This month's Previews has The Falcon #1 solicited for October in Marvel's post-Secret Empire books. I am saddened but not surprised. I knew that Sam Wilson's run as "THE" Captain America was limited, Marvel knew it was limited and if Sam was real, he would have known it, too. Except for a couple of action figures, Marvel has not promoted "Captain Falcon" much. Most non-comic book readers probably wouldn't even know he existed.

To be fair, there was no new Captain America #1 mentioned at all.

However there were the promos for two new story arcs: "The Death of the Mighty Thor!" and "The Search For Tony Stark!". 

Marvel had a large window to play with their major Avengers as there was a huge gap between Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War, Part 1. But the latter is approaching fast and Marvel/Disney wants to put the familiar white male faces back on the playing field. We've seen this before when they had Thunderstrike, War Machine and USAgent assuming the roles of Thor, Iron Man and Cap. Then they were pushed down when the originals returned, to be killed off, one by one.

I wonder what Marvel will do to the "replacements" now?

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  • I know Thunderstrike was killed -- and, frankly, I didn't mind, as a whiny Thor was a bridge too far for me -- but War Machine and USAgent weren't killed to facilitate the return of the originals. Even Eric Masterson continued for 18 issues after Thor returned under a different name.

    John Walker continued in the MU after Cap returned, and I think was an instructor at Avengers Academy and a member of the 50-state Initiative. He lost an arm and a leg at some point, but got them back during the Dark Avengers run. I haven't read Marvel recently, but Wiki says he recently went missing in Syria (and there's no body, so ...). Anyway, point being that John Walker wasn't killed when Steve Rogers returned, and had a long career as USAgent.

    Similarly, Jim Rhodes continued a long time after Tony Stark took the armor back. He went back to being War Machine, then the Iron Patriot, and then (I think) War Machine again, before being killed last year. That's a long run after being Iron Understudy, and he's well-regarded for a lot of things other than filling in as Iron Man.

    I don't mean to nitpick, but when only one of your three examples was killed when the original returned (and not immediately), it sort of undercuts your question.

    Granted, it seems likely that Jane Foster will be killed. She's been battling cancer, and her current run ends (or the next Thor begins) with a story titled "The Death of Thor!" I understand why Marvel would want to limit the number of Thors, because 1) duplicates suck away from the character's grandeur, and 2) he's so powerful, two is too many. We've got Beta Ray Bill, but he stays in space.

    I'd guess Falcon's back to stay -- and that's Sam's first and best role, so I'm not at all disappointed. As to Steve Rogers, a new Captain America title has been announced, by Mark Waid and Chris Samnee, and will somehow feature the original, non-Hydra Cap. Time travel? Cosmic Cube? Your guess is as good as mine.

    That leaves Riri Williams, and Marvel's never had trouble with more than one Iron Man (See: War Machine). She'll probably stick around in some form, especially since killing off a black, female teen in favor of an old white male would give Marvel no end of PR grief. She may or may not call herself Ironheart, she may or may not work with Tony Stark in some capacity, but I think it a given that she'll hang around with other Marvel characters her age, like Moon Girl, Ms. Marvel and the Champions as the current "young Avengers" version of Iron Man.

    That's a lot of speculation on my part, but the upshot is that I rather liked Marvel giving Sam a run with the shield, and now I have no problem with him returning to his old role -- especially since we all knew it would happen. I mean, we all knew it was temporary, anyway, so it's just another chapter in the character's "life" and I really don't expect him to be killed off.

    However, wasn't there a replacement Falcon as well? I expect that character shouldn't be buying any green bananas. Talk about superfluous.

  • Yes, there is. A young man whose DNA was spliced with Redwing's.  Most recently seen in Champions attempting to find survivors in Las Vegas along with other members of the team. Ironheart and the Patriot as well.

    Captain Comics said:


    However, wasn't there a replacement Falcon as well? I expect that character shouldn't be buying any green bananas. Talk about superfluous.

  • Maybe he could change his name to Redwing.

  • Thinking about it, assuming that the Falcon (not Sam) isn't killed off, Marvel's going to have a lot of characters with the same name running around. Two Hawkeyes, two Wasps, two Falcons, multiple Thors, etc.

  • Sorry, I didn't mean that the new guys were killed off by the return of the originals but that their loss of status made them far easier to be killed off at some point as opposed to still being the "main" heroes.

    Marvel may well keep them all but someone eventually will want to increase the drama by killing someone "equal" to the hero.

    I'm not sure if the Totally Awesome Hulk is safe but I do wish that they would change his name!

    The New Falcon? I wouldn't be surprised if he was a casualty of Secret Empire!

  • But he wears....green!

    1936871673?profile=RESIZE_480x480

    Captain Comics said:

    Maybe he could change his name to Redwing.

  • One cover of Falcon #1.

    1936872621?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024

  • That cover is an homage to something nagging at my memory. Nova #1? Something.

    Sorry if I got carried away, Phillip. I might have read your post wrong.

  • Yeah, I've got no worries for Sam -- he knew the Cap job was temporary, and thanks to the Avengers movies and his stint as Cap, he has a higher profile than ever. But as for the new guy, Joaquin Torres...who knows? One thing that might save him is that he's an undocumented immigrant, so that gives Marvel a way to dramatize the issues that face that population. If you've got a tool like that in your storytelling toolbox, why throw that away? Especially these days.

  • this one Cap?

    1936872526?profile=original

    Captain Comics said:

    That cover is an homage to something nagging at my memory. Nova #1? Something.

    Sorry if I got carried away, Phillip. I might have read your post wrong.

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