Characters / Captain America: Heroes

(aka: The Falcon)

2 Following

Bucky Barnes

Alter Ego: Winter Soldier

Notable Aliases: Bucky, Captain America

First Appearance: Captain America Comics #1 (March, 1941) ^note As Bucky; Captain America #1 (January, 2005) ^note As Winter Soldier; Captain America #34 (January, 2008) ^note As Captain America

Formerly Steve Rogers' Kid Sidekick during World War II, when he was known as 'Bucky'. He was apparently killed shortly before Steve was frozen in suspended animation, but was recently revealed to have been captured, near death, by the Soviets. Equipped with a cybernetic arm and Brainwashed into becoming the assassin known as the Winter Soldier, he played the role of a villain until Steve brought him back to his senses and had him reform. With the apparent death of Steve, Bucky took the mantle of Captain America with the blessing of Tony Stark. He kept the shield after Steve's resurrection, only to be apparently killed in battle with Cul, the Serpent, at which point the mantle went back to Steve, while Bucky resumed operations as the Winter Soldier.

Fred Davis Jr.

Alter Ego: Bucky

First Appearance: Marvel Premiere #30 (June, 1976) ^note As Fred Davis Jr.; What If? #4 (August, 1977) ^note As Bucky

A baseball player who took up the mantle of Bucky to trick the Red Skull when the Invaders were brainwashed. Months later, he officially became the second Bucky.

• A Day in the Limelight: Gets a supporting role in an 2011 arc of Captain America, dealing with the return of Adam-II.
• Cassandra Truth: Tried claiming he was Bucky after the war ended, but he wasn't believed because the details of his exploits were covered up, and with his injury he couldn't exactly prove it in a fight.
• Game-Breaking Injury: Took a bad injury that required him to walk around with a cane.
• Kick the Dog: In the aftermath of Will's death, he snapped at the Human Torch when he tried to console him, yelling that Jim was "just a machine". Jim stayed away from him for the next several decades after that.
• Killed Off for Real: In his old age, he was eventually killed by Leo Novokov, a former sleeper agent of the Red Room, in an attempt to flush the real Bucky Barnes out, who was stated to be dead.
• Legacy Character: Second person to take the Bucky codename after James Barnes.
• Retcon: Like William Naslund, Fred was made up to explain just who the Bucky in all those stories written after the time of the real Bucky's incident with the exploding plane was meant to be.
• Retired Badass: By 2010, Fred had retired from any kind of superheroics.

Jack Monroe

Alter Ego: Nomad

Notable Aliases: Bucky, Scourge of the Underworld

First Appearance: Young Men #24 (December, 1953)^note Treated as if he were James Barnes in the Commie Smasher stories; became a separate character in 1972 due to retcons

Originally selected to be the Bucky to the Captain America of the 1950s, Monroe and his partner spent decades in suspended animation after the incomplete Super-Soldier Serum formula they used caused them to become unstable. After being cured, he adopted Rogers' former short-lived identity of Nomad.

• And I Must Scream: After the end of his series, he was placed in stasis again, until he was found by a government conspiracy and loaded up with nanobots, and turned into Scourge. He was aware of this, but unable to fight it.
• Bulletproof Vest: As Nomad he wore a Kevlar-lined jacket, later reduced to a vest.
• Civvie Spandex: When he went vigilante, he gradually ditched his superhero costume in favor of a Badass Longcoat.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: During his time with Vagabond.
• Darker and Edgier: Went from costumed hero to urban vigilante in a story published in late 1989.
• Deadly Disc: Small, yellow weighted throwing discs, which were also the weapons used by Rogers as Nomad.
• Disguised in Drag: He once goes undercover at a drag bar to flush out a serial killer, and shows little problem in having to wear women's clothing for it.
• Face–Heel Turn: One of several former partners of Cap to become a Scourge of the Underworld.
• Hero with an F in Good: Not above kicking supervillains down cliffs, leaving people to die and lying to Cap about it, and refusing to help D-Man because he doesn't like him.
• Human Popsicle: Several times.
• Jerkass: Although he was no longer crazed by the incomplete serum, he was still not easy to get along with, especially when Vagabond was his girlfriend. He became clingy, violent, possessive, lazy, rude, and eventually decided to leave Vagabond and D-Man in jail, then get drunk. When Cap tried calling him on this, he just walked off (and left Cap with the bill).
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: What he gradually becomes during the Nomad ongoing series when seeing what sort of America a child like Bucky is going to grow up in. For example, he's got no issue stopping someone who is killing the patrons of a drag bar and doesn't have any problem with those who're homosexual.
• Killed Off for Real: He's killed by the Winter Soldier.
• Loophole Abuse: As Scourge, he was condition to obey orders, with only a little leeway as to how he interpreted those orders; his targeting Jolt of the Thunderbolts was the most he could do, knowing her death would draw their attention.
• Naïve Newcomer: Nomad's girlfriend Vagabond, who was little more than the Tagalong Kid during Rogers' time as The Captain.
• Papa Wolf: Towards Bucky. Most who think to threaten her don't live long enough to tell. Jack even went as far as to have her tested for AIDS and HIV in case her mother had it.
• Pet the Dog: Despite being a Jerkass, he saved an abandoned baby girl and adopted her, naming her "Bucky".
• Reforged into a Minion: Once brainwashed and turned into a cyborg Scourge of the Underworld by Henry Gyrich.
• Shotguns Are Just Better/Sawed-Off Shotgun: During his vigilante period. Though he mostly used it for intimidation, and usually used blanks.
• Superheroes Wear Capes: When he first adopted the Nomad identity, he also adopted the original Nomad costume, which included a cape (which hadn't exactly worked out for Rogers). He soon ditched that look for a more practical jacket.
• Took a Level in Kindness: During his ongoing series, Jack's travels with Bucky make him confront the reality of modern America such as the AIDS crisis and discrimination against queer men and women which he reacts to with a greater sense of empathy than you'd expect for someone who was so rabidly anti-Communist. If William Burnside could've seen him the man would've probably snapped more than he already had.
• With Friends Like These...: He really didn't get along with Demolition Man.
• With Great Power Comes Great Insanity

