Marvel's Chief Creative Officer appeared on The Colbert Report and announced that Sam Wilson (Falcon) will assume the mantel of Captain America.

Tweet

Following the events in Captain America #21, Steve Rogers had his super soldier serum removed from his body and someone needs to pick up the shield.

Marvel has been hinting at the replacement around Fourth of July which made readers look closer at the comics for hints and clues.

Who will be Marvel comics’ NEW #CaptainAmerica? Learn more this Monday on http://t.co/2gXkrpt4IR! #4thOfJuly pic.twitter.com/y2goGHmfvJ

— Marvel Entertainment (@Marvel) July 4, 2014

The detective work pointed toward the preview of  the cover for Avengers #35 which shows someone that looks a whole lot like Sam Wilson holding Cap’s shield.

Now that the news is official it’ll be interesting to see how this is received by casual fans and hardcore fans alike.

Read exclusive comments from @Remender & @TomBrevoort about the #AllNewCaptainAmerica: http://t.co/48PgAL2m7n pic.twitter.com/87NnsOFNSj

— Marvel Entertainment (@Marvel) July 17, 2014

“This is it,” says Remender of the culmination of two years of storytelling in CAPTAIN AMERICA and the dawning of ALL-NEW CAPTAIN AMERICA. “This is the fireworks factory we’re arriving at, and now everything’s going to blow up and be very pretty and exciting to look at. It leads into an evolution of Steve Rogers’ character that I had very early when I was given the job. I think that it’s important with these stories to do things that are natural and make sense and have an inherent logic to the universe, but are also constantly shifting and exciting, keeping the drama high. In order to do that it really comes down to creating new dynamics.

“I’ve been having a lot of fun writing Sam. It’s a completely different attitude. The fact that he’s not a soldier shifts things up a bit. Sam’s not going to be Steve. Steve can be very rigid. That can be kind of joyless at times, whereas Sam is absolutely not that.”

“While Sam shares many of Steve’s beliefs in a general sense, he’s also a very different person with a very different background,” adds editor Tom Brevoort, “He didn’t grow up in the 1930s, he’s a modern day man in touch with the problems of the 21st Century. For most of his professional life, Sam has worked as a social worker, so he’s seen the worst of urban society up close, and how crime, poverty, lack of social structure and opportunity can affect the community. So he’s got perhaps a greater focus on the plight of the common man, and perhaps a greater empathy for the underprivileged than maybe even Steve himself. He’s also not a military man, so he’s more apt to be instinctively skeptical of any situation that calls for just following orders. Sam, like Steve, will be led by his personal morality and beliefs as to what is right and what is wrong—and where his beliefs may differ in their shading from those of the previous Cap are where the interesting stories will be found.”

“Historically, Falcon would often act as air support, flying Steve into the battle. Why not merge the two? He pops the wings, and as he flies, he keeps the shield latched onto his back. He dives down onto the scene, hurls the shield, wings retract, and rolls into a kick or jump, catches the shield on the way back. He doesn’t have the super soldier serum, but he has the added zing-zang-zoom of flight.”

“Steve’s spirit is as willing as ever,” explains Brevoort, “But his body is no longer up to the task of being Captain America. So he’ll instead employ his skills as the new Cap’s remote strategic advisor, running missions from his headquarters in Avengers Mansion and providing Sam with technical support and field information from a distance. He’ll also tutor Sam in how to throw the shield, a skill that’s deceptively difficult for the new Cap to master. So Steve will continue to be a vital part of the series moving ahead. And Steve is completely supportive of Sam as his hand-picked successor—the only replacement Captain America ever to be chosen by Steve himself. Steve and Sam are effectively brothers-in-arms, and there’s a level of trust and camaraderie between them that’s matched only by that of soldiers who’ve fought shoulder-to-shoulder in foxholes on the battlefield.

“I think that different characters across the Marvel Universe are going to respond to Sam’s appointment in different ways. But he’s not a novice—in his long history as the Falcon, he’s earned a reputation for integrity and honesty and backbone that most of the super hero community have a respect for. On the villain side, there may be those who feel that their jobs will be easier now that a different man is carrying the shield, so it will be Sam’s mission to disabuse them from that notion.”

“We’re not anywhere near finished,” says Brevoort. “Change is one of the watchwords of the Marvel Universe, so there are even more startling surprises to come!”

I for one cannot wait to pick up All-New Captain America #1.

Source: Marvel