam to take on a partner as well. 

So, I mean, we've seen it throughout, you know, not only Marvel comics, but it happens in D. C. Batman and Robin comes to mind. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Teen Titans. Titans, you know, so it kind of seems like that, that's kind of a theme that certain characters. have that propensity to take on a partner to, to assist them. 

I gotcha. But when Joaquin became the new Falcon, he wasn't just, Captain America's partner. [00:11:00] He also, I guess they tried to have him step into a role of his own and he ended up joining the champions. Correct. Yup. And then the champions were almost like the young avengers composed of another, they were another young superhero team at the time he tried to, it seemed like a reoccurring thing in comics where you have young people that acquire these super fantastic abilities and it's amazing because, mostly, young people are thinking, what's in front of me. 

But these, these particular young people in these, instances are forming up, and finding like minded individuals and going out and trying to do good. Right. Putting good out there. Right. Where most typical teenagers, Joaquin was 17 when this happened, thinking about going out with your friends, hitting, you know, social medias. 

a lot of these kids in these portrayals. They're out there, they get these fantastic abilities, and they're going out and trying to use those abilities to help, [00:12:00] in a sense, make a difference.  

if you read enough comics, you see the reoccurring theme. You'll see a young kid get these abilities and he idolizes an adult superhero. And That's what more or less inspires him to go out and do that. Inspiration. And then they sometimes fall into a relationship where that particular, uh, superhero becomes their mentor to help them not make the same mistakes that maybe that superhero made to be a little bit better to, to make sure that they're more not, we'll not say successful, but we'll say make a bigger impact than they may have had when they initially started. 

Right. And then I didn't, I didn't read a lot of the champions. I know some of the, the members was, Miss Marvel, miles Morales, Spider Man, a D aged Cyclops and visions daughter. Ooh, I forgot about her. Yeah. the roster kind of changed up a little bit as those teams usually do. Yeah. To include [00:13:00] Joaquin. I think the champions are defunct now. I don't think they have a running book. Not, not to my knowledge, not right now. his origin is like the difference between the MCU and the, the comic origin is kind of huge parallels. You know, they haven't really introduced telepathy as far as outside of the X Men. 

 He had the established telepathy with, Red Wing, which was, Falcons, the original Sam Wilson Falcon. It was his, quote unquote, animal partner. Yeah, his, his pal. He wasn't in the military, so, and he didn't work for the Air Force or anything like that. He didn't have the, and now I'm talking about Joaquin in the MCU. 

He doesn't have any superpowers, any abilities. He just has the tech that was left to him, the flight suit that was left to him by Sam Wilson. He had showed off the courage and confidence the investigative skills. He can count on them more or less is [00:14:00] what Sam was saying in the MCU. 

It's enough to, to leave well, and it also, you know, it also, you know, kind of gets to the point where to do heroic things, you don't have to have abilities, right? You just have to have that drive and the, uh, and the ability and then, and you know, the intelligence to use what you have, but still go out there and make that difference to still go out there and put. 

Your life on the line for others or, you know, those type of, uh, instances. So it's kind of nice in some respects to see in the movies where not everybody has superpowers. Yeah. But these individuals are still stepping up to make things better. Yeah. That ordinary people with enough drive, with enough determination can get out there and make a difference. 

Right. Yeah. That's, that's also a good thing. Well, yeah, I just don't want everybody to become like Batman, [00:15:00] Blame. There's enough Batman. We got you, Batman. We figured it out. We got you. So, and essentially we saw that the watching Torres, his initiation as a Falcon is going to come in this movie by the trailers that they released. 

And some of the things that we saw him, In the trailer, and I don't want to use the term him being sidekick because when I, when I think sidekick, I think like team sidekick and this, and this version of him is definitely not a team, right? In the MCU in the, the trailers, we saw them kind of like taking on different missions. 

Following the attack of Harrison Ford's President Ross and they seem to be, they were breaking in some type of facility and they both were flying in their, both of their wingsuits. So that gave us the, the idea that okay, Joaquin Torres has stepped up into the new [00:16:00] Falcon. So um, he's played by Danny Ramirez, which. 

I haven't really seen, or I have, this is my first time noticing him, but just because of this role or his role from Falcon and Winter Soldier. So I'm not sure if he has been in anything else outside of this, 

I'm sure we're going to be seeing more of him. His last, uh, and this is just me, just the last thing that comes to mind was he played a role as Lieutenant Mickey Fanboy Garcia in the movie Top Gun Maverick. Okay. So he has been in Other things. He's not a complete unknown, but he's not as well known as probably some of the other actors that are going to be portrayed in this movie, so right? 

