Respect Sam Wilson, The Falcon! (Marvel 616)

#Respect Sam Wilson, The Falcon!

Saving Captain America. It's what I do.

Introduction: Sam Wilson is a hero from the Marvel 616 comic universe. He's best known for being Captain America's partner and later taking up the shield and title himself. He started as a humble man who liked training birds and was tricked to an island by The Red Skull. He was actually the victim of Cosmic Cube shenanigans which left him with a bond to his bird Redwing, and eventually all of the birds. Sam Wilson has been a paragon of heroism in Marvel from day one, not just as a superhero, but as a social worker, city planner, and community organizer too!

Sam Wilson has worn a lot of hats, superhero, social worker, community organizer, brother, uncle, partner, Captain America, The Fighting Falcon, King of the Birds, Snap... so I thought it was about time he got some Respect!

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Key:

I. Physicals

II. Psychic Link with Birds and other Psychic Powers

III. Skill

IV: Equipment

V: Those Times Sam was a Werewolf

VI: Miscellaneous Feats and Accomplisments.

Hover over links for sources! Full source list is at the bottom!

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##I. Physicals

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###Strength

Striking

Wing Assisted

• Sends three men flying with a diving attack. 2.

• Sam smashes into a reinforced door and crumples the metal, successfully breaking in.

• Decapitates an Ultron drone.

• Tackles over a large piece of machinery after blasting through a window.

• One shots Flagsmasher with a flying uppercut.

• Tackles a man through a chain link fence.

• Slices a robotic drone in half with a wing.

• Tackles Armin Zola through a building and onto a bus, denting it.

• Tackles a flying vampire into a building then through a ceiling.

• Crumples the hood and breaks the windows of a car by landing on it.

• Cuts off three vampires' heads with his wing.

• Bisects a vampire from groin to skull with a wing.

No Wing Assist

• Knocks two guys out by casually smashing their heads together.

• Send Grey Gargoyle reeling with a tackle.

• Smashes a helmet with a punch.

• Punches through a wooden door, smashing it. 2

• Punches a man so hard he goes flying and cracks a wall.

• Punches Viper into a brick wall, destroying it.

• Kicks a villain into a telephone pole hard enough to break it.

• While mind controlled, knocks out Captain America with a cheap shot.

Lifting/Pulling

Wing Assisted

• Pulls Steve Rogers out of some of Trapster's paste.

• Pulls a villain into a dumpster hard enough to dent it.

• Rips apart a villain's metallic suit in a flyby.

• Carries three people while flying.

No Wing Assist

• Sam catches a petrified person that Captain America launches at him.

• Pries open the hand of a granite giant from another dimension.

• Sam pries open a steel cell, bending steel with a prying tool.

• Bends a metal bar, though it is noted to be shoddy material.

• Moves a large fallen log out of a river.

• Holds an armored man out at arm's length with his thumb and pointer finger.

• Using his Talons, Sam pulls two SWAT vans together to separate some brawling folks.

Throwing

Wing Assisted

• Tackles Deathlok out of the air and throws him through some machinery.

• Throws two large rocks through the window of an attack helicopter.

No Wing Assist

• Restrained by a man on each arm. He throws them off.

• Throws off four men who try to restrain him.

• Picks up a man in power armor and throws him into two other men in power armor.

Other

• Sam breaks free from some hemp rope restraints.

• Gets a giant statue to fall over by wiggling with Steve.

• Perfectly even with Steve Rogers in an arm wrestling match until it's interupted.

• Break open some cuffs from behind his back.

• A mind controlled Sam restrains Steve Rogers.

• Breaks some metal chains.

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###Agility/Speed

Dodging

Flying

• Sam dodges a number of flying rammers, with 'the speed of missiles' from a very short distance.

• Avoids a savage fusillade of gunfire.

• Dodges between a number of falling boulders.

• Moves around so fast that a man loses sight of him.

• Avoids a spray of rocks and earth.

