Early life and military service Wilson was born and raised in
Delacroix,
Louisiana, where his family operated a fishing business. He later became a
United States Air Force (USAF)
Pararescueman and served multiple tours in overseas military campaigns. He was selected to test a prototype military wingsuit alongside his friend Riley due to insurgents' use of
RPGs preventing the use of
helicopters. However, Riley was killed by an RPG and Wilson was unable to save him. After ending his Air Force service, Wilson became a trauma counselor aiding other returning veterans.
Helping Steve Rogers and becoming an Avenger In 2014, Wilson befriends
Steve Rogers while jogging in Washington, D.C., and later agrees to help him and
Natasha Romanoff defeat
Hydra. After receiving help from
Maria Hill and
Nick Fury, the trio travel to
S.H.I.E.L.D.'s headquarters, the
Triskelion, where they engage
Bucky Barnes, who Hydra brainwashed and turned into the Winter Soldier, and
Brock Rumlow. In the aftermath, Wilson offers to accompany Rogers in his mission to track down Barnes. In 2015, Wilson attends the
Avengers' party at
Avengers Tower in New York City and reports back on his progress in finding Barnes to Rogers. Soon after, Wilson is recruited into the Avengers' new roster at the
Avengers Compound alongside
Wanda Maximoff,
Vision, and
James Rhodes. A few months later, Wilson has a brief altercation with
Scott Lang outside the Compound, where Lang takes a device necessary for his own mission. Wilson, impressed by Lang, starts looking for him as a possible recruit.
Sokovia Accords In 2016, Wilson accompanies Rogers, Romanoff, and Maximoff on a mission in
Lagos to stop Rumlow from obtaining a
biological weapon. While there, Wilson debuts a bird-shaped robotic drone he has nicknamed Redwing. Later, at the Compound, he becomes the first Avenger to oppose the
Sokovia Accords, a new law requiring the Avengers to be supervised by the United Nations that Rogers also opposes but
Tony Stark supports. Wilson, Rogers, and Romanoff, who have been in hiding as fugitives, arrive in
Scotland to rescue Maximoff and Vision from
Proxima Midnight and
Corvus Glaive, two of the
Children of Thanos. Wilson pilots their Quinjet back to the Compound where they meet with Rhodes and
Bruce Banner, before heading to
Wakanda to get Vision help. They face off in a battle against the
Outriders on the Wakandan fields. After the battle is over, they try to stop
Thanos upon his arrival from completing the
Infinity Gauntlet, but are unable to, and Wilson falls victim to
the Blip. In 2023, Wilson is restored to life and is brought via portal by
Masters of the Mystic Arts to the ruins of the Compound to join the battle against an alternate version of Thanos. He alerted Cap to his presence through a speaker saying "On your left," a quote that Steve himself used when outrunning him during their initial meeting in Washington. A week later, Wilson attends Stark's funeral. The next day, with Barnes' approval, he receives
Captain America's shield and mantle from an elderly Rogers.
Becoming Captain America Air Force work with Torres In 2024, Wilson has returned to work as a contractor with the USAF with support from his close friend, USAF first lieutenant
Joaquin Torres. He and Torres go on a mission to rescue a captive USAF captain from
Georges Batroc in
Tunisia. Wilson returns to Washington, D.C. and gives the shield to the U.S. government so it can be displayed in a
Smithsonian exhibit dedicated to Captain America, believing that he is not worthy of taking up Captain America's mantle. While there, he reunites with Rhodes. He then returns to Delacroix to help his sister, Sarah, with the family business until Torres tells of him an attack carried out by the
Flag Smashers, a terrorist group that believe life was better during the Blip. Wilson also learns that the U.S. government has named
John Walker the new Captain America.
Partnering with Bucky Barnes Wilson returns to the USAF base to meet with Torres, but he is approached by Barnes, who expresses disapproval that he surrendered the shield. Wilson and Barnes are taken to
Munich by Torres to intercept the Flag Smashers and their leader
Karli Morgenthau, only to discover they all have superhuman strength. Despite receiving aid from Walker and
Lemar Hoskins, Wilson and Barnes are overpowered and the terrorists escape. Walker requests the pair join him in aiding the Global Repatriation Council (GRC) to quash the ongoing violent post-Blip revolutions, but they decline and head to
Baltimore to meet
Isaiah Bradley, a
Korean War veteran and super-soldier whom Barnes encountered in battle decades prior, to find out how the Flag Smashers obtained super-soldier serum. They approach Bradley's house and meet his grandson,
Elijah Bradley, while Bradley refuses to help them, revealing he was imprisoned and experimented on by the government for thirty years. Barnes convinces Wilson to travel to
Berlin and meet with the imprisoned Zemo in an effort to obtain information about the Flag Smashers, during which Barnes secretly orchestrates Zemo's escape. Despite his reluctance, Wilson joins Barnes and Zemo in traveling to
Madripoor under assumed names to locate the source of the new super-soldier serum. They learn from high-ranking criminal, Selby, that the
Power Broker hired former Hydra scientist Dr. Wilfred Nagel to recreate the serum before the trio is compromised and Selby is killed. The trio are saved by Carter, who agrees to help them after Wilson offers to get her pardoned. They travel to Nagel's lab and confront him, learning that he created twenty vials of the serum before the Flag Smashers stole them. After Zemo kills Nagel and bounty hunters destroy the latter's lab, Wilson, Barnes, and Carter fight the bounty hunters until Zemo acquires a getaway car to help them escape. While Carter stays behind, Wilson calls Torres for intel and tells Barnes and Zemo they need to travel to
Latvia to find Morgenthau.
