Sam Wilson is returning to his roots, putting down his Captain America shield and becoming the Falcon once more. His brand new series Falcon will spin out of the Marvel Legacy one-shot, and is being written by Peabody and AFI Award winning writer/producer Rodney Barnes.
Barnes has served as producer and writer on shows such as My Wife and Kids, Everybody Hates Chris, and The Boondocks (on which he was the head writer). He is also a co-executive producer and writer on Marvel’s Runaways, hitting Hulu in 2018.
Falcon will be drawn by Joshua Cassara, and focuses on Sam as he deals with the aftermath of Secret Empire. Barnes spoke with Comicbook.com about the series.
“At the moment, Sam is in a state of transition,” Barnes says. “He feels guilty about his relationship with Steve Rogers and wonders if he didn’t pick up clues as to what team Steve was really playing for what else has he missed? So he’s backing away from the limelight for a spell and taking a more grass roots approach to making the world a better place.”
Readers can already see the seeds of this idea planted in Secret Empire, where Sam is first seen isolating himself and wallowing. Barnes sees this as a time for “resetting the table,” and hopes that his series will help Sam re-find his place in the world:
“By the end of my run, my hope is that Sam will be clear minded and focused as to his place in the Marvel Universe. He’s worn a lot of hats over the last few years and that’s sort of disrupted his sense of self. The plan is to restore that. I’d say the tone is more personal and intimate. Often times superheroes become so connected to the missions at hand that they forget there’s a real person under the costume.”
Barnes also talked briefly about Sam’s new sidekick in the series, the Patriot:
“The Patriot helps Falcon connect with the Millennial mindset of today’s world,” he says. “Sam typically deals with his own peer group who sees the world much like he does. Shaun is an optimist and this helps to balance the sense of self-doubt Sam’s going through. There are some similarities in Sam’s relationship with Rayshaun to the one he had with Joaquin Torres, but Sam was in a different place then. Much more the typical authoritarian. Here he’s second guessing himself and Shaun isn’t afraid to point that out.”
Falcon will start things off by introducing dark magic into Sam’s world, pitting the hero against Blackheart, son of Mephisto (Marvel’s Satan).
“Genre wise there’s a blending of urban street sensibilities with dark magic. Sam’s never been to the place we’re taking him and it’s going to take more than muscle to overcome the obstacles in his path,” Barnes says. “My hope is that taking Sam out of his typical environment will cause him to use wits of a different sort. The fight now is from the inside out. And since he’s soul searching it felt kind of cool to put him in the spiritual realm. Blackheart was a character I’ve appreciated for a long time. I felt his frustration at being a second stringer on the demon totem pole so why wouldn’t he take his shot at shaking up the world? If a bad kid won’t listen to his parents surely a Demon son wouldn’t take well to conformity either.”
Check out the full solicitation for Falcon #1 here:
FALCON #1
Written by RODNEY BARNES
Penciled by JOSHUA CASSARA
Cover by JESUS SAIZ
TAKE FLIGHT!
Continuing directly out of the pages of MARVEL LEGACY #1!
Sam Wilson – winged warrior, avian Avenger and one-time sentinel of liberty – takes to the skies again, reborn and recommitted as the fighter for freedom, THE FALCON!
Engaged in an all-new assignment while training his new partner THE PATRIOT, Sam Wilson soars high and sees all. But Sam’s new mission finds him on a collision course with an enemy way out of his weight class—the demonic BLACKHEART! From the stratosphere to the streets, the Marvel Universe now has a high-flying hero circling above them ready to strike!
