Wyatt Russell made was introduced in earnest to the Marvel Cinematic Universe during last week’s episode of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and fans already have strong feelings about his character
Wyatt plays John Walker, who as we saw in the season premiere, takes over the role of Captain America from Steve Rogers. As you might expect, both Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson and Sebastian Stan’s Bucky aren’t too thrilled about Cap’s successor. Fans also seemed to have a visceral reaction to the new hero(?) , and Russell couldn’t be happier with the tepid reaction his character has reeived
“That’s the goal,” he told The Wrap of the reaction to his character. “I think people had a fun reaction.”
Walker is immediately treated with disdain from both Sam and Bucky, for very obvious reasons, and Russell wants to make it clear that Walker he’s facing some conflicting and complicated feelings about the situation, too.
“There’s elements to him where he wants to be able to do it without the super soldier serum. Just be that good,” Russell added. “He does have those ideas in his head of wanting people to like him, like his version of Captain America. It sort of gets rained on and causes him to have to rethink how things are going to be done.” He also added that he thinks Walker understands why the two are so justifiably upset.
Sam received Steve Rogers’ shield at the end of Avengers: Endgame, but ultimately decided against taking his close friend’s place. Regardless, the decision to make Walker the new Captain America was made without the Falcon’s input, which is something Russell took into consideration in his portrayal of Walker. “I think he’s aware of that. It’s like, he has to be aware,” Russell said. “I think they’re [Sam and Bucky] a little bitter. There’s a little bitterness there that’s like, did Sam make the wrong decision?… You kind of see everybody’s egos, inflate, deflate and go through these different machinations to really find out who should be the one who’s going to carry on.”
The next episode of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier drops this Friday on Disney+.
