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[T1J:] This video is sponsored by Audible! Also this video contains many spoilers for
films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, including Avengers Endgame. So I rewatched a bunch of Marvel movies over
the past month. I guess the idea of a global calamity seems
really relevant these days. Hi, Iām T1J. [WEIRD VOICEOVER:] Follow me! This video, like all my videos, would not
be possible without my Members and Patrons, including homies like William Ryan, Felipe
Visson, Lisa Jakobsen, and Adam McDermott. If youād like to support the channel, you
can become a Homie yourself by clicking the Join button below the video, or by checking
out my page on Patreon! A lot of people would probably argue that
Tony Stark is the main character of the group of films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe
that make up the āInfinity Saga.ā And it makes sense; the story begins with
the birth of Iron Man and ends with his death. Over the course of many, many films we watch
as Stark evolves from an arrogant billionaire womanizer who only cares for himself to an
arrogant billionaire family man who was willing to sacrifice himself to save the universe. And thereās no doubt that Tony Stark is
pivotal to the development of these films. But Iād argue that the real main and most
important character of the saga is none other than Steve Rogers himself: Captain America. Now old Cap isnāt the guy whoās piloting
spaceships across the galaxy or figuring out the formula for time travel. But he arguably has the most important job
of all: getting all these larger than life personalities to play nice with each other
long enough to save the population from the frequent world-shattering events that seem
to threaten them. [ROCKET:] He's pretty good at that! [SCOTT:] Right?! [T1J:] Seriously, almost every MCU movie to
date, except the ones that take place in the past like Captains America and Marvel, takes
place plotwise roughly around the same time the movies were being made. So that means there have been no less than
5 catastrophically destructive events over the span of only about 10 years in this universe. But actually now that I think about it, thatās
not too much different from real life. But anyway, Captain America is a man in an
unfamiliar new world with old fashioned morals who finds himself surrounded by super-powered
lunatics who have been jaded by their circumstance in one way or another. In a way, Cap keeps the audience grounded. Whenever weāre unsure whether the heroes
are gonna be okay we can look to him. You see, every superhero has an impressive
suite of powers and abilities, but only a few super heroes have what I like to call
super-moral insight. It is the super human ability to always know
the right thing to do. Now depending on the story, any protagonist
might have this power, shit the average sitcom Dad has this power. But in the MCU, the only person who really
seems to consistently, is Captain America. So, if youāre a person with special abilities
or super human powers, but youāre not a genius scientist billionaire, or a genetically
enhanced super soldier, or a literal god, it can be hard to find your place in the mix. Especially, when youāre asked to join a
bunch of other special people to defend the world from annihilation on more than one occasion. One way to go about it is to do your own thing,
study your craft, and try to make yourself known. If youāre good enough at what you do, people
will notice and let you contribute, even if youāre reckless or kind of an asshole. Another way to go about it, is to find a person
who always seems to have the right ideas, and just do whatever they tell you to do. Itās not the most glamorous position, but
it ensures that your skills are always used in the best way possible. As weāve discussed, the guy who always has
the right ideas is Captain America, and a good example of someone who realized that
is Sam Wilson, also known as Falcon. Despite the fact that he receives a pretty
decent amount of screen time, Falcon seems to be rarely mentioned in discussions about
the MCU. You might say his powers are kind of wack. āOh he has wings cool!ā But, listen. How many heroes can fly in the MCU? Thereās Iron Man, Vision, Star Lord, Doctor
Strange, Wasp, War Machine, and Thor. And thereās Valkrie with the Pegasus and
Pepper in the Rescue armor and thatās it, I think. Maybe Wanda, but she mainly just kinda jumps,
so Iām not sure. So thereās a few. But when you got like 30 motherfuckers running
around, not even counting the vast armies of Wakanda or Asgard, or the Ravagers, or
the the sorcerersāmany of whom spend half their time across the world if not the universe;
being one of the only 10 people who can fly is pretty useful. Also, he has the coolest flying scenes in
my opinion. And he doesnāt just fly, he was 100% the