Rick Jones

Alter Ego: Richard Milhouse "Rick" Jones

Notable Aliases: Whisperer, A-Bomb, Bucky, Hulk, Subject B

First Appearance: The Incredible Hulk (May, 1962)

A scrappy, rebellious orphan, Rick Jones stumbled into the test site for the Gamma Bomb and inadvertently caused Bruce Banner to be caught in the blast that transformed Banner into the Hulk. Rick became the Hulk's closest confidant, a member of the Avengers, and a friend and sidekick to multiple heroes. Rick eventually became an immortal gamma mutate and has undergone multiple transformations.

Lemar Hoskins

Alter Ego: Battlestar

Notable Aliases: Bucky

First Appearance: Captain America #323 (November, 1986) ^note Unnamed; Captain America #333 (September, 1987) ^note As Lemar Hoskins; Captain America #334 (October, 1987) ^note As Bucky; Captain America #341 (May, 1988) ^note As Battlestar

John Walker's friend and partner, and a former member of the Bold Urban Commandos. Originally went by the title of Bucky. After Walker became U.S. Agent, Battlestar went freelance, and worked as a member of Silver Sable's Wild Pack for a bit.

• Affirmative-Action Legacy: All previous Buckies were white, while Lemar is black.
• The Big Guy: He's got super strength and serves as this for the A-Team, especially when Sandman isn't around.
• Book Dumb: Starts out this way, but he takes night classes while not fighting crime and soon earns his GED.
• Characterization Marches On: In his first appearances, as a member of the Bold Urban Commandoes, he's a pretty straight Scary Black Man. Once John Walker became Captain America, Lemar becomes more of a Gentle Giant, with his change in diction noted as being the CSA making him attend night school. The racist jingoism is just quietly yet firmly ignored.
• Foil: Is this to Larry Arnold and, frankly, to a lot of the African-American characters in Silver Sable and the Wild Pack. He's not perpetually angry nor does he react with violence when exposed to prejudice.
• Fun with Acronyms: The Bold Urban Commandos were known as the Buckies, sometimes stylized "BUCkies", for short because they were the Buckies to the Super-Patriot's Cap.
• Good Is Not Soft: During a fight with some ULTIMATUM goons, Lemar breaks one's neck, and lets him fly into a building, causing an explosion.
• In a Single Bound: He can jump fifteen feet from a standing position.
• Innocently Insensitive: Aside from the racial issues associated with calling himself Bucky (which, in Lemar's defense, wasn't actually his idea), there's also the little fact that Bucky wasn't a title, but a guy's name. Mild awkwardness ensue when Steve and Lemar meet up in Captain America #349.
  Steve: Have your actions brought honor to my partner's memory?
  Battlestar: I - I've tried, sir.
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: As Battlestar he received a replica of Cap's original triangular shield and was trained in its use by Taskmaster himself.
• Nice Guy: One of the few people able to be in the same room as John Walker for more than five minutes without wanting to hit him.
• Put on a Bus: In the late nineties, he stopped appearing with any regularity. He still shows up now and then, hanging around in the background.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: When John as Cap is beaten by the Flag Smasher and taken hostage, the CSA leaves him out to dry, and tell Lemar not to go looking for Steve Rogers (who, in their eyes, was a terrorist at the time). Lemar does so anyway.
• Super-Speed: Again, thanks to the Power Broker.
• Super-Strength: Like John Walker, he's one of the lucky ones who visited the Power Broker and came out with superhuman strength and durability.
• Super-Toughness: Not bulletproof, but tough enough to break a man's wrist just by taking his punch. He survived being hanged in Captain America #335 because his augmented neck musculature meant that the rope couldn't constrict his windpipe.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: As mentioned, he has a hard time getting along with Doug Powell. He also has this with Larry Arnold as a result of being foils to one another.
• Unfortunate Names: When he first partnered with John Walker, he wore the name and costume of Steve Rogers' old sidekick (then presumed dead) as a tribute to him. In real life, Marvel got a lot of angry mail from readers pointing out that the name "Bucky" had unfortunate implications for an African-American man,^note ("buck", originally just an English term with deep Indo-European linguistic roots for the males of horned animals such as goats, deer or sheep, became a racist dehumanizing term for African-American male slaves dating back to before the Civil War) and that since Hoskins and Walker were long-time friends and had undergone the Power Broker's augmentation treatment together, he should be presented as a partner rather than a mere "sidekick". Writer Mark Gruenwald (who was born in mostly-white Oshkosh, Wisconsin and genuinely unaware of the naming issue) quickly agreed, and lampshaded the changes by having an African-American guard at the Vault outline the readers' arguments to Hoskins and convince him to request a new name and costume from the government.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: In the Bold Urban Commandos days, he and the others would go around shirtless, regardless of when or where.

