Few Marvel characters have invoked such venom from viewers with their first appearance as John Walker (Wyatt Russell) when unveiled as the "New" Captain America in the first episode of Marvel's The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. But what is it about John Walker that makes the hatred justified when Wanda aka The Scarlet Witch arguably committed far worse actions?
Phase 4 of the MCU is in full swing with WandaVision having wrapped up and The Falcon and The Winder Soldier marching towards its final episode. After over a decade of films and series focused primarily around The Infinity Saga, the properties premiering on Disney+ are deepening ancillary characters such as Wanda, Sam Wilson, and Bucky Barnes. WandaVision explored the stages of grief following Wanda's loss of her brother Pietro/Quicksilver then her beloved Vision while The Falcon and The Winter Soldier explores PTSD and militarism. In both series, morality and empathy are gradients rather than black and white, challenging these characters on doing the right thing versus believing they're right.
The MCU has long traded on the duality of heroes to villains. In WandaVision, the audience is introduced to Wanda Maximoff trapping the entire town of Westview, NJ in a Hex wherein the town's population is under mind control "acting" as characters in scenes reminiscent of television shows Wanda was invested in as a child. Or "asleep" locked in their rooms or homes, unneeded in Wanda's own developed plotline.
It's a terrifying concept, especially towards the end when certain members of the Westview community are "woken", begging Wanda to stop, entreating her that they aren't happy, they have her nightmares when she "lets them sleep" and are slowly losing who they were before she got in their heads. Wanda aka The Scarlet Witch left Westview and its people broken, with the weight of her pain scarred on their minds and their sense of self as fractured as Wanda's own. And yet, Wanda remains a loved character. Her experience of grief and loss understood and empathized with by fans despite a truly heinous experience for most involved.
From literally John Walker's aka the New Captain America's introduction at the end of episode one of The Falcon and Winter Soldier, Twitter was buzzing in hatred when all the man had done was wear the suit and hold the shield. As MCU's buddy comedy moved forward, that venom for John Walker only increased reaching a fever pitch at the end of episode four which found the now Super Soldier Serum dosed Walker holding Cap's shield, blood smeared on the edge. However, up to that point, John Walker hadn't committed anywhere near the level of atrocity of other fan-favorite characters. So what happened? Why does Wanda get the tears and support of the fandom while John Walker can go super jump off a bridge?
It comes back to the merits of choice or the reason behind the madness. That WandaVision is a Marvel meditation on grief and The Falcon and Winter Soldier an exploration on militarism and PTSD is a given. In both is the question of power and responsibility, two themes very familiar to an audience that has kept up with the machinations of the MCU over the decades. Wanda is incredibly powerful but only came to the realization of her power as its true effect was revealed to her. She was aware she was imposing her will on the people of Westview, and those she created, but was unaware that will was so toxic.
This of course doesn't excuse her actions nor omit the damage but it's much easier to empathize as it maps to the familiar human experience. What person hasn't been blinded by their own pain and thus hurt the people around them, unaware in feeling so helpless they wielded their trauma as a weapon keeping everyone around them at bay? And what human hasn't had to start the work to be better knowing how long the road is to forgiveness and trust?
Then there's John Walker who spent his decorated military career studying Captain America, emulating his hero traits. But even with the shield in hand, John Walker bristles under the shadow of Cap unlike Sam Wilson, whose similar feelings of inadequacy led him to give up the shield entirely. The Falcon and The Winter Soldier works to show the damage of militarism, in that John Walker is a product just as OG Captain America was meant to be: a symbol of good old American Military Pride.
It's sad watching John Walker doubting himself, remembering his failures in the military as he's about to step out in front of the world as the icon of the Perfect Soldier. It should be easy to empathize with the man who was tapped to "take over" for his hero feeling dismayed and insecure as he's sneered at and pushed aside by the people closest to Cap. But it's not.
John Walker studied the career of Captain America, not Steve Rogers. Steve Rogers wasn't a career soldier; he was a skinny army reject who threw himself on what he thought was an active grenade. Steve Rogers didn't become Captain America to prove to everyone he wasn't Steve Rogers. He became Captain America because Steve Rogers wanted to do the right thing.
From the second John Walker had the shield, he wielded the name of Captain America and not the spirit. He entered every interview, every room, and every fight announcing himself as Captain America. When Bucky Barnes and Sam Wilson wouldn't readily accept him as a peer, John Walker tried to force them. When face to face with Ayo, a member of the Dora Milaje, Wakanda's elite special forces, he dismisses her. And finally, when there is but one dose left of the Super Soldier Serum, he takes it himself. John Walker decided of all the people in the universe, he was the most deserving of the serum that created a terrorist cabal.
John Walker is not a soldier who was corrupted. He is the military construct, the same construct that tried to own the Avengers. The same construct that watered Captain America down to a shield and costume. He's an unchecked ego with power without direction.
The duality of character in the MCU is what has kept the audience engaged and passionate. John Walker is the first one that, while he can be empathized with in terms of pressure and PTSD, has committed selfish acts purely for his own hubris. The first showcase of his new super serum powered self... was to kill a member of the Flag Smashers in revenge for the death of his lone supporter and partner, Battle Star. What's there to like in an insecure Super Soldier who refuses to learn from his mistakes and is dismissive of anyone who doesn't show immediate respect? At the finale of WandaVision, Wanda sequestered herself in solitude to meditate on her powers. In The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, John Walker is a bully who got a bigger stick.