John Walker Makes Captain America Not Killing Iron Man Even More Powerful

Warning! Contains SPOILERS for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier episode 4, "The Whole World is Watching."

John Walker snapped and murdered a Flag-Smasher in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier episode 4, in a brutal scene that not only paralleled Captain America: Civil War, but made Steve Rogers' decision to not kill Iron Man all the more powerful. John Walker had already shown himself to be a less-than-worthy successor to Steve in the first half of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, with the new Captain America ostensibly doing his best, but displayed both ego and anger as he struggled to live up to the man who wielded the shield before him. That alone was enough to make MCU fans dislike Walker, but it was nothing compared to what happened in Falcon and Winter Soldier episode 4, "The Whole World is Watching."

Continuing to go to any measures necessary to both prove himself as the new Captain America and to take down the Flag-Smashers, Walker ended up taking the last remaining vial of Super Soldier Serum in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier episode 4. Of course, as Abraham Erskine himself warned back in Captain America: The First Avenger, the serum amplifies that which is within. For Steve, that meant good became great. But for Walker, while he has incredible physical gifts, bad becomes worse with regards to his aggressiveness. When Battlestar is killed by Karli Morgenthau, Walker loses it; he gives chase to Nico, the nearest Flag-Smasher he can find, and viciously beats him to death with the Captain America shield.

The ending of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier episode 4 is one of the darkest, bloodiest moments in MCU history, but there is one previous movie scene it has echoes of - if only to prove the point. Even in Marvel Comics, Captain America would almost never use the edge of the shield in the way Walker does in Falcon and Winter Soldier, but Steve did use it like that against Iron Man in Captain America: Civil War.

How John Walker's Shield Murder Parallels Captain America vs. Iron Man

Iron Man vs Captain America in Civil War

Coming at the end of the fight between Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes, and Tony Stark in Captain America: Civil War, Steve used his shield to beat down Iron Man. Unlike Nico, Tony was somewhat protected by his Iron Man armor, which is what prompted Steve to use his shield in the first place - he was so consumed by his anger that his fists weren't enough, his face similarly contorted in rage like Walker's is, and yet even then he's able to show greater restraint when it matters most. There was even a similar circumstance. Walker was primarily motivated by the death of Lemar Hoskins; Civil War gave Steve a lot of things to fight for/against, including the Sokovia Accords, but none more important to him than Bucky.

Both Walker and Steve use their shields to try and either avenge or help defend the person who, in that moment, means the most to them in the world: Battlestar has been killed by a Flag-Smaher, so Walker wants to tear them apart. Iron Man is desperate to take Bucky down (and causes him considerable harm), and Steve needs to stop him. Walker viciously beats Nico to death, and Steve has the opportunity to kill Tony, once his helmet is removed. Instead, Steve drove Captain America's shield into Iron Man's arc reactor, leaving it there. Unlike Walker, he made the decision not to kill when he very easily could've done, and that shows just why he was worthy of the Cap mantle, and why Walker never could be.

John Walker Killing Nico Shows How Good Steve Rogers Was

John Walker with bloody Captain America shield in Falcon and Winter Soldier.

That Walker reacts with rage to the loss of his closest friend is understandable, but it's the ability to control those emotions, and to still be able to do the right thing, that separates him from Steve. Be it fighting against Iron Man or when he thought Bucky had died in The First Avenger, the original Captain America never went too far. Steve himself has killed people, but he always maintained a sense of perspective, of right and wrong, and of knowing where to draw the line. That was most evident in Captain America: Civil War than anywhere else: it was the situation where things were the most personal and most emotional for him to face, and his ability even at the very end to hold back was impressive then, but feels all the more powerful knowing just how it could have went down.

It's noteworthy, too, that Steve Rogers left the shield behind at the end of Captain America: Civil War, following Tony telling him that it doesn't belong to him. At this point, Steve knows he's right: he is at odds with the U.S. Government, and he can't carry the symbol of it because there's a divide over what that represents. He doesn't exactly leave the Captain America shield behind because of how he attacks Iron Man, but there's a sense in which he recognizes that is enough and he is done with it. In contrast, Walker holds on to the bloody shield; clearly he isn't proud of his actions, but by keeping it in his grasp it means the moment lingers, and the shield continues to be re-defined - it is the symbol of his horrific attack, and the name Captain America has been smeared in blood.

John Walker's murder of Nico, and its similarities to Captain America: Civil War, fully bring home how different he is to Steve. He may be a better soldier even without the serum, and perhaps stronger than Steve with it, but he isn't as good a person. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is reckoning with the legacy of Captain America, but it's increasingly clear - more so than it already was - just how great a man Steve Rogers was. Walker takes the Super Soldier Serum because he's trying to be the best Captain America he can be, but if there'd instead been a greater focus on being a better person, things might not have played out how they did. Walker becomes the ultimate dark mirror to Steve in this instance; a reflection in the shield, showing the broken symbol Captain America has become, which is something Steve never allowed it to be.

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