He's not as well known as Harrison Ford, but he does. He does have some some credits behind him, so we do expect for him to perform pretty well on the screen, right? And even with this role as [00:17:00] Falcon, I see it leading to bigger roles, even maybe him showing up in the Avengers movies coming down the line. 

Mm hmm. I guess we can jump into Sam, we've talked a little bit about Sam's progression over these last few weeks, these last few episodes. I mentioned about the Smithsonian because we talked Captain America when a soldier, how Sam wasn't really jumping into the role of. And he handed over the shield, which ultimately ended up a bad decision. 

 There were other alternatives that he could have gone through to make sure that shield was taken care of. Sam's grown as a man. We won't put it that way. Sam's grown as a man. So if he wanted to give up the shield, you know, he can give up the shield. It ultimately was going to be his decision. I've seen a lot of things where they said, Oh, he should have consulted Bucky. 

 There was something that said, Oh, he let down Captain America's legacy by not believing in himself. Because Steve believed in him and along those lines, but ultimately it was going to be [00:18:00] his decision as far as what to do with the shield. Absolutely. And you know, you look back on it and you could say, you know, well, he let Steve down. 

He should have consulted. But if you don't have the confidence in yourself to believe that you're worthy of something, then you're not going to be able to perform in the, in the way that people are going to expect from you. Right. So it was, it was, it was very understandable that he had doubts about his own ability. 

Was he worthy? Was he able to carry on a legacy that, I mean, really had spanned so many decades that people had come to see this as an icon of an ideal, the ideal of freedom, the ideal of liberty, so on and so forth. Yeah. You know. If Sam was never able to, to fully embrace that he was worthy enough to pick up that, that symbol and carry on, he would never have been able to do the job effectively. 

when we [00:19:00] talked about it before when he handed it over to the Smithsonian. Because, and we joked about like, there were other places that he could hand it over to, but then I thought about it, and essentially, this was one of the most advanced weapons in the MCU. 

Absolutely. And Smithstonian doesn't have the greatest security. True. If you watch Falcon and Winter Soldier, you know that the government took it and they gave it to a U. S. agent for him to use, which essentially he stained it. But it could have turned out so much worse. It could have been a villain break in and took the shield. 

But like I said, once again, you look at the shield, maybe not as a weapon, but as a symbol. Right. And it makes total sense that they would put it in a place where People could still see the symbol right now was the security up to snuff probably not. No. Could something bad happen? Absolutely. But when you, when you take a symbol like that and hide it away, what are [00:20:00] you essentially saying? 

I get it. I see your point, but I was looking at it was like this. This is a very advanced weapon and just having it on display like that for anybody to take. Then I felt that was very dangerous, which is almost irresponsible in a way, almost irresponsible. Yeah. And which is, we were saying like, yeah, he could have given it to the Avengers for safekeeping or since the metal was vibranium, he could have given it back to the Wakandans. 

And that was a, a vital part actually of Falcon and Winter Soldier. When John Walker got the shield, the Wakandans came and was like, that's our property, you know, it belongs to us and it would lead to a very decent ass whooping on his part. 

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And like I said before, I don't remember that, uh, that actor's name, but he did a hell of a job making me hate him. No doubt about it. [00:21:00] So kudos to that, uh, actor. Yeah, but ultimately, I wish they had taken another role as far as, I mean, even with those giving it to Wakandans or to the Avengers for safekeeping or whatnot, I felt like he still could have went back once he accepted that role, but I guess he wouldn't have been able to get to that point if somebody else If he hadn't seen the poor example that U. 

S. agent John Walker had taken up the symbol and did such a very disservice to what the shield stood for. Yes. I guess story wise, it makes sense, but I just, I felt like It could have been something else that they could have did. Sometimes common sense doesn't make for good storytelling. Yeah. You know what I'm [00:22:00] saying? 

, I watched the clip at the end of Endgame where he was supposed to take the stones back and he didn't, he decided not to come back. But ultimately he decided to hand the shield over to Sam. I don't know why so many people struggle with that. He was given the shield and Steve himself, he said he saw in Sam. The same qualities that he embodied as Captain America and it was like one was a strong moral compass and unwavering loyalty and willingness to fight for what's right and he felt that made Sam the ideal person to carry on that legacy of the shield and we saw that throughout all of the movies, all the movies that Falcon was in and that's how you knew that what Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson had was more of a true partnership than a, than a hero and a sidekick. 

Right. Because it looked like that when Steve [00:23:00] Rogers made that decision to hand the, hand the shield down, he wasn't going to be Captain America anymore. Who was the first person that he looked to, to pick up that legacy. And we, like I said, we've talked about Bucky and Nick, you could have had a mirror, but the fact that Steve Rogers, who had carried it for so long, been that symbol and everything respected Sam enough to feel that he was able to go ahead and, and take on that responsibility. 

