Five years ago, Marvel Studios cast a permanent shadow over one of the MCU's most beloved legacies... everything Steve Rogers stood for. Since Chris Evans first brought Captain America to life in 2011, the character became the moral backbone of the MCU, a man defined by his principles, sense of justice, and loyalty to his friends and allies. However, in 2021, a single Disney+ release would irreparably tarnish the ideals that made the Captain America name iconic.
In April 2021, Episode 4 of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, "The Whole World Is Watching," dropped on Disney+ and delivered one of the most jarring moments in MCU history. In a single, brutal scene, John Walker (Wyatt Russell), the government-appointed successor to Steve Rogers, shattered everything the Captain America mantle represented.
The sequence of events that led to the public execution of Flag Smasher Nico wasn't totally random. Earlier in the episode, Walker had secretly injected himself with a stolen vial of the Super Soldier Serum. He had spent the entire series feeling like an imposter, and the serum was his attempt to finally be good enough.
What he failed to understand, as Dr. Erskine (Stanley Tucci) warned decades earlier in The First Avenger, is that the serum doesn't transform a person; it reveals them.
During the skirmish with the Flag Smashers, Karli Morgenthau (Erin Kellyman) struck Lemar Hoskins (Clé Bennett), Walker's best friend, killing him instantly. With him gone, there was no inner moral compass to hold Walker back.
The serum took the grief, the rage, and the shame already churning inside him into a monster, while wearing the stars and stripes.
What followed was Walker cornering Nico in a public courtyard and driving the Captain America shield down on him repeatedly, in broad daylight, in front of horrified onlookers with cameras.
In less than sixty seconds, the image of Captain America was dragged through the mud in front of the entire world. This left fans with a still-haunting image of "Captain America" holding a bloodied shield after killing someone in cold blood.
Over the past five years, the burden of repairing what Walker destroyed fell on Anthony Mackie's Sam Wilson, a man who initially didn't want title.
As explored in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, Sam's hesitation was never about cowardice. As a Black man in America, wrapping himself in a flag that had historically failed people who looked like him was never going to be simple.
It took the story of Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly), a Black supersoldier imprisoned by the U.S. government he had previously fought for, to help him ultimately feel deserving of Steve's wish for him to take his shield.
That philosophy carried into Brave New World, where Sam proved that Captain America doesn't need the serum. He dismantled a political conspiracy at the cost of his own comfort and defeated the Red Hulk not through super-strength but smarts and also his humanity.
Yet the shadow of John Walker's legacy still looms. The world watched a man in that suit commit a public execution. Trust, once broken that visibly, doesn't disappear overnight.
Moving forward, MCU fans really haven't seen the in-universe response to Sam being Captain America. Presumably, it's an overall positive view of the hero, but representing a whole country comes with a lot of weight.
Being under more scrutiny from the public eye could be an interesting future story to tackle in Avengers: Doomsday, Secret Wars, or a separate Captain America project.
What's especially interesting is that in the present day, Sam will no longer be the only Captain America, as Chris Evans is back as Steve Rogers in Avengers: Doomsday. In fact, many characters forever associated with the Captain America moniker are in Doomsday, making the mantle, the shield, and the tainted legacy a major part of Marvel's biggest movie since 2019.
The Future of Captain America in the MCU
The Captain America legacy has never been more fractured or more fascinating. After an entire TV series and movie devoted to Sam's journey becoming (and being) Captain America, Steve is coming back anyway.
Not sure if some dubious fans believe this, but Evans said at CinemaCon 2026 that he believed the story gave "a very real reason that these heroes need Steve Rogers now:"
"I said I would only come back if there was a real reason, and in 'Doomsday,' there is a very real reason that these heroes need Steve Rogers now."
Some fan theories suggest that Doctor Doom (Robert Downey Jr.) may actually be hunting Rogers specifically, due to the consequences of his time-traveling at the end of Endgame, which could be tied into the 2019 film's re-release in September.
Meanwhile, Sam returns as the active Captain America, now with his own team of Avengers, including Paul Rudd's Ant-Man. Bucky Barnes, most recently seen in Thunderbolts* after a short stint as an elected congressman, arrives in Doomsday as the de facto leader of the newly formed New Avengers, a deserved role after 15 years in the MCU.
And John Walker returns as U.S. Agent, with his freshly bent taco shield. While Walker is a stain on the history of Captain America, he is a well-established hero, who the audience got to learn even more about his inner psyche in Thunderbolts*.
In Doomsday, four men will be representing Captain America, reminding fans of different eras, legacies, and moments of one of Marvel's best stories.
