8. The Coming Of The Falcon (Captain America #117-119)
For years after being reintroduced in the Silver Age era of comics, Captain America mourned the death of his former sidekick in Bucky Barnes. In 1969, Cap finally found a replacement for Bucky while Marvel Comics made history for being the first mainstream publisher to create an African American superhero. Stan Lee and Gene Colan introduced Samuel Wilson, aka, the Falcon, in Captain America #117. The character helps Cap defeat the Red Skull, who once again is in possession of the Cosmic Cube. Over the course of the arc, Captain America works extensively with Falcon, training him and helping him realize his newfound superpowers (which were inadvertently given to him by the Cosmic Cube). Once the Skull is defeated, Falcon thanks Cap for saving the day, but the Red, White and Blue Avenger is sure to let Falcon know hes equally responsible for making the world a better place. Falcon would consistently appear in the Captain America series over the next few years, before eventually sharing equal-billing with Cap in issue #134. The book was renamed Captain America and The Falcon. Falcon has proven his loyalty to Captain America numerous times since his first appearance, and eventually became a full-fledged member of the Avengers. The character recently transitioned to the big screen, being portrayed by Anthony Mackie in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
Mark is a professional writer living in Brooklyn and is the founder of the Chasing Amazing Blog, which documents his quest to collect every issue of Amazing Spider-Man, and the Superior Spider-Talk podcast. He also pens the "Gimmick or Good?" column at Comics Should Be Good blog.
