
No hate to you- but I’m genuinely interested- why do you like John walker? I might be missing something- but when I watched the movies and shows with him his character really really bothered me bc he seemed like this assholey popular jock who developed a savior complex and had no empathy for people- and only did the hero thing for his own ego. Or am I missing something? Because I want to like him— genuinely— I’d love to see his side
For me I see him a lot like Loki (my fav character lol). From the second Walker was handed the shield, every move he made was scrutinized and compared to Steve Rogers. So in everything he did, he kept trying to make the “right” choices to please people, but ended up being way off base because he was genuinely overcompensating for something he couldn’t control (i.e. the fact he wasn’t Steve Rogers and never would be).
So eventually all of that pent up aggression from public criticism and hate erupted into him committing his worst act (k!lling that guy with his shield). Since then he’s been an outcast searching for his place in the world/redemption. All of this is kinda like Loki trying to live up to Thor’s glory and perfection in the eyes of Odin. No matter how he went about it (destroying Jotenheim for Odin) it was never enough. So he lashed out (attack on NY) which sent him searching for redemption.
Damn I’m over here typing an essay and you kinda hit the nail on the head. To further on it, highlighting John’s character to those societal pressures is his good heart deep down. Scenes with Olivia, Lamar, and Lamar’s family help flesh out that he is good just out in a very shitty situation. Even John tries connecting with Sam and actually helps Bucky from being jailed. He even on his own accord picks out food to feed Ava and Yelena even though before he proposed every man for himself
No exactly this. Even when Yelena’s plan started to fall apart because the explosion messed up the lights, Walker fought off the first wave of soldiers and went to find Yelena and Bob. He could have chosen “every man for himself” as he had originally suggested, but chose to wait for a group of people he had literally just met that day.
Oh my God— wait that makes so much sense now— that’s such a good point- And I guess I did the same thing to him too didn’t I? I was really upset about Steve not really being a thing anymore and absolutely hated how the gov (in the universe) tried to rekindle his legacy by pretending that Steve could be replaced and finding like the first great on paper suburban white boy athletic military brat they could and slapping a uniform on him. John walker isn’t bad- he just isn’t cap. And I hated it 😭
Right? But I think Marvel lowkey set Walker up to fail. We had just lost Cap, and when we watch shows/movies, we typically form opinions about other characters through the lens of the protagonist(s) (this case: Bucky and Sam). And Bucky and Sam out of the gate hated Walker and complained every chance that he’d “never be Steve” and “didn’t deserve the shield”. So naturally by the time Walker k!lled that guy with the shield, we all already had an extreme distaste for him because of Sam and Bucky’s
pov. It took me a second watch of tfatws to really grasp Walker’s character. Because the only chances we get to see who he really is without the distorted narrative of Bucky and Sam, is when Walker is with his family and friends. It’s in those moments that we see that he’s just a soldier that was given the opportunity to become more, and now he feels that he’s failing literally all of America. That’s when I was like “oh wait- he’s not a bad guy…”