The U.S. Agent – one of Marvel’s most patriotic characters – has been given a makeover in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Jonathan ‘John’ Walker, as he is called in his human form, has been molded into a variety of roles for the Marvel franchise, ranging from hero to villain, anti-hero, Captain America foil, and even Avenger – something that few characters have had the psychological depth to make them that way.
It appears that being a true leader was in his DNA, as this American would go to any length to safeguard his country. We have had plenty of time and cause to enjoy the character’s sketch and arc, whether it is in the comics, the TV, or the movies.
Walker was the Super-Patriot who desired to become a hero apart from the tragedy of military conflict as far back as 1986 when we first saw him in print.
In this movie, we unpack the massive package of a Marvel superhero and follow his travels around the Universe.
U.S. AGENT: The Origin
U.S. Agent’s first appearance on the page was from the hands of Paul Neary and Mark Gruenwald in the late 1980s. They created a character whose personality stemmed from the heavily discussed Vietnam War in those days. John Walker as the character was named, was born and lived on a family farm in Georgia.
Patriotic service to the country ran in the family’s blood, as John’s father was a veteran and he had an older brother who was a pilot for the military. If there was any doubt in young John’s mind about going into the same line, all of it was washed out at thirteen years of age when he lost his brother in the Vietnam War. The incident left John scarred, but determined to serve as a soldier on the country’s fronts.
Once done with High School, John remembered his vow to himself and solemnly went ahead with his enlistment. His boot camp was at a place called Fort Bragg, where he met and shared his bunk with one Lemar Hoskins and made a very close friend and confidant out of him. The duo was soon joined by other new recruits Jerome Johnson and Hector Lennox.
Enemies have to exist to add spice to the tale that is, Walker has arch-rival in Kali Vries who is his biggest competitor, beating him throughout the various training programs of the boot camp. And of course, there’s a spark, there’s romance, there are names like ‘Georgia Peach’ thrown about for our boy Walker, all in the name of that romance – but Vries goes on to pursue a career with S.H.I.E.L.D. and puts the water on that spark to fizzle it out.
Walker is quick to refocus on his purpose and moves on to a hitch with his friends after his training, but they do not come face-to-face with any combat-inducing situations and deem their whole experience ‘uneventful’. Having had enough one day, but the desire to be ‘like his brother’ still very alive in his heart, Walker decided to leave the military and look for alternate opportunities to be the superhero his 13-year-old self would be proud of.
His friends too left alongside him. On their quest to hunt for more than what life had on offer for them at that point, they met one entrepreneur who called himself Curtiss Jackson. Corrupt as he was, he was experimenting on radiation treatment under the alias Power Broker. These treatments were quite exotic, and he managed to convince the four of them to get the first round which resulted in them acquiring extraordinary strength. They needed to continue paying and ran out of money for that soon enough.
While competing at the Unlimited Class Wrestling Federation’s games, they were picked up on by Ethan Thurm, a talent scout who became their eventual agent. Walker at this point was an avid follower of Captain America and modeled himself after Steve Rogers. Thurm exploited that desire and persuaded all four of them to become patriotic crusaders in all their costumed glory, by finding sponsors for the latter. While Walker was labeled ‘Super Patriot’, his friends became the ‘Bold Urban Commandos’ or ‘Buckies’.
Thurm is quite the money-minded businessman himself, so he recruits Super-Patriot for opening acts at various events with decent crowds. Super Patriot’s growing popularity gets into Walker’s head to an extent, and he warms up to his job and gets hold of how to work for a crowd. Acts and speeches call out Captain America for being an ‘outdated relic’ despite his expectations of him. His chance at being the new Captain America came soon enough, though, when Steve Rogers decided to voluntarily retire in his capacity as Captain America.
The United States government actively involved themselves in looking for a replacement, when it was brought to their attention that SuperPatriot had managed to take down a terrorist. A new uniform that was the identity of THE Captain America now adorned Super Patriot, something that clearly fulfilled his heart’s desire. Motivated by the faith and responsibility put into him, he set right to work trying to emulate Captain America as the man was known to the country and the world.