MVP of the mission at the beginning of Civil War. But beyond that, Falcon is an Air Force soldier
from a universe where the War on Terror was a good idea. Heās highly trained in combat and firearms. Because of his skills as a soldier he was
chosen to pilot the experimental EXO-7 Falcon harness. Tha-Thatās what the wings are called. Anyway, itās not always about the superpowers,
itās about the characters. Look at the Guardians of the Galaxy, what
do they even do? This guy shoots guns. This lady can fight good. This guy is strong? Rocket is I guess a genius engineer and pilot
which is kind of cool. Groot has easily the most powerful and interesting
skillset. But it doesnāt matter, because the characters
are so engaging and likeable, that Guardians of the Galaxy ended up being the best MCU
movieā¦that doesnāt feature Shuri. Sam Wilson was played by Anthony Mackie who
seems at least in interviews to be a guy who likes to goof off and joke around with his
friends. And this carries over somewhat into the character
of Falcon, heās known to drop a one-liner every now and then. [SAM:] I don't know if you've been in a fight
before, but there's usually not this much talking! [T1J:] But the character also has a strong
moral compass and sense of duty, a trait shared with Captain America. Now, as you might have guessed, I like seeing
black people in movies, especially big Hollywood blockbusters. Not only does it mean black actors are getting
work, but I firmly believe that media representation is essential to shaping our societyās ideas
about diversity, not to mention inspiring current and future generations to achieve
what may have not been possible for them in the past. And things are getting better over time for
sure. But comic books in general were way ahead
of the curve in terms of depicting complex people of color. By the 70s, many great black comic book heroes
and villains had been established. Not just Falcon, but characters like Black
Panther, Black Lightning, Black Mariah, Black Mantaā¦ Iām just kidding, even back then there were
many amazing black characters who didnāt have the word "Black" in their names:
Storm, John Stewart, Luke Cage, Blade, Misty Knight, War Machine, and many others. And in later eras of comics we got even more
cool black characters like Spawn, Static, Firestorm, Bishop, and Amanda Waller. And the Marvel Cinematic Universe honors the
source material fairly well by having quite a few major black characters. Only one of them got their own movie, but
I guess we take what we can get. So, the character Sam Wilson debuts in the
film Captain America: Winter Soldier. And to start off weāre really only told
a couple of things about him. Heās a war hero who has spent his time since
leaving the military helping veterans who are dealing with PTSD. So already we know this guyās cool. Also, amazing taste in music. [SAM:] Marvin Gaye, 1972, Troubleman soundtrack. Now outside of Black Panther, maybe, I wouldnāt
say that the Marvel movies are particularly woke or socially progressive. There are token gestures, a brief acknowledgment
that gay people exist, thereās that one scene in Endgame where all the women are together. Actually I really love that scene, I might
do a short bonus video just about that. But I do think itās cool that in a movie
franchise where so many of the characters are soldiers or kings or politicians, they
do take at least a moment to acknowledge that PTSD exists and that all this warmongering
and conquest can have a real psychological effect on people. Much has been debated about how Thorās PTSD
was handled in Avengers: Endgame, with some saying that the writers used Thor to make
light of a serious issue, and also to make a bunch of fat jokes. Itās a fair criticism, with which I donāt
necessarily agree, but that discussion is outside the scope of this video. In general, I just think it is cool the films
acknowledge that these things happen, apparently even to gods. Either way this brief scene of Wilson with
the veterans serves to immediately inform us of his strong moral character. I mean Tony Stark is cool and all, but can
you really see him volunteering his time with a veteran support group? Later in the movie, Captain America and Black
Widow seemed to have no one left that they could trust, but Steve remembers his new friend
Sam, who offers his full assistance including his nifty Falcon wings with no hesitation
whatsoever. It may seem kind of odd and unbelievable that
Captain America would turn to this guy that he literally met a few days ago for such a
delicate and dangerous mission, and that that guy would be so immediately down for the cause. And maybe it is a little bit of a stretch,
but Steve met Sam Wilson just before learning that the agency he was taking orders from
had been compromised by modern day Nazis. Wilson had recently quit the military, which