• Dodges bullets from three close range shooters.

• Weaves between missiles and shells on a US artillery range.

• Avoids Griffon's attacks.

• Flies straight to Typhoid Mary while avoiding her telekinetically controlled blades.

• Avoids the fire of two modern jets and destroys them. Caught by a third.

Not Flying

• Sam dodges a whip snapping at his face.

• Avoids a constantly reflecting/multiplying laser beam in an enclosed space.

• Jumps out of the way of a splashing glue-like attack from a giant slug monster.

• Avoids an attack from Scorpion, thrown into the road in front of a truck, uses the Hawk-Hook and escapes before he hits the ground.

• Ducks two attacks from Scorpion.

• Aim-dodges Eel's electrical blast.

• Dodges Ghost's electrical attack.

• Cartwheels as an energy beam goes between his legs.

• Sam avoids automatic gunfire.

Movement Speed

Flying

• Grabs a lady from under a falling structure as he zips by.

• Saves Scarlet Witch from under a falling structure.

• Dives at 200 ft/s.

• Catches up to an ICBM.

• Even after taking a glancing blow from Ragnarok, a Thor clone, Sam is fast enough to grab Steve Rogers from under a collapsing structure.

• Keeps up with a jet-like vehicle.

• Escapes an exploding building while grabbing Bucky.

• Catches up to some sort of jet.

• There appears to be a sonic boom as Sam flies from a city, though I may be seeing it wrong.

• Saves a man from falling debris. The debris almost on top of the man.

• Noted to be able to fly up to 250 mph in his Captain America wings.

Not Flying

• Rushes some guards with Steve faster than they can react.

• Throws a trashcan lid then catches it before it can hit someone.

• Sam pushes a guy off of a building, then dives off himself, and catches both himself and the guy on a fire escape.

Other Speed or Agility Feats

Flying

• Catches Black Panther as he falls from a cliff on his first day with the wings.

• Flies through a robot's legs.

• Grabs onto a passenger plane, though he can't keep his hold long.

• Grabs a thrown grenade and tosses it to a safe distance.

• Blocks some minigun fire with his wings while in the air.

• Grabs two missiles out of the air and redirects them.

• Causes two jetpack wearing opponents to crash.

Not Flying

• Leaps down from at least the 2nd floor of a building.

• Sam redirects a gun that's in his face before the user can fire.

• Sam blocks some bullets with his wings.

• Sam grabs onto a passing helicopter with his Talon from a speeding train.

• Knocks a device off of Jane Foster Thor, scoops it, and gets away from her with a bit of help from Spider-Man.

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###Durability

Blunt Force

Armor

• Falls from the sky through a skylight and onto the ground.

• Smashed in the temple by a thrown rock.

• Smashed into the ground by Rogue, the ground breaks rather violently.

• Armin Zola smashes Sam with a bus, Sam crawls out and is relatively uninjured.

• Has his face stomped into the ground, breaking he ground

• Smashed into a brick pillar hard enough to break it.

• Slams into a cave wall hard enough to crack it.

• Blasted to the ground from the top a building.

• Smashed into the road hard enough to break it.

• Smacked into a wall hard enough to crater it.

No Armor

• No sells a knee to the forehead.

• Gets stomped on by a large crowd. Hurt, but maintains consciousness.

• Allows a chair to smash on his forearms.

• Takes a punch to the face from the 1950s Captain America, sending him flying. Then takes a shield throw to the side of the head.

• Sent flying by a kick from a super strong opponent.

• Clipped by a car then hit by a blackjack. Still good to fight, though bloodied.

Piercing/Cutting

Armor

• Falcon's modified spare older suit blocks a bullet.

• No sells some bullets in his most recent Falcon armor. 2

Energy/Explosive/Heat

Armor

• Sam tanks waves of heat and cold from a supervillain, though notes he won't be able to forever.

• Sam is on top of an exploding structure and surrounded by flame.

• Sam tanks an energy beam from Ultron.

