MCU John Walker should've been like Super Patriot
If you guys don't know, in the comics, John Walker started out as the superhero known as Super Patriot. In his introduction, he was at best a massive asshole. He was an arrogant dickhead who made attempts to cement himself as America's new iconic superhero and symbol of America and American patriotism by discrediting Captain America as a superhero.
At the time, John was created to be a character who was meant to represent a clear contrast to Steve Rogers. Fans wanted Steve to behave more like Rambo and gun people down. Mark Gruenwald took issue with this and decided to create Super Patriot as a response to that, having John represent what blind patriotism is and what Steve Rogers should not be.
In the comics, John was a brash, belligerent asshole, while John Walker in Falcon & The Winter Soldier was played more sympathetically. I don't mind that if you wanna create a compelling character, the problem is that this has led to the rise of countless John Walker fans who think that John Walker did nothing wrong. Like, some believe John was more worthy of the shield than Sam Wilson, and those people are just exposing themselves as racists who think the mediocre and unqualified white guy is worthy of the shield more than the actual qualified black guy.
I am sure that not all John Walker fans are like this, but trust me when I say that there are a lot of John Walker fans who are just outright simping for John Walker because his character validates their worldview. They will defend and rationalize John executing that Flag-Smasher as morally right when the show makes it clear that that moment exemplifies why John Walker was never fit for the mantle. Because when push comes to shove, he will do something extremely violent.
Like Steve and Sam went through what John went through, and they never stooped as low as to execute a surrendering foe in a fit of rage. What John did was not justified at all. But you will have some fans say that he was right in doing what he did and did nothing wrong, apparently. Some say that superheroes have killed before and that what John did is not a big deal. Like most of the people I've argued with have used this strawman argument that Steve has killed people before. The problem has never been the killing, but HOW he kills, and Steve never outright committed a war crime by executing a downed enemy combatant. I think Anthony Mackie has said that the problem is not the fact that John killed, but it's the first time that someone has used the shield in such a way, like executing a surrendering foe.
Reading how John was in the comics makes me wish Marvel Studios were not afraid to make John an unlikable dickhead that was kinda hard to defend. Mind you, that I love MCU John Walker, I see his character as someone who you know is not a good person, but is not all that bad of a dude. But my opinion of John Walker's character has been soured by his overzealous fans.
I would like to see John Walker be portrayed as his comic-accurate version. Here are some examples of John being an awful person in the comics. For starters, here is a moment where John had Lemar and two other guys pose as Captain America supporters and threaten and intimidate foreign exchange students at a college, and set fire to their lawn.
Here is a page where a white student accuses the Middle Eastern students of being spies and traitors and some shit, which causes a ruckus. They also believe that their hate speech being shut down means their rights to free speech are being silenced.
Reading this now with a modern context, I am realizing how nothing has changed.
Here is another example of John Walker being a straight-up fascist. Like this image itself takes the cake. He genuinely believes in building a damn border wall and wants to hang Rick Jones. Reminder that in the same series, he is being asked by a bunch of Republican politicians to take the shield away from Sam because they believe Sam is a disgrace to the shield and is fighting back against faceless police men who are profiling and arresting innocent people. John declines at first, but it doesn't take a lot of convincing to make him comply with their order, and he thinks what he is doing is right. Granted, he is manipulated by Hydra Steve Rogers (at the time, Steve Rogers was replaced with a Hydra duplicate of himself during the Civil War 2 event, which led to Secret Empire). Like the fact that he has no problem doing this on the behest of Hydra Cap shows that John is a blind and ignorant fool who did not even once question that something was up about Steve ordering him to take the shield away from Sam.
Reading about John here makes me wish that the MCU version was more like his comic version, making him an unlikable asshole that is kinda hard to defend. Let me remind you that I love John's character, but seeing how many defenders he has who will rationalize his actions, it makes me wish that they made MCU John into a brash and unlikable dick just to see how far his zealous fans will defend him.
Hell, here is a pitch I had to do just this. Make him a villain in the X-Men movie. Senator Kelly and the US government decide to initiate a Mutant Response Division, where they capture and imprison innocent mutants whom they deem as a dangerous threat. John is asked to represent the MRD, which he is happy to do so and becomes their mascot. Like, show him to be an actual fascist asshole who has no problem being the mascot and aiding a Mutant Gestapo. This would make it really hard to defend John Walker, which would be funny as hell. Like, try and rationalize that. This would be in character for John to do; he has always been a government stooge who is loyal to the American government and will do whatever they want him to do.
There is a massive misconception that somehow Steve Rogers hates mutants. He doesn't; he's just written poorly in the X-Men books. So I think having John Walker be the Captain America who hates Mutants and have no problems with hunting them down and imprisoning them without problem. Like, make him a chud. I would love that.
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