'The Falcon and The Winter Soldier' Episode 1: Here's why Sam Wilson said 'no' to Captain America's shield
Spoilers for ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’ Episode 1
Marvel is set to take the viewers on a thrilling journey with its new series ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’ featuring Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan in the lead roles. The first episode of the much-awaited series is finally out and it is filled with nostalgia and some slambang action.
Apart from the captivating acting sequences, the episode is also filled with several emotional moments that will make you empathize with the show’s lead characters. The episode starts with an epic fight sequence between Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), aka The Falcon, and the members of the LAF, a criminal organization trying to send the world into chaos by doing mischievous things. The Falcon fights the bad guys and completes the mission.
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Sam flies back to Washington D.C. for an event to celebrate the legacy of Captain America. The entire nation was thinking that Sam would take up the mantle and become the new hero that the country needs. However, he does the opposite. Sam says, “Today, we honor the legacy of Captain America but also look to the future. Thank you, Captain America. But this (the shield) belongs to you.”
The shield is taken away and put inside a glass-box.
Why did Sam not take up the mantle?
After a moving speech, Sam and James Rhodes (Don Cheadle), aka War Machine, talk to each other while walking in a museum built to honor the legacy of Captain America. Rhodes is not convinced of Sam’s decision and asks why he did not take up the mantle. Sam looks at Rhodes and says that he is not ready to be the new hero.
Sam says, “When Steve first told me about the shield, the first words in said were, ‘I feel like it belongs to someone else’. And, that someone else is Steve.”
At the end of Endgame, Old Steve Rogers asked him, "How does it feel?" "Like it's someone else's," responded Sam and he still feels the same. However, he has made it clear in the episode that the shield doesn’t belong to anyone if it is not Steve Rogers. That’s why he gave the shield to the US government. Meanwhile, an official tells him that he is doing the right thing.
Another way of looking at the situation is that Sam has a lot of doubts about being worthy of carrying the shield. As a black man in America, he is always in doubt if he is the chosen one because if the shield stands for the United States of America, then how can he ever feel fully worthy of being the symbol when the country has never stood firmly for the black community.
It will be inspiring to see how Sam figures out if he is worthy enough to carry the shield in the upcoming episode.
‘The Falcon and The Winter Soldier’ returns to Disney+ with a new episode on Friday.