• Blocks a fire beam with his back/wings.

No Armor

• Sam escapes a trap tube with a small explosion, then proximity to another explosion, then bounces off of a force field.

• Sam's motorcycle is exploded by a grenade as he rides it. He is knocked unconscious, but alive.

• Sam flies straight into an electrical attack, the aftershocks of which knocked out lesser me. Sam is shaken, but conscious.

• Survives a sound/vibration that explodes a building. Sam had a device that should have helped neutralize the effects of the soundwaves on his mentality, so it's not clear how much damage was blocked.

• Blasted back by an electrical attack that sends Carol Danvers and Vision reeling also. Back up and flying soon after.

• Takes two attacks from Electro but keeps fighting.

• Takes some ice blasts, then an electrical shock, then falls onto a rooftop, then through the rooftop. He stays on his feet.

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###Endurance

• Sam has the presence of mind to loosen Redwing's cage as he and Steve are being thrown about underwater by a maelstrom created by Red Skull's reality warping.

• Saves some people from a fire after 18 hours of work and superheroing.

• Sam flies over 200 miles.

• Fights through a gas filled chamber while holding his breath and keeping track of his ally.

• Fights a vampire in low orbit without being able to breathe then falls down to earth, into the ocean. He survives, but does need to be rescued.

• Sam is shot out of the sky, crashes down into the ocean, sinks a good while, then uses his shard of the Cosmic Cube to recover, Unclear how much work the shard of the Cosmic Cube did here, but definitely some.

• Fights through seven train cars full of enemies along with Bucky.

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###Senses

• Sam's hearing is trained and he hears a kidnapping go down.

• Sam has 20/20 vision.

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##II. Psychic Link with Birds and other Psychic Powers

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###Psychic Link to Redwing

Basics

• Sam was given a link to his bird Redwing by Red Skull with a Cosmic Cube.

• Sam was initially skeptical, but with training learned to communicate with Redwing.

• Eventually Sam developed the ability to see through Redwing's eyes.

• Because Sam shares a bond with Redwing, and Redwing with Joaquin Torres, the three can communicate through the bird. Sam uses this roundabout link to walk Joaquin through a fight.

• The link is strong enough to connect Joaquin to Sam while Sam's soul is in hell.

Practical Uses

• Sam mentally communicates to Redwing to distract a robot.

• Redwing can home in on Sam's location from a distance.

• Sam directs Redwing to disable a Sentinel by flying inside and messing things up.

• Sam directs Redwing to attack a mind controller in order to upset his concentration.

• Sam has Redwing grab a magical artifact that is restraining the team.

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###King of All Birds

Basics

• Eventually developed the ability to see through the eyes of and communicate with every bird. Six billion pairs of eyes in the US alone.

• Sam can use the memories of birds to reconstruct a scene is his mind, though the birds' conception of time is different, so it's hard to pinpoint exactly when something happened.

Practical Applications

Recon

• Finds Steve Rogers by talking to lots of birds.

• His birds eye recon allows Sam to avoid a sniper rifle shot from Bucky.

• Local birds warn Sam about an incoming attack. 2

• Tracks planes around the country while airports are having trouble. Furthest distance 220 miles away.

• Identifies his location after being teleported by checking things out with the local birds.

• Ten to twenty billion eyes looking for someone makes it pretty easy to find them.

In a Fight

• Sam flies in with a huge flock of birds and has them attack Scarecrow.

• Saves Black Panther with a flock of falcons.

• Sam has a flock of pigeons swarm and poop on Grey Gargoyle.

• Sam takes control of Scarecrow's birds even when he's affected by preternatural fear.

• Sam has a flock of birds build a huge nest around him to avoid being rushed by guards.

• A flock of birds picks up Speed Demon and brings him back to Sam.

Other

• Sam uses his power to make a number of genetically engineered creatures retreat because they're part bird.

• Torments a man around NYC and has the birds lead the man to their king.