Rebecca "Rikki" Barnes

Alter Ego: Nomad

Notable Aliases: Bucky

First Appearance: Heroes Reborn #½ (September, 1996)

A native of Counter-Earth, Rikki is a granddaughter of this world's Bucky, who survived World War II and started a family. After finding out her brother has been involved with Neo-Nazis and trying to stop him, Rikki met Captain America and eventually became his sidekick, taking her grandfather's old codename. When Counter-Earth was revisited by Franklin Richards, pursued by a reborn Onslaught, Rikki would sacrifice herself in battle with the monster, only to find herself in the main Marvel Universe. She would adapt to this new life as a new Nomad, the Girl Without a World, until she died in battle with Onslaught again. In 2019 she returned in Future Foundation.

• Adaptation Dye-Job: Originally a redhead, at some point during reincarnations her hair turned brown.
• Affirmative-Action Legacy:
  • The only woman to ever use the code name Bucky, barring a baby briefly adopted by Jack Monroe. Also the only woman to ever go by Nomad. Ditto for the only confirmed LGBTQ character to carry those titles.
  • The final issue of Future Foundation has Leech explain Franklin directly created her to be this - a Captain America for kids like him and Leech.
• Always Someone Better: Physically speaking, Nomad out does Araña in all ways, after Anya loses her remaining spider-powers in Brand New Day. Anya makes herself useful in gathering information for Rikki, but gets a little sore, literally, about not always being able to keep up on foot.
• Amazonian Beauty: She was already quite attractive, but by Future Foundation, she's gotten quite the muscle definition.
• Ambiguously Gay/Ambiguously Bi: Her return in Future Foundation makes it very clear she is LGBTQ, but doesn't specify her sexual orientation. Finally she was confirmed as bi by Word of God.
• The Apprentice: She was this for Steve during his time on Counter-Earth and since has served this role to various alternate versions of Captain America across the Multiverse.
• Archetypal Character: Due to Franklin Richards being involved in rebuilding the Multiverse in Secret Wars (2015), he subconsciously populated it with girls fitting a "Captain America or Bucky as a plucky teenage girl" archetype, all based on Rikki. It's what makes her body surf between each one of them whenever she dies.
• Arc Welding: Her reintroduction ties together plot threads from Heroes Reborn, Onslaught Reborn, Onslaught Unleashed, Secret Wars (2015) and the first arc of the 2018 Fantastic Four series. Among her past lives is Becky Barnes from the 2018 incarnation of Exiles, previously assumed to be an independent character and counterpart of Bucky.
• Arch-Enemy: Onslaught, who caused her death twice in a row then, since murdering her and her girlfriend in one of her many alternate incarnations, The Maker.
• Broken Pedestal: Nomad used to look up to Firestar, in more than the literal sense, until Firestar rudely put her down and expressed an explicit desire to be apart from her. Angelica had Emma Frost telepathically screwing with her at the time, and Angelica eventually makes up with Rikki, off panel.
• Brother–Sister Incest: To her horror, her attempts to form a siblings bond she never had with her brother with his 616 counterpart were severely misread by the guy.
• Came Back Wrong: After she died banishing Onslaught to the Negative Zone, his final insult was to recreate Rebecca Barnes with the subconscious drive to perform actions that would bring him back to the positive matter universe. All Onslaught could do, at first, was affect her dreams, and it took a relatively long time until she could see enough things he could use to start driving her in the path he wanted to. Nomad realized something was wrong with her, and asked Steve Rogers to look into it, but then Benny Serrano got kidnapped and taken to a place that just so happened to be where Onslaught needed Nomad to be. Also, Onslaught got her eye color wrong.
• Captain Ersatz: She's basically the Captain America version of Carrie Kelley, being a female, bespectacled successor to the original sidekick of the hero.
• Commonality Connection: Defied: Nomad rejects Araña's companionship, as S.H.I.E.L.D. trained teenagers who wear goggles isn't enough to convince Rikki that Araña isn't a Secret Empire spy, and she finds Araña annoying and incompetent on top of that. Then Nomad is Lured into a Trap and gassed, only surviving because Araña hauls her to the Night Nurse. From there Rikki and Anya become friends, but it's not because of what they have in common beyond being crime fighters.
• Composite Character: She's a Gender Flipped combo of the original Bucky, who was also her grandfather in the HR world (her last name) and Rick Jones (her nickname and someone who takes up Bucky's name right after Steve becomes active again).
• Depending on the Artist: Her eyes shifted between hazel and blue. After her first death she was reborn with eyes that consistently remained brown.
• Doppelgänger Gets Same Sentiment: She immediately insists Benny Serrano is a super hero she and Anya can trust immediately because she knew a Benny Serrano. Rikki proves to be mostly correct, but the 616 Toro is not the same boy as the one she met before.
• Expendable Alternate Universe: Her original world was more or less treated like this and so were several worlds in which she was reborn ever since.
• Fan Disservice: At one point after jumping to another world she wakes up naked, for no other reason than to establish her whole body is covered in scars from many battles.
• Girls with Guns: Doesn't have aversion to using guns like many other characters associated with Captain America. Especially since her return established one of her mentors was a version of Steve who was a gunslinger in the Wild West.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: Three scars on her cheek and a bullet scar in her shoulder since her return.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Twice against Onslaught, very likely many of her reincarnations went the same way.
