Falcon
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Facts
- First appearance: Captain America #117 (Sept. 1969)
- Height:6'2"
- Weight: 240 lbs
- Eyes: Brown
- Powers: The Falcon can fly by means of his jet powered glider wings.
Summary
The Falcon (Sam "Snap" Wilson) is a comic book superhero in the Marvel Comics universe who first appeared in Captain America #117 (Sept. 1969). Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Gene Colan, the Falcon most frequently works with Captain America, and became a member of the superhero team the Avengers.
The Falcon is mainstream comics' first African American superhero; the first black hero, Marvel's Black Panther, is an African native. The Falcon follows the company's first African-American co-starring character, the non-superpowered World War II soldier Gabe Jones, and first regular supporting character, The Amazing Spider-Man's Joe Robertson. The Falcon debuted nearly three years before Luke Cage, Marvel's first African-American series star, and is also the first superhero of African descent not to have the word "black" as part of his superhero name, preceding the John Stewart Green Lantern by over two years. (The first black starring character in comics is Dell Comics' Old West gunfighter Lobo, introduced in 1965.)
Character biography
The Falcon originated as a hoodlum known as Sam "Snap" Wilson in Harlem, New York. One day, on the way to Rio de Janeiro, his airplane crashed on Exile Island, where he was found by the former Nazi supervillain the Red Skull. The Skull, seizing an opportunity to scheme against his archnemesis Captain America, used the reality-altering Cosmic Cube to turn Wilson into an ideal partner for the superhero.
Back in New York City, Captain America gave Wilson combat training, and Wilson took on the Falcon identity to Captain America defeat the Exiles[1] and the Red Skull. The Falcon later became Captain America's regular partner in crime-fighting, and briefly even takes on the "Captain America" costume and identity.
Later, again as the Falcon, Wilson receives help from the Black Panther, who creates a harness for Wilson which allows him to fly. Soon afterward, the Falcon learns he was the criminal "Snap" Wilson before the Red Skull mentally manipulated him. The Falcon was eventually named head of the Super Agents at the espionage agency S.H.I.E.L.D..
US government superhero liaison Henry Peter Gyrich then recruited the Falcon, one of the few active African-American superheroes, to fill a mandated racial quote for the venerable team the Avengers.[issue # needed] Resentful of being a "token", the Falcon quit at the first opportunity. He debuted a new costume when he fought the supervillain Taskmaster.
Sometime afterward, the superheroine the Scarlet Witch, having gone insane, destabilized the Falcon's mind and reverted him to his "Snap" persona. While he continued to work with Captain America, their relationship became strained and Captain America severed it. The Captain, however, later saved the Falcon from being assassinated by himself taking a bullet in the back. After eventually recovering from his wound, Captain America searched for the now-missing Falcon. After being told that the Falcon had been assassinated by the supervillain the Anti-Captain, Captain America found the Falcon's costume abandoned in a field.
The Falcon reappeared without explanation, and supported Captain America against the Superhuman Registration Act. When the Captain became incapacitated, the Falcon temporarily assumed leadership of the "Secret Avengers" rebel group. Following Captain America's assassination by the machinations of the Red Skull, the Falcon registers with the government and is made responsible for Harlem, although he continues to be in contact with the underground New Avengers. Falcon is one of the pallbearers carrying Captain America's coffin, and gives an inspirational speech at the funeral. Afterward, S.H.I.E.L.D. recruits the Falcon and agent Sharon Carter to investigate the Captain's assassination by locating the Winter Soldier and tracking down the Red Skull.
Powers, abilities, and equipment
The Falcon's only super-power is his mutate empathic link with his bird Redwing, enhanced or bestowed by the Red Skull using the Cosmic Cube. Recently, the Falcon has been able to extend his empathic link to other birds making it possible for him see through their eyes.
The Falcon wears a costume of synthetic stretch fabric lined with a steel alloy mesh which comes equipped with detachable jet-powered glider wings made of lightweight titanium ribbing and Mylar. The wings are covered with wafer-thin solar power receptors which convert sunlight into electricity that powers miniature high-speed electric turbine fans in his costume and boots. The entire system is controlled mentally through cybernetic circuitry in the Falcon's mask. The wings can be detached and reattached to his costume cybernetically. The costume comes equipped with a hidden "talon," a cybernetically controlled grappling line built into the gauntlets of his costume which he uses to entangle opponents, hook objects, or for swinging and climbing when his wings are detached. The costume's visors come equipped with various capabilities, including infrared lenses, giving him the ability to see objects by their infrared signature at night, magnification capabilities, and remote imaging sensors that allow a full 360 degree of vision when activated. The cowl also has a wide band receiver and transmitter with an unspecified range. The suit was built by Wakandan scientists, with costume modifications by Desmond Burrell.
After the original harness's destruction, the Black Panther supplied him with a new harness with hard-light wings, which can be configured into several different modes.
Falcon is also an excellent trainer of wild birds, and has been trained in gymnastics and hand-to-hand combat by Captain America.
Redwing is a highly trained hunting falcon who responds to the Falcon's verbal and mental commands and joins him in battle against his adversaries.
At one point, a Sentinel chased him, believing him to be a mutant, but this was later debunked and the Sentinel is presumed to have been malfunctioning.[issue # needed]
Other versions
MC2
In Amazing Spider-Girl #7 Falcon was revealed to be dead. However, the Ladyhawk twins wear attire strikingly similar to his first costume (Before he got his wings).
Ultimate Falcon
Falcon appears in the mini-series Ultimate Nightmare, which takes place in the Ultimate Marvel continuity. Not much is known about the Ultimate version of Falcon, except that he appears to have an entirely different origin than the original Falcon, is a scientist, has served with or under General Nick Fury, and wears a pair of metal wings similar to the harness given to the original Falcon by Black Panther. This version appears to be an accomplished combatant, especially when using the sharp edge of the metal wings he wears as a weapon. His wings are controlled through the help of nanotechnology with which he can communicate and which can also send and retrieve computer information.
Ultimate Falcon also appears in the second Ultimates annual, where he teams up with Captain America, and in the Ultimate Vision miniseries.
U. S. War Machine
In Marvel's MAX imprint series U.S. War Machine, Falcon appeared alongside Captain America and Hawkeye; he and Hawkeye served as Captain America's backup and wore no costumes, only being addressed by their real names. In this reality, Captain America was actually Bucky wearing the Captain's uniform as here the Captain had died in World War II in his stead.
What If?
In the 2006 comic What If Captain America had fought in the Civil War?, the Earth-717 version of Wilson was an orphan raised by a Shawnee medicine man, and grew up to fight in the American Civil War as part of an Indian volunteer regiment. He performs a ritual to give Steven Rogers the power of We-Pi-Ahk, the Eagle Spirit, and has a red eagle painted on his chest for this ceremony. He is killed by Colonel Barnes, the White Skull.
In other media
The Falcon (along with his bird Redwing) appeared as a member of the Avengers in the television series The Avengers: United They Stand voiced by Martin Roach.
Falcon appears in the Robot Chicken episode "The Deep End" voiced by Seth Green. He is seen in the segment called "The Real World: Metropolis."