And that's really what it is. When you pick up that shield, it's a responsibility. In my mind, I thought that, that Steve made a very good choice because seeing how his interaction when he was the falcon, even, even when he wasn't the falcon, just when he first met Steve Rogers in the movies, he wasn't a fan boy. 

He wasn't a star struck, you know, celeb star struck kind of person. He treated Sam or treated Steve Rogers like any other man would treat another man and Steve treated him the same. Yes. They respected each other even though they came [00:24:00] from completely different backgrounds, completely different places. 

You could see the, the, the automatic, almost unspoken respect for one another. And they talked about how difficult it was coming back and sleeping on the floor or how the bed is too soft. And it feels like they're going to get swallowed up by it. And that's the crazy part about it, but that is a true thing that, you know, people who share that experience of combat, of going to war, of being in a service where you're protecting others, where you're, you're involved in, uh, actions that, I mean, really are horrific. 

You know, when you go to war and you kill another human being, that is a horrific experience and the bond that they instantly had by being [00:25:00] military men, 

it's a bond that's, that is a real thing and it is, I really, what believed that, you know, both of them share the respect for each other because they both knew where each other was coming from. Yeah. And that makes a huge difference in the world. Understanding your experience as a man, as a human being, as what you've been through in your life under being able to understand that that makes that really garners a lot of respect and a lot of people who have shared those experiences. 

Yes. Yes. But, getting back to Sam Wilson, there are major differences between his comic origin and his MCU origin. 

Now, his MCU origin is Mostly military based, right? And, but as far as comics, he's been around, I would say, dare say, nearly as long as Captain America. [00:26:00] Not quite as long, but, but, but a much longer time than I originally thought. Okay. He was introduced originally in 1968. Ah, okay, okay. So, Cap was, I think, timely? 

War torn comics or something along those lines? Timely comics, yeah. Yeah, timely comics. Okay. But, and then Sam came on with 68. Alright, so, but even still, as far as the difference would go, uh, in the comics, I don't think he was any part of any military. No, not originally, no. Yeah. And, he ends up having, I know he had a psychic connection with the Red Wing as well. 

Yep, he did, and the reason why is because he was captured by the Nazi Red Skull. Mhmm. And The Red Skull used the cosmic cube to kind of fashion Sam to basically give him powers for the sole purpose of being the partner of [00:27:00] his archenemy, Captain America. Red Skull actually planned on Sam being the partner of his enemy. 

Now, his original intent was to kind of mind control, kind of being a sleeper agent type person in this particular. But. I think due to Sam's moral compass, his internal ethics kind of helped him to overcome that, that programming. So, but yeah, the cosmic cube actually gave him the ability to telepathically communicate with Redbird. 

All right. And then we don't see that in the MCU. We don't see that telepathy use. He doesn't, he doesn't have any powers at all. I mean, Red Wing is essentially more, uh, technological drones. A mechanical drone is what it is. Mechanical drones is pretty much what Red Wing is. So. Although I wouldn't mind having a drone like that myself. 

I mean. Yeah. You can put it to some good use. Yeah. Anybody want to get on my Christmas [00:28:00] wishlist? You know, that's what I'm looking for. One of I'll take a cosmic cube as well. That's essentially all that I have. I mean, we covered a lot of Sam Wilson's leading up to here. Um, is there anything you have zero that we haven't touched on? 

Uh, I think, you know, as far as Sam goes, We've talked a lot about him taking up the mantle. We talked a lot about, you know, but one of the things that you don't, well, maybe he's not a talked a lot about is, is participation in the community, in and out of the suit. Yeah. Okay. I mean, even in the comics and, and even, you know, during the MCU, he was, he was part of a group of, we'll say counselors that assisted. 

Former military. He was a social worker in the comics. He was a social worker, an urban planner. It's great that we talk about superheroes and the abilities and the awesome things that they could do. But [00:29:00] seeing real heroes doing real work, talking to people, making things happen in their communities, doesn't get talked about enough. 

And I think Sam Wilson embodies that, that. Whole human being existence. Yeah, I agree. So it was like a lot of times we get wrapped up in the fights and the action and the, the heroic, the super heroics, so to speak, of these characters, we lose out on just the normal everyday heroics that they, that they embody. 

The, the, the actual connections to humanity, to, To make those connections to care about people. Alright. If that's, that's all you have, we're going to go ahead and fly on out of here. You've been working on that one, haven't you? You've been thinking about that. It just came to me. It just came to me. 

Slither on out, you know, Hulk out. I mean, well, we got to get better at that. So we're going to go ahead and [00:30:00] fly out of here. Remember, check out Captain America. Brave new world hitting theaters this Friday, February 14th, and we'll catch you next time. So live your best geek life, play games, read comics, watch anime, geek responsibly. 

Peace.[00:31:00]