• Homeless Hero: Nomad The Girl Without A World establishes that Rikki Barnes has been homeless since arriving on Earth 616. She has disguised "shelters", that she regularly cycles through, but they have no electrical power and little protection from the elements, going to actual homeless shelters when needed. When Steve Rogers finds she's on Earth 616 he tries to become her guardian, but Rikki rejects it. She fakes a residence and the credentials to attend school, to keep him off of her back, but doesn't actually want to be tied to any area until the Secret Empire, who she is rightly paranoid about, are defeated.
• Horrible Judge of Character: She's understandably paranoid, dealing with the Secret Empire in a world she barely understands, but Rikki mistrusts Araña, a friendly super hero who worked for a public company, registered with the government and was trained by S.H.I.E.L.D. until Araña proves herself by saving Nomad's life, while at the same time instantly trusting a non homeless man at a homeless shelter who came to her with a sob story. A man who turned out to be a Serial Killer.
• I Did What I Had to Do: Her defense about her actions in Thunderbolts:
  Bucky: Next time you want to talk about fighting the good fight, Cap, look in the mirror... and ask yourself, when's the last time I really had to make a hard choice? While you're trying to remember one, the Young Allies have already made ten more.
• Irony: Upon arriving in the main Marvel Universe after Onslaught Reborn she decides to not contact Captain America after finding out Steve has died and someone else has taken his place, completely unaware the new Cap was this world's version of her own grandfather.
• Kaleidoscope Hair: Her hair was originally red, but has since become brown and can keep changing colors as she dies and finds life again in a new body. Kaleidoscope Eyes as well, originally alternating between hazel or blue before being reborn with brown eyes, which will also inevitably change again at some point.
• La Résistance: During the time Doctor Doom took over what was left of Counter-Earth, she and the other Young Allies tried opposing him.
• Last-Minute Hookup: As Future Foundation got cut short she and Julie hooked up in the final issue with just part of the originally planned buildup.
• The Leader: To both Counter-Earth and modern 616 incarnations of Young Allies.
• Leeroy Jenkins: The plot of Onslaught Unleashed would have been a simple search and rescue mission if Rikki Barnes did as she was told and let Captain America handle it. He specifically told her that Toro's kidnapping was an obvious trap meant to draw out Nomad specifically, and that she should wait for an update, but of course she didn't. A true Bucky!
• Mouth of Sauron: During the first two issues of Onslaught Unleashed, he's actually still trapped in the Negative Zone and can only communicate with being in positive matter universe through Rikki Barnes. He talks through her more regularly as he gets "closer" to "home" until his "voice" is all that's coming out of her.
• Older Than They Look: Zig Zagged: She has more life experience than her youthful looks would imply, but she's physically and mentally still a teenager, as Rikki never lives beyond her teenage years, and would be dead several times over if not for Resurrective Immortality.
• Replacement Goldfish: On 616 she met a counterpart of her brother and tried to develop a brother-sister relationship with him she never had with her world's John. Sadly he misread her attempts as romantic advances and didn't take it well when she tried to explain.
• Resurrective Immortality: A variation; whenever Rikki dies, she seems to be written in the history of another world, complete with a new backstory, but retaining all her memories from past lives.
• Rogues' Gallery Transplant: As noted above, the two best candidates for her Arch-Enemy are a Split Personality of Professor X and an evil version of Mister Fantastic. She also inherits the Secret Empire, a breakaway from Hydra that was mainly the concern of Captain America but also hunted the X-Men and Brotherhood of Evil Mutants to use as living batteries.
• Save the Villain: Her backups in Captain America legacy#602-605 largely involve her trying to save Robert Baxter from his Mad-Dog self, when she isn't trying to expose the Secret Empire.
• Ship Tease: With Anya Corazón, then with Julie Power since her return. In the latter case this becomes canon and they get together as a couple
• Superdickery: The cover of Onslaught Unleashed #1 depicts a crazed Rikki standing over the bloody bodies of the Young Allies, with the alternate cover showing her standing on top of a murdered Captain America as he lies among the downed Secret Avengers. The conflict does take a turn for the worse when Rikki disobeys orders, but she displays no malice towards her friends.
• Sweet Polly Oliver: At least one of her reincarnations was a female version of Bucky who pretend to be a boy to join the army and fight in WWII.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Anya Corazón is usually the tomboy compared to most, being a lacrosse player who dabbles in mechanical engineering and computer programming, but next to Rikki Barnes, Anya is a fashionable gymnast who gets sick to her stomach when chasing a criminal leads them down to the New York City sewers.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Her reunion with Steve wasn't a terribly happy one, accusing him and all the other heroes who'd been reborn on Counter-Earth of running off and leaving them behind to be the universe's punching bag.
• X Meets Y: In-Universe Leech explains Franklin Richards told him in secret he created Rikki trying to combine two of his favorite heroes - Captain America and his mom, Sue Storm.

