The Falcon and the Winter Soldier‘s Wyatt Russell is not bothered by the hate towards John Walker, instead, he even embraces it. Marvel Studios debuted a brand new Captain America throughout the show, but unlike the reception to Steve Rogers, this new one is getting a lot of raised eyebrows from the public.
Introduced at the very end of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier‘s premiere, Walker was more prominent in the second episode of the show titled “The Star Spangled Man.” In the outing, most of the series’ main characters come together with Bucky and Sam reuniting after spending the premiere apart. As they track down the mysterious new group known as the Flag-Smashers, the pair surprisingly encounters Walker and his sidekick, Battlestar, who joined in the fight against Karli Morgenthau’s group. While the terrorists successfully got away, it led to Sam and Bucky finally getting a face-to-face with the new Captain America, and it’s clear that they don’t like him.
Walker being Steve’s successor in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier may be a popular decision in-universe with both the government and public backing him up, but fans are more in the same boat as Sam and Bucky when it comes to the new character. While this may discourage or negatively affect Russell, he actually welcomes all the hate as he reveals in a new interview with Variety.
I don’t have social media, but I’ve gotten some of the stuff sent to me from friends that were just too good not to see. The best one is the “Up” guy with with the helmet on. It’s f***ing unbelievable. I mean, whoever did that deserves an award of some kind. It’s flattering. They just hate the guy. They just hate him! It was fun to be the Marvel punching bag for a little while.
After his brief appearance at the end of the first episode of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, it became really clear that people are not buying this new Captain America. So it was interesting that episode 2 somewhat tried to humanize him by showing that he’s a decorated man with an accomplished military career; Marvel Studios also made sure to show his vulnerable side as he doubts himself in this new job. Unfortunately for him, viewers of the show still aren’t on board. While he hasn’t done anything straight-up villainous thus far, there have been some hints as to why Walker isn’t worthy of the Captain America title.
The reason, however, that Russell isn’t offended by the hate for Walker in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is because he understands that it’s exactly the reaction Marvel Studios wants for the character. As previously mentioned, he hasn’t really done anything nefarious, and to be fair, he even repeatedly asked Sam and Bucky to work together. But, he’s meant to subtlety make the viewers realize the key factor to Captain America and why Steve was so good at it. Hopefully, it’ll also highlight why Sam is the best candidate for the job.
Source: Variety
Originally from https://screenrant.com/falcon-winter-soldier-john-walker-reaction-wyatt-russell-response/