When Sam Wilson retired from using the name “the Falcon” and became Captain America, that left a role to be filled in the MCU. At the end of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, we learn that Sam bequeathed his Falcon wings and gear to Joaquín Torres, a U.S. Air Force Intelligence Officer who was Sam’s buddy. A friend who was clearly close enough to Sam, that he trusted him to carry on his legacy. He’ll return as the Falcon in Captain America: Brave New World, once again portrayed by Danny Ramirez. But much like Sam Wilson himself, his Marvel Comics history is significantly different from his MCU counterpart.
Joaquín Torres First Appeared in Sam Wilson: Captain America in 2015
Joaquín Torres first appeared in the comics in Sam Wilson: Captain America #3 in 2015. In the Marvel Comics universe, he wasn’t an adult military officer, but a Mexican immigrant teenager to the United States. Joaquín immigrated from Mexico to the U.S. when his grandparents crossed the border when he was only six years old. Growing up in Arizona, he became an honor student at his local high school. But he never forgot his roots, often leaving food and supplies for those crossing the border like he once did. Joaquín Torres gained a reputation as a local good Samaritan.
During one of those instances of assistance, Joaquín was kidnapped with other migrants by the terrorist organization the Serpent Society. These longtime foes of Captain America were taking migrants they thought no one would miss, or even be able to track down, and turning them over to Dr. Karl Malus. This Marvel mad scientist first appeared in the pages of Spider-Woman in 1980 and was obsessed with doing genetic experimentation on people. His goal was to give them superhuman powers, just to see if he could create a new species, similar to the High Evolutionary. He’d later fight the West Coast Avengers, and even Carnage.
Joaquín Torres Becomes a Human/Falcon Hybrid, Cap’s New Partner
Eventually, Sam Wilson, then a newly christened Captain America, found out about Joaquín’s disappearance from his grandmother. Cap ultimately found that Joaquín was a prisoner in Malus’ secret lab in New York, where Malus experimented on him. Malus successfully transformed the teenage Joaquín into a falcon/human hybrid. Malus used Sam Wilson’s longtime avian companion Redwing, giving Joaquín a similar psychic bond with the bird that Sam had. Not only that, but because Sam has a psychic bond with Redwing, by proxy, Joaquín has one with Sam now too. He also now had enlarged, avian eyes. Joaquín soon found out that the genetic alterations that Malus had done to him were irreversible.
After Malus’ defeat, Sam rescued Joaquín where he remained under his care for a time. Unlike Sam Wilson, Joaquín didn’t need a wingsuit to fly, his arms actually became wings. His feet and hands became like talons. He also had some regenerative powers, although not quite on a Deadpool or Wolverine level. This is due to Redwing having once been infused with the vampiric DNA of Steve Rogers’ enemy, Baron Blood. So Joaquín has a little bit of vampire in him (comics are wild, man). Sam Wilson soon began training him as a fighter, and it wasn’t long before Joaquín became the new Falcon, and partner to Sam’s Captain America, just as Sam was once a partner to Steve Rogers. In fact, his new green and gold costume was a tribute to the original suit Sam wore when he met Steve Rogers. Everything came full circle.
Joaquín Torres’ MCU Future in Captain America: Brave New World and Beyond
Already, Joaquín Torres’ backstory is significantly different in the MCU. For starters, he’s an adult, not a teenager. He can only fly because Sam Wilson gave him his old mechanical wings. He’s not any kind of human/falcon hybrid, a mad scientist’s experiment (at least that we know of). But who knows what will happen to him down the line? His MCU future is wide open. Maybe the upcoming mutant ascendency in the MCU will reveal he has powers. Joaquín Torres is a relatively new character even in the comics, so the folks at Marvel Studios don’t have as much history to draw from, and have room to create their own story. In any case, we’re excited to see what that means for Marvel’s second heroic Falcon.