Sam Wilson

^{Click here to see as Captain America.}

Alter Ego: Samuel Thomas "Sam" Wilson

Notable Aliases: "Snap" Wilson, Falcon, Blackwing, Blackbird, Captain America

First Appearance: As Falcon: Captain America #117 (September 1969); As Captain America: All-New Captain America #1 (November 2014)

Samuel Thomas "Sam" Wilson, also known as The Falcon, is a Marvel Comics superhero introduced in Captain America #117 (September 1969), notable for being the first African-American superhero in mainstream American comics.^note Sam was edged out by the Black Panther as the first black superhero, but both debuted almost two years before the Black Racer and John Stewart would be introduced over at DC Comics.

Born and raised in Harlem, New York, Sam was originally written as a social worker who joined up with Captain America. Later, the story was that while he was initially a happy child and quite fond of birds, as a teen, his experiences with racism and his parents' deaths made him bitter, jaded, and angry. Leaving his past behind him, he becomes "Snap" Wilson, a professional criminal, gang member, and pimp, who was brainwashed by the Red Skull into believing the original origin detailed above, in order to get close to Captain America after they were stranded on the Isle of Exiles. However, Sam himself doubted that story, and was eventually able to tell the Red Skull's daughter, Sin, the truth: he was a social worker who'd been stranded on the Isle of Exiles, who'd saved Steve's life and helped him escape. The true fake memories implanted by the Red Skull were those of him being a criminal, a plot he concocted to discredit Sam, counting on the fact that no one would question a black man from Harlem having a shady past. This was done by the Cosmic Cube, which the Red Skull had possession of.

The cube also gives him an empathic link with Redwing, his pet falcon and crimefighting partner, giving him an ability to communicate with him telepathically and see through his pet's eyes. This ability will eventually be trained to work with any bird that is near him.

