At the end ofAvengers: Endgame, the hero Steve Rogers (Captain America) passed on his iconic shieldto the hero Sam Wilson (The Falcon). InSpider-man: Far From Home, Tony Stark (Iron Man) passed on the AI E.D.I.T.H. to Peter Parker (Spider-Man). Clint Barton (Hawkeye) trained his successor, Kate Bishop, in his own self-titled Disney+ series, and soon, Thor will pass his iconic hammer on to his old flame Jane Foster inthe upcomingThor: Love and Thunder. And, of course,the up-and-coming hero Ms. Marvelwill be getting her own Disney+ series in June of this year.
Legacy heroes and heroes that inherit the mantle (and sometimes powers) of other, older heroes have been a thing in both Marvel and DC Comics for years. Now it appears that Disney and Marvel Studios are taking the idea of legacy heroes to theMCUand the big screen. However, how these legacy heroes are portrayed in theMarvel Cinematic Universemight differ from how they are shown in the comics.
As was stated above, the idea of legacy heroes has been a thing in the original comics for decades. There was even a point in Marvel Comics when both Bucky Barnes and Sam Wilson (not at the same time) carried Steve Roger’s shield and acted as Captain America. However, because these comics, and by extension these characters, have been around for decades, they have acquired very dedicated fanbases, many of whom are not fond of change. When a character, for whatever reason, passes on their mantle to another, there will always be die-hard fans of the original hero who will demand the hero they grew up reading to return, regardless of how little sense it might make to do so.
The end result of this is that while, say, Sam Wilson may be carrying the Captain America mantle, Steve Rogers will at some point come back (even from death) because fans demanded it. With him back, there are effectively two Captain Americas running around. This is easy to do in comics because they are little more than ink on paper, but the movies and live-action Disney+ series are more likely to take a very different approach.
Legacy Heroes in the Comics
There is very little, in fact, more likely nothing, that can keep a good hero down forever in comic books. Losing one’s powers, losing a limb, a loved one, retiring, turning evil, or even death does little to nothing to keep a good hero out of the limelight forever. The reason for this outside of the comics is that becausethese heroes have been around for decades, long enough that certain fans have been reading about certain heroes for literally their entire lives, they have developed very loyal and dedicated fans who reliably buy all of their new comics when they are released. These fans are so dedicated to one particular character they have been reading about for most of their lives, so they are reluctant to see them go regardless of the reason.
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As a result, because these fans are great in number and keep buying books, the absence of their favorite character is very likely to make them stop buying books, as has happened in the past with characterslike DC’s Green Lantern. Because the comic industry, like all industries, is very fond of money and don’t want fans to stop buying their books, steps are always taken to restore the status quo and see the fan’s favorite character back where they were before and doing what they have always been doing for decades. This is why many characters in comic books, including Superman, never, ever stay dead.
Heroes Will Remain but Have Fewer Movies
Because the movies and live-action Disney+ series are not ink on paper and are more complicated to make, it is very likely that the comic book approach to legacy heroes will not be utilized. In movies, heroes are played by actors, and actors are not particularly cheap. As with Captain America, now that Chris Evans' Steve Rogers has passed along his shield to Sam Wilson, it is very unlikely that Disney and Marvel Studios will ever get Evans to come back to play Captain America again. It would cost them too much money to do so. A few quick cameos here and there may be fine, but coming back to play Captain America full-time is unlikely, especially since Chris Evans has stated that he wished to retire from acting after his run as Captain America was over.
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In the end, what this means is that Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson will likely be the new Captain America as part of the new status quo. However, whileCaptain America 4has been announced and confirmed to star Mackie, it is doubtful that there will be aCaptain America 5. The simple reason for this is that Disney and Marvel Studios have other characters that they wish to give their own movies as well. As great as Sam Wilson’s Captain America is, characters like Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor have all had their own trilogies and big team-up films.
When the time inevitably comes for Disney to decide to spend money on a newCaptain AmericaorFantastic Fourmovie, the answer will be obvious because one has been done before while the other hasn’t. This does not mean that these heroes will go away. They simply will not have their own movies anymore.
