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Captain America: Brave New World is in cinemas now! As well as putting Anthony Mackie's Sam Wilson front and center as the Marvel movies' new Cap, it also brings back another old friend in the form of the second Falcon, Joaquin Torres, as played by Danny Ramirez.
Torres was introduced to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2021's The Falcon and the Winter Soldier streaming series and he plays a more substantial role here, fighting with Cap against villainous foes such as Sidewinder and Copperhead.
Who is Joaquin Torres?
First appearing in 2015's Captain America: Sam Wilson #1, Joaquin Torres is a Mexican immigrant who came to Arizona at the age of six with his family. As a teenager, he began caring for undocumented migrants crossing the border from Mexico into Arizona – a humanitarian effort that put him in the crosshairs of the white supremacist militia group the Sons of the Serpent, who regularly kidnapped migrant people attempting to cross the border.
When Joaquin was kidnapped alongside some people he was aiding, he discovered the horrible truth of the fates of those taken by the Sons of the Serpent – who delivered their captives to the mad scientist Karl Malus for use in his genetic experiments.
Malus, a former enemy of Spider-Woman, Hank Pym (the original Ant-Man), and others, was obsessed with creating superhumans and imbuing people with superpowers. In the case of the inhumane experiments he was performing on Mexican migrant workers, Malus was working on a way to splice human and animal DNA.
This wasn't Malus's first experiment with this concept either – he previously helped genetically engineer and mutate the villains Daddy Long Legs and Armadillo.
Malus took a special interest in Torres, splicing him with DNA from Sam Wilson's falcon, Redwing (in comic books, Redwing is not a drone but a live, trained falcon with whom Sam shares a psychic connection). Torres grew wings and talons along with developing bird-like senses, gaining great agility along with the flight granted by his wings.
He also gained a regenerative healing factor due to the infusion of Redwing's DNA (Redwing, the bird, was also a vampire at the time ... it's complicated), which is strong enough to heal him from seemingly mortal wounds.
Sam Wilson, as Captain America, invaded Malus's facility and rescued all his experiment subjects, including Joaquin Torres. Though most of the animal-human-mutates reverted to their human forms once free of Malus's captivity, through a complicated series of events owing largely to Redwing's altered DNA, Torres stayed mutated – wings, talons, and all.
How does Joaquin Torres fit into the Marvel Universe?
Along with his physical mutations, Joaquin Torres shares a special psychic connection to Redwing – and by extension, Sam Wilson. As a result, Wilson took on Torres as his new partner, bestowing him with the mantle of the Falcon and using their psychic connection to train him as a hero.
Torres became a regular character in Captain America: Sam Wilson, adventuring alongside Sam even after the return of Steve Rogers, who had given Sam his shield and mantle when he lost the youth and vigor of the Super Soldier Serum.
When Steve was repowered and de-aged in the story 'Secret Empire' thanks to the machinations of the Red Skull who also turned him into a world-conquering Hydra agent, Torres joined the other young heroes of the Champions (Marvel's current top teen team) as part of the underground resistance to Hydra.
Evil Steve (or 'Stevil' as we used to call him) was eventually defeated, once again reverting to his heroic identity and becoming the one and only Captain America, while Sam Wilson once again took up the mantle of the Falcon. Torres has remained with the Champions and continues to use the name Falcon with Sam's blessing.
Oddly enough, Marvel Comics has recently introduced a totally different concept of Falcon as a sidekick – though as part of an alt-universe story.
Marvel Comics' upcoming summer event Heroes Reborn (which borrows its name to celebrate the 25th anniversary of 1996's original, unrelated Heroes Reborn) presents a world where the Avengers never formed (and most of them never became heroes), with Marvel's cult classic DC pastiche characters the Squadron Supreme of America taking the place of Earth's Mightiest Heroes.
In this Avengers-less world, Sam Wilson was not the partner of Captain America, but of Nighthawk, a Batman-esque vigilante. In the continuity of Heroes Reborn 2021, Wilson died in the '70s, killed by the Green Goblin, with Nighthawk taking a new partner – none other than Miles Morales, who takes up the mantle of the Falcon since Spider-Man doesn't exist in this timeline.
Who is Joaquin Torres in the MCU?
Joaquin Torres joined the MCU with 2021's Disney Plus show, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier – though his story is quite different to his comic book counterpart.
In the series, Torres is introduced as an US Air Force intelligence officer who befriends Sam Wilson in the wake of the Blip that returned 50% of life to the universe. Over the course of the show Torres helps Sam and Bucky in their mission to take down super-soldier group the Flag-Smashers, even going so far as to infiltrate their number. At the end of the series, with a newly-confident Sam finally taking on the mantle of Captain America, Wilson hands over the mantle of Falcon to Torres, along with his wingsuit.
Spoilers for Captain America: Brave New World
Torres plays a more substantial role in Captain America: Brave New World. In the new film the character has embraced his role as Falcon, fighting alongside Captain America in the movie's first act as they try to retrieve stolen adamantium from SERPENT. He also visits the White House with Cap and Isaiah Bradley before things go very badly wrong. He helps Sam infiltrate Camp Echo One, where they meet the Samuel Sterns and the two fight off the Leader's troops.
His most heroic moment in the film, however, comes when Sterns manipulates a conflict between the United States and Japan. Wilson and Torres take to the skies in their wingsuits to try to stop the US fighters that are attacking the Japanese ships and prevent a war. They succeed, but Torres is badly wounded in the process, tumbling into the ocean. Happily he survives and the ending of the film strongly implies that he'll be back in action as Falcon soon.
Captain America: Brave New World is in theaters now. For more on the MCU, check out our guide to Brave New World's post-credits scene, as well as how to watch the Marvel movies in order.