Sam met Steve Rogers, who encouraged to stand against the Red Skull's evil. After extensive gymnastics and hand-to-hand combat training by Captain America, Sam Wilson dubbed himself the Falcon. With Cap and Redwing, Falcon defeated the Red Skull and would return with them to Harlem. While working as a social worker, Falcon continued being a hero, protecting his neighborhood from crime. Eventually, he formed a long-time partnership with Captain America and received a specialized winged-harness that allows him to fly from the Black Panther.

Falcon and Redwing would go to become members of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Super Agents, The Avengers, the Defenders, and the Heroes for Hire. Initially appearing alongside Captain America in Captain America and The Falcon, Sam would star in his own limited series, The Falcon, in 1983. He was invited to rejoin the Avengers during Marvel NOW!.

In 2014, Sam Wilson became a legacy Captain America after Steve Rogers lost his powers. Even after Steve regained his strength, Sam held on to the mantle and shield until 2017 and the fallout from Secret Empire, after which he returned to the Falcon codename with a new look (and a new series). In 2022, he returns to being Captain America alongside Steve Rogers in his own series once again.

• Adaptational Superpower Change: Every adaptation of the character from The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes onwards drops the "talks to birds" angle, instead making him a non-powered guy with a flight pack. Redwing nowadays tends to be a robotic drone that's part of his flight pack rather than a flesh-and-blood bird.
• Affirmative-Action Legacy: Sam replaced Steve Rogers as Captain America after Steve lost his powers.
• "Angry Black Man" Stereotype: Mainly before he became a hero. He can occasionally channel this vibe nowadays, but it's not really anger so much as it's exasperation with Steve's or Bucky's or Ian's antics, or having to educate someone about African-American history.
• Animal Eye Spy: Sam has a Psychic Link with Redwing, being able to see what he sees. Sam can also telepathically communicate with birds.
• Animal-Themed Superbeing: Type 1. Sam can communicate with birds.
• Badass Normal: To the Falcon, Spider-Man was an exhaustinly quick target to track and an overwhelmingly powerful opponent to face in battle. His self esteem was restored when Spider-Man complained to Captain America about how difficult it was to get rid of the Falcon, meaning he wasn't being beaten and eluded as effortlessly as it seemed
• Big Brother Mentor: When Bucky starts wearing the Captain America suit, the Falcon takes it upon himself to keep an eye on him.
• Building Swing: This was originally how The Falcon got around, with a glove with a built-in grappling hook launcher. This was discontinued when he got his flying wing harness.
• The Cape: Almost to the level of Cap himself. Sam is, through and through, a good person and that's all the more noticeable when he's in uniform.
• Clothes Make the Superman: His psychic connection to birds is his only inherent superpower. His ability to fly (which he uses much more frequently in combat) is from the winged harness in his suit.
• Color Character: Notably averted. Falcon was the first black hero not to have "Black" in his name.
• Connected All Along: Over in Incredible Hulk, there was a character called Jim Wilson. It was only several years after his death that his father Gideon appeared, who turned out to be Sam's brother.
• David Versus Goliath
  • The Big Bad of The Falcon volume 2 is Blackheart, who admittedly began as a Daredevil villain but usually fights Ghost Rider and is much stronger than the Falcon, defeating Sam Wilson with little effort, three times and taking over the city of Chicago. The Falcon does win in the end, but it takes the assistance of Doctor Voodoo, Patriot, Daimon Hellstrom and two of the city's usually fueding street gangs to drive Blackheart off.
  • He finds himself in a onesided feud with Mephisto for daring to escape from Mephisto's torture, which Blackheart sent the Falcon to for refusing Blackhearts offer to run Chicago with him. Thankfully for the Falcon, Mephisto is less hands on than his son, acting through weaker proxies Falcon can directly beat
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: At one point in the 80s, when Steve was just "The Captain", Sam accompanied him on a mission to Las Vegas, and is pretty miffed when the police don't recognise him, despite his being an Avenger.
• Fake Memories: Due to the effects of the Cosmic Cube. For the longest time, no one was sure if the actual Fake Memories were of Sam's family or of Sam's time as the pimp "Snap" Wilson. All-New Captain America #3 ultimately chooses the "Snap" Wilson memories as the fake ones, with Sam saying that they were lies the Red Skull concocted to discredit him. Christopher Priest had a government agent point out that this was almost certainly the case, since Sam was able to get a social worker's license YEARS before it was made explicit.
• Family Theme Naming: Sam and his sister and brother, Sarah and Gideon, all have names from the Bible, as their father was a minister.
• Fanboy: To Isaiah Bradley, the In-Universe first ever African-American superhero who becomes Captain America. Sam is among several African-American heroes, along with Luke Cage, Goliath (Bill Foster), Monica Rambeau, and Triathlon; who are gleefully surprised when Isaiah arrives as a special guest at the wedding of Storm and Black Panther.
