Ladies and gentlemen, meet the Marvel Cinematic Universe's new Captain America!
Avengers: Endgame ended with Steve Rogers choosing Sam Wilson to wield the shield, but that responsibility proved to be too much for the hero. That's why today's episode of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier ends with the government choosing someone else entirely to follow in Steve's footsteps.
The character hasn't been officially introduced beyond this scene, but we know that this is, in fact, John Walker. Better known as U.S. Agent in the comic books, it's going to be very interesting to see what he brings to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Captain America. Will he be as unhinged as his comic book counterpart? Walker ultimately becomes a hero, but operated as a villain for quite a while.
We don't know enough about plans for Wyatt Russell's Cap to guess which direction Marvel Studios is heading in. Sam really didn't seem happy to see that the government had lied to him by removing Steve's shield from the Smithsonian and creating their own, personal Super Soldier, but he turned the role down, so perhaps should have seen this betrayal coming.
That surely doesn't make it sting any less, of course, and the question now is whether Walker can do the legacy of Captain America justice, especially after everything Steve sacrificed while wielding the shield.
Check out this first look at "Captain America" in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier below: