Nobody expected to get footage from the first batch of the Disney+ MCU Marvel TV shows during the Super Bowl, but that’s exactly what we got. And considering that the entire spot was only 30 seconds long, the fact that we managed to get first looks at The Falcon and The Winter Soldier (which led the charge), WandaVision, and Loki in that time was pretty darn impressive. And it’s tough to really draw too many conclusions from what amounts to 10 seconds of footage from each, but in particular The Falcon and The Winter Soldier snippets gave us our very first look at one of the show’s most important characters, a likely villain who could end up sticking around after these six episodes are complete.
First and most importantly, watch all that cool footage if you haven’t already…
Now, the one that caught our eye comes at the 20 second mark, where a guy in a familiar patriotic costume jogs out onto what looks to be a college football halftime show (although to be fair, calling that a college football field seems generous, those look like bleachers not stadium stands, but maybe these are unfinished background FX). But that isn’t Steve Rogers back from domestic bliss with Peggy Carter, it’s almost certainly John Walker, a super soldier known as the US Agent.
We all know that Sam Wilson was hand-picked by Steve Rogers to become the new Captain America at the conclusion of Avengers: Endgame. But it’s possible that the good ol’ United States government, who would never ever make a bad decision whether with good intentions or otherwise, have their own ideas about who should carry the shield. And in the comics, the man they chose when Rogers went AWOL from his Sentinel of Liberty duties was John Walker, a reactionary super patriot (in fact in the comics, that was even his pre-Cap name…Super-Patriot) with a propensity for violence. He…wasn’t exactly Captain America material, and eventually Steve returned, and John became the antihero and general Avengers pain-in-the-ass USAgent, wearing a costume similar to Cap’s but with darker colours.
And that’s where our mystery patriotic hero on the football field comes in…
A couple of points to pick up on here. It’s kinda neat that this costume seems to be patterned on the suit Rogers wore during the first Avengers movie, and was only glimpsed again during his high school PSAs in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Why is this appropriate? Well, since it always seemed a little less purely functional than some of the other MCU Captain America suits, there’s always been a little speculation that this one was kind of a “public relations” costume, for minimum intimidation and maximum visual impact.
And then the marching band and cheerleaders are all wearing uniforms with the letter “A” emblazoned on them. Is this an “A” for an Avengers-themed halftime show? Or could it be an “A” as in “Agent?” Look, it’s a little on-the-nose, but we’re dealing with a world where names like Captain America, Super-Patriot, and USAgent are not only commonplace but seem like good ideas, so you may as well just roll with it.
Wyatt Russell (Overlord) is playing John Walker in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, and that’s probably him in the suit. The series also stars Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan as its title characters, and Daniel Bruhl reprising his villainous Zemo role (you can spot him in that trailer, too). It will arrive this autumn on Disney+.