Stopping the Flag Smashers Wilson attempts to persuade Morgenthau to end the violence, but an impatient unstable Walker interrupts and she escapes. After she threatens Sarah, Wilson meets with Morgenthau, during which she asks him to join her movement. Walker and Hoskins intervene, leading to a fight in which Morgenthau accidentally kills Hoskins. Enraged by his friend's death and having taken the serum, Walker uses Captain America's shield to kill one of the Flag Smashers in front of a group of horrified bystanders, who film his actions. Following this, Wilson and Barnes demand the shield from Walker, starting a fight in which Walker rips off Wilson's suit wings before Wilson and Barnes narrowly take the shield back. He and Barnes meet with Torres at a GRC refugee camp where Wilson realizes he needs to be Captain America and passes on his Falcon suit and mantle over to Torres. He then revisits Isaiah, but the latter states his belief that a black man cannot, and should not, be Captain America. Wilson returns home to Louisiana and helps fix the family boat, with assistance from several locals as well as Barnes, who delivers a new Captain America suit he acquired from the Wakandans. While training with the shield, Wilson and Barnes agree to work together as friends. After receiving a lead from Torres, Wilson flies to New York City in his new Captain America suit to save the GRC from the Flag Smashers with help from Barnes, Carter, and Walker. Wilson attempts to reason with Morgenthau one more time but failed, so Carter kills her when she points a gun at him. After carrying out Morgenthau's body, Wilson convinces the GRC to postpone their impending vote to force the relocation of Blip-displaced individuals and make efforts to help them instead. Wilson then visits the Bradley's again, having convinced the government to create a statue honoring Bradley as part of the Smithsonian's Captain America exhibit. He then takes them to see it. Afterward, Wilson returns home and joins his family, Barnes, and his community for a cookout.
Conflict with the Leader and restarting the Avengers In 2026, Wilson is at Abe's Bar in Baltimore and watches the television as it broadcasts a rally for Ross, who has become the next President of the United States. In 2027, Wilson and Torres successfully intercept an illegal sale of
adamantium in
Mexico. Wilson takes Torres to Baltimore and introduces him to Bradley at a gym. At the same time, Wilson receives a call from Ross inviting him and Torres to the
White House. He works out a deal where he can bring along Bradley. At the White House, Wilson is told by Ross of his plan to reform the Avengers and asks him to work with him, as well as picking the new Captain America as the face of the adamantium treaty. While addressing the international leaders, Bradley and four other men attack Ross. Wilson chases after Bradley but watches as he is arrested, before going back to the White House bunker and is told by Ross not to investigate what happened. Wilson meets with Bradley at the prison and after leaving is attacked by Sidewinder, managing to take his phone. He returns to his and Torres' base and they track the phone's last call to a hidden site in
West Virginia. They arrive at Camp Echo One and discover that
Samuel Sterns used mind control on Bradley and the other four men to attack the president, after Ross reneges his promise to release Sterns. Sterns uses his mind control on the military agents there to attack Wilson and Torres. Agent Ruth Bat-Seraph's investigation also leads her to the site. After the trio escape from the laboratory, Wilson and Torres are taken into custody by the
FBI, but break free with Bat-Seraph after the agents become mind-controlled also. They go to
Norfolk, Virginia to meet Wilson's friend who he gives a box of pills too to investigate and speaks to a captured Sidewinder. They quickly learn that Ross is on a ship in the
Indian Ocean and he and Torres fly out to meet him. At
Celestial Island, Wilson and Torres stop two mind-controlled American pilots from attacking the Japanese fleet to prevent igniting a war between
Japan and the U.S. Although successful, Torres is seriously injured. Wilson goes back to
Walter Reed Hospital to watch Torres in the treatment room. He is met by Barnes, who provides some words of comfort. After he leaves, Wilson leaves to get air outside and is met by Sterns, who turns himself in. Before being arrested, Sterns exposes Ross to the public via a live broadcast, causing the president to transform into the Red Hulk. Wilson arrives to stop him from destroying the White House and lures Ross to the cherry blossom field in Washington in an attempt to use the president's memories with his daughter
Betty Ross to stop his rampage. A brutal battle ensues between the two, in which Wilson manages to narrowly evade some of Ross's attacks and cause minor damage, but eventually is caught and has one of his vibranium wings ripped from him. Using the kinetic energy stored in his remaining wing, Wilson severely impales Ross and causes an explosion that temporarily knocks both unconscious. An injured Wilson then reasons with Ross, allowing the president to revert to his normal self. Following the incident, Bradley is exonerated while Ross has himself incarcerated at the Raft, where Wilson and Betty pay him a visit. Wilson goes back to Walter Reed and checks on a recovering Torres, acknowledging him as Falcon and learning how much he meant to him. Wilson tells Torres that he decided to restart and lead the Avengers. He makes Torres an official member and first recruit to the new team, while also discussing getting him a new Falcon suit. Sometime later, Wilson visits Sterns, also incarcerated at the Raft, and is told about the
multiverse and is warned of an incoming attack from other universes. In 2028, Wilson disagrees with Barnes over the
New Avengers. He files for copyright, suing them for the name of their team as he and Torres are already active as the Avengers. == Alternate versions ==