• Sam connects with the minds of some mutated bird folks.

• Uses birds as cover while making an exit.

• Sam can connect his mind to one of the Elders of the Universe, allowing another psychic to attack mentally.

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###Psychic Resistances

• Sam is able to somewhat fight Grey Gargoyle's mind control.

• Resistant to Nightshade's mind control, likely because of his psychic power.

• Sam's emphatic bond with Redwing helps filter out a psychic trick.

• Sam can still be mind controlled, though he does struggle mightily to resist.

• Despite being turned into a plant by the High Evolutionary, Sam is able to control himself.

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###Miscellaneous Other Psychic Powers/Feats

• Sam wakes up in bed, seemingly sensing that Steve Rogers is in trouble. 2.

• Sam being more receptive to psychic communications from Professor X was the first real proof that his link with Redwing was more than more than natural.

• Overpowers the effects of the Mad Bomb.

• Sam gets a psychic vibe that a phone call is important.

• A faulty old Sentinel identifies Sam as a mutant because of his power.

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##III. Skill

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###Fighting Skill

Wings

• Takes down an entire crowd of armed people.

• Takes down a room full of vampires.

No Wings

• Takes down a gunman then another assailant. Knew someone was sneaking up behind him.

• Sam is given 1 minute to knock Dum Dum Dugan on his ass upon their first meeting. Sam succeeds.

• Casually sends a man flying with a throw.

• Throws Cobra out of a window using a Judo throw.

• Uses a sword to defeat some mummies.

• Fights evenly with Taskmaster for a bit.

• Takes down a number of armored guards armed energy weapons and knives.

Shield Skills

Striking

• Sam knocks Iron Man through a roof with the shield.

• Sam strikes an opponent out of the air, into a cathedral, breaking a pillar.

Throwing

• Sam lands a ridiculously long shield throw from the sky to a guy driving a car by using bird eyes.

• Sam throws the shield, knowing his enemy will freeze it in the air. He then uses the frozen shield as a support to attack the enemy.

• Collapses a machine by breaking its support.

• Shares the shield with Bucky in a fight.

• Throws the shield through a car before flying through and grabbing the passengers out as it plummets to its doom.

• Breaks off one of Annihilus's mandibles with a shield throw.

• Knocks the weapons out of three girl's hands with one throw.

• Passes the shield back and forth with Bucky during a fight. Finishes off with a bounce perfectly between Bucky's legs.

Blocking

• Sam blocks a hammer thrown by Thor.

• Sam blocks some bullets. 2,

• Sam grabs the shield and blocks an energy attack in a roll.

Other

• Long before ever wielding the shield, Sam is able to accurately kick it into an enemy from the air.

• Sam went as Captain America before his official run to shove it down the throats of bigots and used the shield. He showed proficiency, knocking out two guys with a throw.

• Sam inherited Steve's special shield when he took over as Captain America while Steve was old.

• Takes down four dudes by using a trashcan lid as a shield.

• Reflects a beam from Iron Man onto an enemy.

• Gives the shield to Hercules so he and Thor can do a combo.

• Sam, Steve, and Bucky all sharing the shield in a battle.

Training

• Sam was trained by Captain America for a short period before acting as the Falcon.

• Sam had only a few hours to get used to his wings before using them in the field.

• Does some sparring with Diamondback.

• Spars with Bucky.

• Spars with Misty Knight.

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###Notable Fights

• Electro. Round 1 ends in a mutual KO with Electro slightly ahead. Round 2 ends with Falcon winning.

• Captain America. Captain America is mind controlled, Sam destroys the mind control device.

• Ms. Marvel Carol Danvers. Sam is seen fighting with Carol Danvers and seemingly destroying a building from the perspective of people on the ground. Not shown who won of how it ended.

• Batroc. Fight is interrupted by Steve Roger's son, though Batroc is a bit ahead.

• Crossbones. Fight ends in a draw before being interrupted. Sam defeats him off panel later..

