As John Walker is disgraced once again, the antihero recalls the latest incident that cost him his U.S.Agent alter ego this time.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for U.S. Agent #3, by Christopher Priest, Georges Jeanty, Karl Story, Matt Milla and VC’s Joe Sabino, on sale now.
If there’s one character in the Marvel Universe who has flirted with superhero greatness only to constantly fall to the darker, more impulsive sides of himself and forfeit the iconic opportunity, it’s John Walker. A one-time Captain America, sponsored by the federal government, Walker is best known for being the jingoistic antihero U.S. Agent and is poised to make waves in the Marvel Studios miniseries The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
However, while Walker is about to make his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut, the comic book character has recently fallen into disgrace, losing the mantle of U.S. Agent once again in U.S. Agent #3.
Walker was dispatched to Puerto Rico to quell a local demonstration against the U.S. Navy testing its weaponry off the coast of the Caribbean island. While the protest was being conducted peacefully, the federal government had mobilized an armed force outfitted in riot gear to confront and put an end to the protests. Walker is ordered to attack the protestors and disperse them in time for the evening news so the local governor can look tough on the opposition in time for an election year. Even the usually aggressive U.S. Agent decides to stand down, but the federal forces attack anyway — resulting in widespread violence and chaos as the protestors and authorities clash across the testing site.
In the aftermath, Walker is blamed for the entire fiasco and summarily removed from his position as U.S. Agent, replaced by a new figure more willing to follow government orders without hesitation. This is far from the only instance where the patriotic antihero has been sidelined, though one of the few occasions where Walker’s moral compass was actually in the right.
When Walker was first introduced by Mark Gruenwald and Paul Neary in 1986’s Captain America #323, he was the idealistic opposite of Steve Rogers while holding the mantle of Super-Patriot. After Rogers gave up being Captain America due to conflicting views with the government, Walker took his place as a Sentinel of Liberty the federal government could more easily control before taking on the U.S. Agent mantle when Rogers reclaimed his position. As Walker developed more of a conscience and began to second-guess the more morally questionable government orders he received, he began working with the West Coast Avengers instead. When the group was disbanded, a frustrated Walker discarded his U.S. Agent gear in the Hudson River and has since alternated between being U.S. Agent and Captain America on more than one occasion.
Walker’s most recent retirement of the U.S. Agent alter-ego came during the crossover event Siege when he and the Mighty Avengers confronted the Thunderbolts, only for the even more jingoistic soldier Nuke to sever Walker’s left arm and leg using Odin’s spear.
U.S. Agent has been morally conflicted with his federal orders on multiple occasions and cycled between being a loyal soldier and a nuanced superhero for much of his career, but the incident in Puerto Rico is one of John Walker’s more public humiliations. And now with a different man under the star-spangled cowl as the latest U.S. Agent, Walker is a man without a mantle, forced to figure who he is with his old title stripped from him and enemies still coming for him.
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