• Feather Flechettes: Has this ability in multiple adaptations starting with The Super Hero Squad Show, but hasn't as of yet been able to do this in the comics.
• Fire-Forged Friendship: Kind-of sort of with U.S. Agent, during the 90s. Sam and John went on a mission to deal with Flag-Smasher together, despite John preferring to work alone. Sam saved him from plummeting to his death, and John reluctantly admitted to himself that he was starting to like Sam.
• The Gadfly: His method of protesting being the token black member of the Avengers. He's mellowed out somewhat in recent times.
• Hard Light: The Falcon's Wakandan-made costume has hard light wings.
• Heart Is an Awesome Power: One would think being able to talk to birds would be a useless power, until you remember that basically means he has a massive spy network everywhere. It's been said that his birds make for a better information source than Nick Fury's spies. After all, who pays attention to whether there's a bird nearby?
• Hero with Bad Publicity: It's been a major theme in his days as Captain America, his openness about his views on politics caused so much outrage that superheroes such as U.S.Agent were sent after him to reclaim the shield. (Notably, U.S. Agent, despite not agreeing with Sam's politics, refused the job until asked to do so by Steve Rogers himself.)
• I Believe I Can Fly: Sam, both as Falcon and Captain America, via retractable, metallic wings.
• Jive Turkey: Subverted and played for laughs after the Falcon is more or less forced to join the Avengers by Henry Gyrich (who wanted to make it more ethnically diverse), he speaks this way on purpose to annoy him.
• Kind Hearted Cat Lover: Yes, really. He had a cat named Figaro for a time.
• Legacy Character: Sam briefly became Captain America when he thought Cap was dead. He did it again courtesy of Marvel NOW!.
• Navel-Deep Neckline: A rare male example. Several of Sam's costumes show off all his abs. Apparently he doesn't feel the breeze when flying around.
• Non-Human Sidekick: Redwing, his pet falcon.
• One-Steve Limit
  • Marvel previously had a man called Falcon back in 1940. That Falcon could only glide, wasn't accompanied by a bird, carried a gun, and wasn't Captain America's side kick, nor Cap's successor
  • Sam Wilson takes up the mantle of Captain America while Steve Rogers is indisposed. Sam tries to give it up when Steve is available again, but Steve tells Sam they can both be Captain America at the same time.
• Our Vampires Are Different: Redwing thanks to Baron Blood. However this avian vampire is much different than those of the mammalian variety.
• Outside-Genre Foe: Blackheart and Deacon Frost in the 2017–18 limited series. Rayshaun Lucas, a.k.a. Patriot II, lampshades this trope for the former and played with for the latter as Sam had some experience dealing with vampires when he fought Baron Blood as Captain America.
• Parental Abandonment: His father was killed trying to break up a neighborhood fight. His mom was killed in a mugging two years later.
• Power Harness: He commissioned one from Black Panther after deciding he wanted to work without Captain America but found dealing with Boss Morgan in Harlem and his girlfriend Leila Taylor being kidnapped in Nigeria too difficult to handle at once on his own. It was later upgraded by Stark Industries employee Desmond Burrell. It was destroyed rescuing Taylor again, from Cuba, then the Wakandan ambassador Omoro gifted Falcon with hard light holographic wings.
• Primary-Color Champion: Red, blue(and white) As Captain America.
• Psychic Link: He has it with birds.
• Punny Name: He is, in fact, an uncle.
• Razor Wings: Those things are sharp. He's used them as blades on occasion, and adaptations like to give him Feather Flechettes.
• Red Is Heroic: His second costume is predominantly red, and even his later ones still retain it.
• Ret-Canon: For a brief time, he wore the armored costume he sported in The Avengers: United They Stand. More recently, he's had many different costumes based on his MCU outfit.
• The Reveal: He was initially introduced as an enthusiastic social worker. However, it was later revealed that this was a Cosmic Cube–induced reality warp and he was really a professional criminal, gang member, and racketeer before the warp. Decades later, this was revealed to be a ruse by the Red Skull.
• Speaks Fluent Animal: Can talk to birds.
• Super-Senses: The Falcon's mask gives him telescopic, night, and infrared vision.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: He and Hawkeye didn't always get along in their early days. Hawkeye blamed Sam for getting kicked off the Avengers by Gyrich, even though it wasn't Sam's decision.
• This Is Gonna Suck: Sam is very fond of Bucky... just not of Bucky's plans.
• The Ugly Guy's Hot Daughter: Falcon has a fling with Arnim Zola’s very hot young daughter Jet.
• Token Black: In-universe, he was added to the Avengers because Gyrich insisted that the team should have more black members; he didn't actually want to join. In fact, he had no idea he had been made an Avenger until Cap showed up to fetch him for his first mission. He wasn't too happy about all this, and made his feelings pretty clear on the matter.
• Token Black Friend: To Steve Rogers.
• True Companions: With Steve Rogers. Usually, if there's someone Steve needs to turn to and trusts completely, Sam is one of the first.