This excitement got the better of him soon though, as he lost all control of himself and in a blind rage, brutally attacked Right-Winger and Left-Winger, the two super-villains who had a hand in his parents’ murders. The matter went as far as Red Skull’s involvement and a whole set-up for a battle between Walker and Rogers. This confrontation resulted in the former’s loss and America had Steve Rogers back as their Captain again, a happening detailed in Issue 350 of the Captain America series.
It would be SO wrong to assume that was the end of SuperPatriot, as our man comes back just four Issues later, with a whole new name and costume, adorned by a vibranium shield. Now answering to the calls for ‘U.S. Agent’, the black costume was strikingly similar to Steve’s old one from when he was ‘The Captain’. Walker at this point has been declared dead, so the world knows this new hero only as much as is told to them. Despite being more boisterous and headstrong than Captain America, U.S. Agent continually proved himself to be a useful ally to the Avengers, and a hero worthy of the legacy left by his family.
U.S. AGENT: The First Appearance
Issue 323 of the Captain America series gave birth to Super-Patriot, the second character to go by the said name after the first one was seen in ‘Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.’, Issue 13.
#323 opens with the guards at the Statue of Liberty staring open-mouthed, exclaiming at quite an unexpected visitor having a whole show atop the monument, doing acrobatics. The panel closes with this figure leaping from the scaffold of the Statue, straight into the sea, and swimming away to an unknown destination. Later on in the tale, this clout-seeker is revealed to be John Walker, who in his costume and with the powers of SuperPatriot is looking for glory, supported and encouraged by his agent Ethan Thurm. Needless to say, he seeks to make headlines.
In another situation, Captain America on his jet cycle, as he is coming back from a glorious adventure in Europe, is flanked by two aircraft, which he discovers belong to S.H.I.E.L.D. He accompanies them back to their headquarters, only to be questioned there by Jasper Sitwell about his ‘Ultimatum’ mission that has apparently caused a stir internationally. Captain America is pushed to rethink his spot as an international stir that has been caused requires to be handled, and the only way to do that is if the Captain becomes an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., officially.
The following day, Steve Rogers comes across a rally and SuperPatriot. Mildly curious about the man putting up the show that he is, he stops to listen only to realize that his role as Captain America is being mocked there. Captain’s use of guns and his “old-fashioned” ways are further discussed and SuperPatriot claims that he could be a brighter future and a better choice for the country to look up to.
In the middle of this speech, there is complete chaos caused by an attack on SuperPatriot. Steve wants to slip away, don his costume, and help but it seems Super Patriot does not need that help. The attackers are subdued within minutes by the man on the dais and handed over to the police quite quickly, in front of a crowd – needless to say – in complete awe. The speech is concluded with a dash of talks about ‘constitutional rights and patriotism’.
Thurm and Walker are seen having lunch later on, and Steve joins them at the place. It is revealed that the whole attack on SuperPatriot was pre-planned, and even the police officers were hired to act their part. The attackers who called themselves ‘Buckies’ were in fact, Walker’s friends while Walker himself was SuperPatriot. Steve urges Walker to not try such stunts at the risk of public harm, to which Walker’s reply is an open challenge for a fight. Steve declines the offer and leaves, only to be attacked by the Buckies – who he fights off, but the extent of their physical strength dawns upon him. He also decides to let S.H.I.E.L.D. know that he has made a decision on their offer to him.
This Issue closes with a Press Conference by Captain America, that John and Ethan are watching from their own house. Initially thinking it was to denounce Super Patriot, they quickly realize it is merely what they label as a ‘PR stunt’, as Captain apologizes for his conduct in Europe and expresses deep regret at having to kill for his country. Unaffected, John and Ethan wait for their next opportunity to strike at the pillar of faith that the country has in Captain America, wanting to take over and assume similar powers.
U.S. AGENT: Falcon and The Winter Soldier Planning the Way Ahead
An avid reader and follower of the Marvel Universe can easily say that U.S. Agent seems to have had a world outside of the comics for a longer time than within them on pages. But looking at it objectively, he has only had a few notable appearances in arenas of video games, that too as an alternative costume choice for Captain America.