• Armadillo Fight 1. Fight is interrupted and Sam successfully appeals to Armadillo's better angels.

• Armadillo Fight 2. Sam wins with the help of Redwing and using the environment.

• Baron Zemo. Back and forth fight. Sam successfully summons his birds to stop a jet.

• Punisher. Both men walk away, but Punisher won. Sam saves Frank at one point from a long fall.

• John Walker. Sam solidly wins by using the environment and birds to his advantage.

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###Stealth

• Sneaks up on two guards and smashes their heads together.

• Stakes out then sneaks up on a wannabe super villain.

• Gets past Bucky's security and sneaks into his kitchen.

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###Social Work/Deescalating Situations

• Talks down a kid with a hostage.

• Talks down a man on a ledge.

• Got a street gang and Ronald Reagan to sit down and discuss their issues. He even got Ronald Reagan to rethink his politics.

• Helps a crack-smoking dad and a crack-selling son try to work on their problems.

• Sam tries to get a former supervillain with abusive tendencies and his daughter the help they need.

• Had a fairly friendly friendly relationship with Mole Man while running an underground railroad.

• Working with community leaders in Chicago to help control gang violence.

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###Other Skills

• Operates a jetpack fairly well for his first time, even reversing it and using it as a weapon.

• Picks a car trunk's lock with a piece of wire.

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##IV. Equipment

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###Wings

• The first set of wings was made by Black Panther. They worked by using solar charged mini-jets in the tips controlled by a direct link to Sam's brain.

• The original wings could be used to block some projectiles, like Plantman's seeds.

• The original wings can be used as gliders when the jets aren't functional.

• Sam had an engineer friend help update his wings and gear. The second set was apparently twice as fast.

• Starting with the second set, the wings were functional under water.

• The second set of wings shown blocking gunfire from a helicopter.

• Sam later had Black Panther upgrade his rig with hard light wings and GPS jamming.

• Sam's Captain America wings can be dug into the ground to give him better leverage/defense.

• The Captain America Wings can carry Sam into low orbit.

• The Captain America Wings are self repairing Vibranium, supplied by Black Panther.

• The most recent wings can be used to shield people. Seen here protecting a few people from a falling dragon and debris.

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###Armor

• Sam's first armor was steel mesh on his second flying suit. The wings could detach and fly on their own.

• Sam's next costume had Vibranium micro-weave armor.

• Sam had Tony Stark modify his wings with Vibranium, which saved him from a huge explosion.

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###Hawk-Hook/Talons

• The original Hawk-Hook is a wrist mounted grappling hook with a nylon line. It was adopted before Sam ever had wings.

• Sam grabs a thrown Molotov Cocktail out of the air and tosses it back at the original thrower.

• Sam fires the talon, which wraps a line around Diamondback's wrist and appears to carry her by spinning like a helicopter.

• Wraps up a woman with a gun.

• The claw can be used while still on Sam's hand, shown here tearing through some cellophane.

• Swings one villain into another.

• On more recent costumes the Talon comes from Sam's fingers. He has one on each hand, seen here knocking the guns out of two men's hands.

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###Other Equipment

• Starting with Sam's second suit, the goggles usually contain infrared and zoom capabilties. He used this to avoid being blinded by a flash bomb. The lenses also protected from a hypnotizing villain's powers. More recent view seen here.

• Originally Sam needed his suit's imaging system to see through the eyes of Redwing. Seen here using Redwing's perspective to grab a gun out of someone's hand with a grappling hook without looking.

• Sam has used electrified knuckles before.

• Had a space suit for when it was needed.

• Tony Stark made Sam a mask for breathing underwater. It works for gas too.

• Sam has used small bombs.

• Sam has a net. 2

• Sam's most recent Falcon costume has flamethrowers on the wrists. Seen destroying vampires. Like blowing heads away.

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##V. Those Times Sam was a Werewolf

• The first time was from the experiments of a very young Nightshade and Sam was out of control.