Joaquín Torres

Alter Ego: Falcon

First Appearance: Captain America: Sam Wilson #1 (December, 2015) ^note Photograph; Captain America: Sam Wilson #3 (January, 2016) ^note Full appearance; Captain America: Sam Wilson #6 (April, 2016) ^note As Falcon

A young man who became the new Falcon after being experimented on by Doctor Mallus. After being imbued with Redwing's DNA, Joaquín was unable to change back due to his new healing factor, courtesy of Redwing's vampiric nature.

• Animal Eye Spy: Joaquín has a Psychic Link with Redwing. Redwing acts as a sort of messenger between Joaquín and Sam.
• Animal-Themed Superbeing: Type 1. Joaquín is a human-bird hybrid.
• I Believe I Can Fly: As the new Falcon, though his DNA having been spliced with Redwing's grants him actual flight-capable wings.
• I Just Want to Be Normal: Freshly gene-spliced, Joaquín Torres expectedly looks forward to being cured so that he can go home to his mom. He brightens up considerably upon the realization that he can fly, which is probably a good thing, since his condition has currently been diagnosed as incurable due to the potent vampirism-related Healing Factor he's also acquired (what side-effects, if any, are still being explored).
• Legacy Character: Captain America: Sam Wilson sees the gradual introduction of Joaquín Torres, a young Mexican American man who unwittingly fell victim to a DNA splicing with Redwing courtesy of a Mad Scientist, a process that soon turns out to be irreversible due to Redwing's rather unique physiology, but that grants him a host of abilities, including the power of flight. Said gradual introduction culminates into Joaquín becoming the new Falcon and Sam's sidekick in issue 5.
• Vague Age: Joaquín's age was rather vague before it was eventually number-dropped to be 17. That he helped boarder crossing Mexicans with clean water and supplies makes him seem as if he would be older, but he's constantly referred to as a kid by Sam, Misty, and most who refer to him directly. That in itself is vague, since some adults will refer to others who are younger then themselves as a "kid" well into that person's late teens or early twenties. Even after we finally got a few scenes from Joaquín's point of view, it's wasn't made much clearer; despite having some tendencies expected of a teenager, by and large Joaquín has a profound and intelligent mind and is very politically and socially minded, somewhat belying of what you'd expect from most 17-year-olds. Lastly, he has quite the muscular physique on him, another obscurer of age.
• Winged Humanoid: Unlike Sam's mechanical wings, he has actual wings thanks to being experimented on.

Edward Ferbel

Alter Ego: Nomad

First Appearance: Captain America #261 (September, 1981)

Edward Ferbel was a former stuntman who became a West Coast hero and the second man to assume the Nomad identity. He was a glory-hound and spent most his time playing to the cameras claiming responsibility for heroic successes of Captain America despite often botching the Captain's attempts at crime-fighting.

Ian Rogers

Alter Ego: Nomad

Notable Aliases: Leopold Zola

First Appearance: Captain America (Vol. 7) #1 (November, 2012)

Steve's and Sharon's adopted son. Created by Arnim Zola, Steve rescued him as a baby and raised him in Dimension Z as his own.

• Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: Clashes with Sam because of this.
• Dead Guy Junior: Named after Steve's grandfather.
• Determinator: The major life lesson Steve imparted on him.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: After years of battling Zola's forces and experiencing the nightmarish Downer Ending Hail Hydra Villain World coda written by Remender during Secret Wars (2015), he's finally able to liberate Dimension Z at the end of Captain America: Cold War nearly a decade after his last appearance to that.
• Happily Adopted: Dimensional separations aside.
• No One Could Survive That!: Because Zola created him from a kind of bio-gel, he can reconstitute his body from it. When Sharon shot him as a child, he fell into a vat of the stuff and survived. As an adult, he keeps a supply of the gel in his suit— which allowed him to survive having his throat slashed by Baron Zemo.