John Walker suffers a mental break and his tenure as Captain America is about to end horribly…
[CAUTION: Spoilers for Episode 4 of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier]
No one asked for a new Captain America. Sam was lied to when he gave the shield to the government, thinking it would be put on display. When John Walker enters the picture, Team Cap are unimpressed, especially Steve’s longtime BFF, Bucky who hates that Wilson gave up the mantle so quickly when their friend trusted him to continue his legacy. Though, no one expected the charismatic newcomer to suffer a mental break and kill someone in front of dozens of people.
In this week’s episode of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Walker’s patience with Sam and Bucky begin to wears thin as they do not follow the rules. He’s also pissed that they let Zemo out of his prison cell. His luck goes from bad to worse when the Dora Milaje arrive looking for the man who assassinated King T’Chaka. He attempts to talk them down but he ends up biting off more than he can chew.
A fight erupts and the Dora Milaje end up taking him down, only pushing his mental break further. Basically, he made them angry by touching them and calling their Vibranium spears ‘pointy sticks’. Yeah, remind us never to make them mad! Like ever. He becomes shell-shocked that these warrior women aren’t super soldiers and were able to take him down.
Never Piss Off The Dora Milaje And Mental Break Leads To People’s Deaths
Walker’s mental break was going to come one way or another and it was coming long before his fight with the Dora Milaje. However, he failed to realise that they’re people who have a code too. He tells them that they have no authority in the situation regarding Zemo. This is what causes the conflict to begin with. His blatant disregard Wakanda’s greatest warriors was just the the tip of the iceberg. This is why Sam tells Bucky to put a stop to it as he has a history with Ayo who is the leader of this mission instead of Okoye who would likely be back in Wakanda.
As the episode draws to a close, we get a look at how dark Walker is becoming. Seeing Karli killing Lamar, Walker’s best friend and partner pushes the new Cap to a very dangerous place. He uses the shield to kill one of the Flag-Smasher’s loyal followers which is witnessed by not just the leader of the anti-patriotism group but civilians too. We then see blood on the bottom of the shield.
This is a parallel to Steve going to the same headspace once upon a time. However, he never allowed his angry to overtake his morals. That is why he didn’t kill Tony when they fought in Captain America: Civil War though he could have.
Walker, on the other hand, doesn’t like losing. If he sees a chance to get what he wants, he’ll take it without considering the circumstances.
Bucky’s Perspective On Walker’s Mental State
Having been unhinged himself, Bucky knows when someone is going to have a mental break. He even expressed his own worries about Walker which ended up being more than true with the death of Nico, the Flag Smasher subordinate.