is apparently something you can do in this universe, because he lost his friend and fellow
soldier during an operation overseas. When Steve learn of Samās disillusion with
the military and his new found freedom to pursue the causes he personally cares about,
rather than simply taking orders; this is pivotal to the Captain growth into the renegade
soldier weāve all come to love. [STEVE:] You happy now, back in the world? [SAM:] The number of people giving me orders
is down to about zero, so hell yeah...you thinkin' about getting out? [T1J:] When Nick Fury wants to try to reestablish
SHIELD after HYDRA is defeated, Steve quickly insists that SHIELD itself needs to be destroyed
as well. When the Avengers are faced with the Sokovia
Accords meant to reign them in and make them subordinate to the government, Captain America
does not hesitate in his refusal to be a part of it. I donāt think he would have been so quick
to make these decisions had he not met Sam Wilson. Sam taught him that you can do the right thing
without taking orders or wearing a uniform. And sometimes, itās the only way you can. In Winter Soldier, Captain America decides
to wear a uniform anyway, perhaps an old school reminder of when things were less complicated. When you knew who the good guys and bad guys
were. Like the guy whose head is a blood red skull,
thatās probably the bad guy! But in later appearances, Captain America
has dropped his gaudy uniform, having fully realized that his skills are best used when
heās his own man. He only returns to a classic version of his
costume during the final campaign against Thanos, knowing that in spite of his troubled
history, he still remains a symbol of hope in a broken down world. [STEVE:] If you're gonna fight a war, you
gotta wear a uniform. Sam on the other hand was clearly in search
of an opportunity to serve his country and humanity on his own terms. So when Captain America showed up at his door,
itās easy to see why he was so eager to help. Sam, being a strong-willed, morally resolute
person was able to quickly identify these same virtues in Steve, of course after meeting
the man, but also no doubt from all of the stories heās heard about the legendary hero
Captain America over the past few years. And like I said before, if youāre going
to follow someoneās lead, Captain America is the person you wanna follow. And Falcon leans into the sidekick roll pretty
hard. Like a lot of people might feel ashamed to
be someone elseās sidekick. But Falcon is super down, and again, I think
itās because he knows heās on the right team. [SAM:] Don't look at me, I do what he does,
just slower. Now it might seem that Falcon is just a lackey
who does whatever the Captain wants, but heās definitely not afraid to speak his mind and
question Steve if he feels that itās necessary. A cool thing about this character that heās
perfectly able to assume responsibility and make the right calls when the time is right. Like when he took charge during the fight
at the airport with his fellow Avengers so that Steve and Bucky could escape to Siberia. [SAM:] This isn't the real fight, Steve. [STEVE:] All right, Sam, whats the play? [SAM:] We need a diversion. [T1J:] Or when he was able to immediately
determine that he should tell Tony Stark where Steve and Bucky were going, even though Tony
was technically his enemy at the time. At the end of Avengers Endgame, Steve decides
to go back in time and live a full life, returning to the present as an old man. When left with the decision of who to pass
on the title of Captain America to, a lot of people expected him to choose Bucky, his
lifelong best friend. And although the bond between Bucky and Steve
is strong, there really was no other choice but Sam. Captain America is more than just a super
soldier, heās also a beacon of hope and a righteous leader you can always put your
trust in. No other Avenger besides Falcon steadily displayed
that same consistency of character. So I guess Captain America can fly now. I know itās a bit different from my normal
videos, but I might start doing more stuff like this in the future, hope you donāt
mind. Anyway, I just thought Falcon is a pretty
underrated character, and I just wanted to talk about it. DAS JUS ME DOE. What do you think? Thanks for watching, and thanks to Audible
for sponsoring this video. Audible is the best place to go for audiobooks
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of comic book stories? Well there are. If youād like to check out the inspiration
for one of the biggest MCU movies ever, check out Civil War, an audiobook adaptation of
the famous Marvel comics arc that inspired the movie. If youād like to give that or any of the
vast library of content available on Audible a listen, you can get a free 30 day trial
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