In an almost new awakening for heroin in March 2021, the Disney+ service debuted the live-action version of John Walker. Wyatt Russel took over the role, and interestingly enough, his costume as Captain America was uncannily similar to the U.S. Agent’s suit from the comic verse. He went head-to-head against Sam Wilson, wanting to become the next Captain America. Steve giving Sam his shield was not to the government’s liking at all, and thus did not honor that agreement between those two gentlemen.
The struggling government had picked Walker out of a desire to awaken patriotism in a nation essentially losing faith in them. Sam’s desire to take the role, by the way, was absent until he realized how much good he would do to the country if he took that role. Walker eventually ended up killing one of the Flag-Smashers – a group responsible for depriving his partner Battlestar of his life – out of a desire for revenge. The government was then forced to take Walker off the post of Captain America.
The last we see of Walker on the show is when he helps Sam after the latter took over the role and responsibilities of Captain America. He also assisted Bucky and the Captain against Flag-Smashers on another quest. At the end of this battle, he was employed by Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ enigmatic Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, a.k.a. Val.
Recently, Marvel closed The Winter Soldier as well as The Falcon series. Our hero John Walker – in all his (in)famous glory as ex-Captain America and the U.S. Agent – has a future more clouded than most in the superhero world. But we continue to hope as we must. We definitely haven’t seen the best or the last of John Walker.
U.S. AGENT: What Makes Him So Powerful?
Dressed in bulletproof synthetic-stretch fabric, the tell-tale characteristics of John Walker are the enhancements he has had as a result of going through the whole experimental phase of Power Broker’s work. He has an insane amount of physical strength and it also gives him fewer chances to be worn out, since his muscles release less of the fatigue toxins. That front of impairment only comes to him after being at peak capacity for hours on end.
The U.S. Agent’s speed, reflexes, and body coordination capabilities are also beyond human comprehension and average human capacity. Our Superhero is quite a strong force of resistance against injuries as the tissues alongside his muscles are also pain and wear-and-tear resistant to a great extent. It is not that he is not vulnerable, he can just tolerate the kind of physical force and trauma that would severely injure or even kill a normal human being, with relative ease as the Agent would only experience mild discomfort, at best.
In addition to being a man of many abilities, Walker is fluent in Spanish as well as Arabic, alongside of course, his English-speaking skills. He is the embodiment of a soldier multiplied by a few times, given his past experiences. He is tactful, has a fighting spirit, and most importantly has been trained by Taskmaster to gain expertise in gymnastics, acrobatics, and physical combat.
Taskmaster also taught him all about using Captain America’s unbreakable shield and aiming the weapon correctly. This enables him to make the best use of any and every shield he ever uses – Black Panther’s vibranium shield as well as a spikey shield shaped like a star. Automatic weapons, pistols, and rifles are Walker’s friends, and he is a skilled motorcyclist as well. He is trained in parachuting as well as piloting conventional and high-tech aircraft with the same kind of ease and expertise. The Avengers’ supersonic Quinjets and sky cycles are a delight for him to handle.
All that aside, Walker is often seen with a handheld club of sorts, that he calls an ‘energy truncheon’ that can shatter steel and render a human unconscious. This truncheon is able to operate at different power settings, and the damage caused is thus, proportional.
U.S. AGENT: Finishing-Up
Captain America is a fairly popular character and at the first instance of Super Patriot’s appearance, one wonders why the people would trust the words of the latter at all. However, it is quite glaringly obvious once we take some pre-events into account – be it his failure to capture Magneto, involving Sub-Mariner in the Avengers, or even the thousand-yard stare debacle during the Hulk Battle of Issue 321-323, ‘Hulk’ comics – it begins to make sense as to why the persuasion may have worked in Super Patriot’s favor.
The work of the art and writing time drawing the character arc is spectacular, to say the least, because they manage to incorporate a lot of the recent events of that time and make it relatable, perhaps. Especially when it gets downright comical at the point where three shirtless, grown men with masks and machine guns call themselves…..Buckies.
We’ll leave the rest for you to…ahem…unravel and enjoy.