So word just dropped this week that Anthony Mackie is in talks to become the Falcon in the Captain America sequel, Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Mackie is of course an under-appreciated actor and his hiring for the Marvel film universe is uber exciting, but the important thing to take away from that bit of news is that The Falcon is going to be in the next Captain America movie! Rock, rock on! While I understand that neophytes to the ways of Marvel might not see why a black dude in a bird based costume flying around acrobatically is such a big deal. In the words of David Draiman (from Disturbed) "LET ME ENLIGHTEN YOU!"
3. He Complements Cap In A Dynamic Way
Sam Wilson is everything that Steve Rogers isn't. He's a man of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. While Steve wasn't born with a silver spoon in his mouth, he was fairly okay as people born into the US go. Sam grew up in Harlem and had some hard knocks including losing his parents earlier in his life than most people do. Steve was a go getter who wanted to serve his country so badly that he tried to lie his way into the army 4 or 5 times. Sam went by the nickname "Snap" Wilson while working as a racketeer for the mob. The list goes on and on. The Falcon being in Cap 2 is a big deal among reasons because it tells us what kind of direction things are going. Instead of a somber, introspective solo movie, we're gonna have something that explores the social dynamic of how Steve gets on in the world he's woken up into. We know that we're gonna get a certain kind of action, and maybe even a bit of a "buddy movie" dynamic to go along with the haunting and dark undertones of failure and regret that absolutely have to come with a Cap movie subtitled "Winter Soldier". While the different natures of Sam and Steve play off each other well, it's important to make sure that it isn't played up too much...
3b. Don't Over Emphasize The Differences Between Them
Remember that bit in The Avengers with Cap piping up "I got it! The flying monkeys, I got that reference."? There's a reason why it was so funny and part of it is that Joss Whedon didn't over play the "man out of time" element of Cap. Most of the references flew over his head were things that he didn't comment on because he didn't want to show how uncomfortable he was as "the old fuddy duddy". Also there was the fact that he had bigger concerns like stopping an alien invasion from going down. In the same fashion, the screen writers and director for Cap 2 should make sure that they don't spend too much time focusing on the "we're from different sides of the tracks" aspect of Sam and Steve. Ideally by the middle of the movie, most if not all of that stuff should be out of the way. This shouldn't be a movie about two guys getting to know each other and discovering that they get along, this is first and foremost supposed to be about Bucky getting screwed over by the commies after Cap went on ice. Speaking of Bucky...