Spoiler warning for The United States of Captain America #3!
Sam Wilson has been fighting alongside Steve Rogers as the Falcon for decades, but for a while, he took over the mantle of Captain America. While the high-flying hero’s time bearing the shield was brief, Steve still feels that Sam has earned the title.
In The United States of Captain America #1, the superfast villain Speed Demon stole Captain America’s shield while dressed as the Sentinel of Liberty himself. Working under Sinthea Shmidt, the daughter of the Red Skull, the speedster has been wreaking havoc across the country and targeting a group called the Captains Network, a collection of people who dress as Captain America and help out in their communities. In an effort to prevent further damage, Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson have been tracking their enemies, teaming up with different members of the Captains Network along the way. Though they have yet to stop Sinthea and Speed Demon, the journey has strengthened the bond between the two protagonists, with Steve showing how much he respects the hero that Sam’s become.
As the two Captains chase their impostor through New Mexico in the opening to Christopher Cantwell, Dale Eaglesham, Matt Milla, and Joe Caramagna’s The United States of Captain America #3, they end up losing him and decide to regroup. In discussing their next moves, the heroes figure out where their enemies will strike next and they even deduce that the phony they’ve been following is Speed Demon. Afterward, they remind themselves why their foes must be stopped, recounting all of the disasters caused by the villainous duo, with Steve adding, “And I want our shield back.” After this, they hit the road toward Kansas to meet with yet another member of the Captains Network: Joe Gomez.
Overall, this series is doing a great job of showing that Steve truly considers Sam a Captain America, even though he’s not using the identity in current comics. Simply referring to the shield as theirs instead of his alone, Steve expresses this sentiment incredibly well. In the second issue of the series, he makes a similar assertion when he remarks about how Sam wears the stars and stripes best. Clearly, Steve is committed to the idea that neither the shield nor the legacy of Captain America are his more than Sam’s. Instead, he considers Sam an equal.
Unfortunately, Marvel kind of botched Sam’s time as Cap in the comics. A combination of circumstances wherein he was hit with numerous failures in a row and lost faith in the nation’s justice system pushed Sam to quit, returning to his role as the Falcon. Still, it seems that the comics are finally taking his claim to the role more seriously in retrospect, perhaps due to his counterpart in the MCU taking over for Steve. Whether or not Sam will continue to carry the shield after this adventure is still up in the air, but even as the Falcon, he will always be Captain America in the eyes of Steve Rogers.