• Wolf-Sam easily smashes through some steel doors.

• Steve knocks out the rampaging Sam-Wolf, though notes that he has none of Sam's skills. He was slowly transforming back.

• The second time Sam was a wolf was because Karl Malus transformed him. Sam kept his mind this time.

• Sam can apparently smell Redwing through some chambers. And implies other smells were getting to him.

• Wolf-Sam takes down Copperhead, Puff Adder, and Black Racer before being betrayed.

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##VI. Miscellaneous Deeds, Accomplishments, and Experience

• Being the first black American superhero on the scene, Sam's had to deal with some..... stuff. A few select examples: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

• Met Henry Kissinger.

• Sam had an unsuccessful run for congress. The general public is aware of his secret identity.

• Lived a modest life off of a Social Worker's salary, even when operating as The Falcon. He just keeps spare suits in the closet.

• Worked as an Urban Planner with the city after 9/11.

• Steve Rogers isn't afraid to cry in front of Sam.

• Even as Captain America, Sam flies coach sometimes.

• Kept a hotline open for normal people to contact him while Captain America.

• Gave the eulogy at both Steve Rogers's and James Rhodes's funerals.

• Sam might have given the original Avengers their 'Avengers Assemble!' battlecry through a time paradox.

• Sam lived an entire simulated life due to a Cosmic Cube. He remembered everything, though it never happened.

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For Reference: Respect Steve Rogers, Respect Redwing

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Here's the thing. Just you and I outnumber this bad Cap fifty to one, mostly because I'm now counting myself as Forty-Nine Caps.

Hm... That's a darn good point.

Let me know if there's anything missing or broken!

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Sources: Captain America (1968) 'CA' | Avengers (163) 'A' | Marvel Team-Up (1972) 'MTU' | Marvel Premiere (1972) 'MP' | Falcon (1983) 'F' | Solo Avengers (1987) 'SA' | Marvel Comics Presents (1988) 'MCP' | Marvel Super-Heroes (1990) 'MSH' | Marvel Fanfare (1996) 'MFF' | Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty (1998) 'SOL' | Captain America (1998) '1998CA' | Avengers (1998) '1998A' | Captain America and the Falcon (2004) 'CAF' | Captain America (2005) '2005CA' | Civil War (2006) 'CW' | Civil War: Front Line (2006) 'CWFL' | Captain America Reborn (2009) 'CAR' | Nomad: Girl Without a World (2009) 'N' | Captain America: Hail Hydra (2011) 'CAHH' | Captain America and the Falcon (2011) 'CATF' | Black Panther: The Most Dangerous Man Alive (2011) 'BPMD' | Captain America (2011) '2011CA' | X-Men: Legacy (2008) 'XML' | Avengers (2013) '2013A' | Avengers World (2014) 'AW' | Mighty Avengers (2013) 'MA' | Captain America (2013) '2013CA' | Avengers and X-Men: Axis (2014) 'AXA' | Captain America and the Mighty Avengers (2015) 'CAMA' | All-New Captain America: Fear Him (2014) 'FH' | All-New Captain America (2015) 'ANCA' | All-New Captain America Special (2015) 'ANCAS' | Punisher (2014) 'P' | Uncanny Avengers (2015) 'UA' | Avengers: Rage of Ultron (2015) 'AROU' | Captain America: Sam Wilson (2015) 'CASW' | Fallen Son: The Death of Captain America (2007) 'FS' | All-New, All-Different Avengers (2016) 'ANADA' | Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2016) 'AOS' | Avengers (2016) '2016A' | Secret Empire: Underground (2017) 'SEU' | Secret Empire (2017) 'SE' | Generations: Sam Wilson Captain America & Steve Rogers Captain America (2017) 'G' | Falcon (2017) '2017F' | Captain America (2018) '2018CA' | Falcon & Winter Soldier (2020) 'FWS' | King In Black: Captain America (2021) 'KIB'