‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’: Wyatt Russell Reveals Why John Walker Carries a Gun
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier introduced Wyatt Russell’s John Walker as a different type of Captain America. But one glaring contrast fans noticed in episode 4 was Walker’s gun.
According to Russell, a lot of thought went into the character.And there’s a reason why Walker carries a gun.
What we know about John Walker in ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’
In The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, John Walker is a decorated military hero who is asked to take up the mantle of Captain America after Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) gives Cap’s shield to the Smithsonian. But right off the bat, fans noticed a stark difference between Walker and Rogers.
Walker is definitely not as humble. And he seems too preoccupied with proving himself, unlike Rogers, who only strived to do the right thing.
And in episode 4, Walker’s inner turmoil began to surface. He took the supersoldier serum to give himself superhuman strength. And when his buddy, Lemar Hoskins was killed, Walker publicly beat a Flag-Smasher to death.
Wyatt Russell explains where John Walker is coming from
When talking about John Walker’s aggressive nature, Russell explained how the character differs from Steve Rogers. Both were war heroes. But he noted that the wars of today are far less black and white than they seemed in Rogers’ time.
“Steve Rogers World War II, it was less of a gray area,” The Falcon and the Winter Soldier star told BBC Radio 1. “Culturally we all knew Nazis were bad, let’s go kill them. There was nothing wrong with it. There was nothing.There was nobody saying, ‘Maybe not.’ Now it’s a different day and age, where we fight existential wars. This is where this guy came from.”
“Lots of people have different opinions about the way it is now,” he added. “And our military is very different than it was. So this guy coming from a modern military background is going to be very different than the Steve Rogers of old.”
‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’ star reveals the reason John Walker has a gun
It was weird for fans to see Captain America using a gun, let alone kill someone in cold blood. But in his chat with BBC Radio 1, Russell revealed that Marvel showrunners purposely put a gun in Walker’s hand because it fit in with his backstory.
“Marvel does a really very good job at at throwing those things at you, making you feel uncomfortable because they know,” Russell said. “Those are conversations we talked about — this guy who is now playing Captain America.”
“And so it was almost like well he’s got to have a gun,” he continued. “This guy he would say to the brass, ‘You’re not going to give me a gun? I’ve worked my entire career with weapon, you have to give me a weapon.’ So, I thought they did a pretty good job of riding the line. He’s not going to use it all the time, but he’s got one.”
