Legion!

After dealing with Michael Tork all day, the Falcon, aka Sam Wilson, decides to blow off some steam by flying high above the city. While soaring through the air he narrowly avoids hitting a female skydiver. However, the backwash ruins the parachute causing the woman to plummet to the city below. The Falcon quickly saves the woman who turns out to be a wealthy thrill-seeker named Rachel. Sam tells Rachel it’s been fun and to look him up some time before flying away. As he passes a nearby junkyard. His presence has woken something up inside and it begins repeating the same thought over and over: mutant.[1]

Later that day, Sam Wilson is woken up by his friend Sergeant Michael Tork, who tells Sam that he has slept in. Rushing to get ready for work, Sam soon arrives at the office where he works as a social worker. There, he finds a mob of people who are annoyed that he is late. He quickly calms everyone down and settles in his office and begins taking client.

That evening, the Falcon meets with the Legion, a local street gang who are transitioning from a street gang to a peaceful neighborhood patrol. Their leader Xeon wants to hold a solidarity march and want Falcon to clear it with the police so there isn’t any trouble.

After the meeting, the Falcon heads for home. When passing by the same junkyard as earlier, his is suddenly ambushed by a Sentinel that had been dumped there. It believes that Sam is a mutant. Grabbing the Falcon, the mutant hunting robot blasts him with knock out gas. Meanwhile, Sgt. Tork is waiting for the Falcon and wonders why the hero hasn’t shown up. Figuring Sam is off fighting some super-villain Tork decides to go home to see what’s on TV.

Hours later, Falcon wakes up a prisoner inside the Sentinel’s lair and discovers, much to his dismay, that it is already dawn. Needing to get back to Harlem before the solidarity march, Sam breaks out of his holding cylinder. He manages to escape the lair, but the Sentinel is hot on his heels.

Back in the city, the Legion gang is doing their solidarity march and the police, who were not informed before hand, begin hassling Xeon and his friends. Things get violent and Tork is too late to stop a rookie cop from shooting one of the gang members. Cradling his dead friend in his arms, Xeon blames Falcon for what happened.

Meanwhile, the Falcon is trying to shake the pursuing Sentinel to no avail. Passing by a military artillery range, the Falcon tricks the Sentinel into flying through the firing line. Although the robot is heavily damaged it is still functional. Catching the Falcon again, the Sentinel explains how it was created to hunt and neutralize mutants. After a clash with the X-Men, the robot was heavily damaged and dumped in the junkyard where it laid dormant until Falcon’s passing reactivated it.[2] As the robot begins squeezing the life out of Sam. Concentrating, he mentally commands Redwing, his pet falcon, to fly into the Sentinel’s damaged head casing and begin cutting every wire it comes across until the robot is finally deactivated again.

Back in Harlem, the situation has gotten out of hand, forcing the police to start deploying tear gas. As there is chaos in the street, Rachel arrives to take Falcon up on his offer to visit. One of the Legion members decides to avenge his dead friend by killing the rich white woman. Luckily, Falcon finally arrives and stop the gang member from taking a life. When Sam tries to explain how he was detained, Xeon doesn’t want to hear any excuses and blames the hero for what happened. As the gang leaves, Rachel asks how Sam is going to to win back the Legion’s trust. He admits that whatever he does, it will have to be done very slowly.

Recurring Characters

Falcon, Sentinel, Michael Tork, Legion Gang, Redwing

Continuity Notes

1. This story is based on the misconception that the Falcon is a mutant. This idea was first posed by Professor X in Captain America #174. However, Captain America #186 explains that Sam’s mental link with Redwing was created by the Red Skull using the Cosmic Cube. Avengers Annual 2001 would later state that the reason why the Sentinel in this story misidentified Sam as a mutant was due to the fact that it was heavily damaged and was malfunctioning.

2. The Sentinel clashed with the X-Men back in X-Men #96.

Topical References

• In this story, Harlem is referred to as both a ghetto and a slum. This should be considered a topical reference as the neighborhood has undergone a lot of urban renewal and gentrification in recent years. While its still home to lower class families, it is not nearly as bad as it was when this story was first written.

• This story also depicts Harlem as having a community landfill. However, no such thing exists in the neighborhood anymore. However, there are still junkyards in the various boroughs of New York. Modern readers could assume that the Sentinel was left in one of these junkyards instead of a landfill.

• Tork wonders who is on Late Night With David Letterman. This should be considered a topical reference as that show ended its run in 1993.