Mind Cage

While attempting to rescue Gabe Jones and Peggy Carter from the Red Skull, Captain America is suddenly betrayed in battle by his partner, the Falcon. With his eternal foe subdued, the Red Skull then makes a shocking revelation: That the Falcon has been his secret weapon since the day he first met Captain America. To demonstrate his power over Sam Wilson, the Red Skull orders him to act like a chicken. Shockingly, the Falcon suddenly follows the Nazi’s orders to the letter.

The Skull’s prisoners can hardly believe what they are seeing and so the Red Skull explains his master plan. He recounts the time when he used took possession of the Cosmic Cube and used its power to swap bodies with Captain America, in the hopes that the Avengers’ own allies would eliminate him. However, the Skull couldn’t help manipulating the situation further and after reveling in Captain America’s torment, the villain then used the Cube to teleport him to the island of the Exiles, former allies of the Skull with an axe to grind. It was there that he first met Sam Wilson and trained him into becoming the Falcon. The Skull then recounts Sam’s story about how he came to the island, how he answered a classified ad put out by the Exiles looking for a falconer and how he joined the natives of the island in resisting their oppressors when he learned that they were Nazi war criminals. The Skull shocks everyone by telling them that it was all a lie.[1]

The Skull then compels the Falcon to tell the truth: Sam explains that he lived in Harlem until he was fifteen, earning the nickname “Snap”. Deciding to travel, Snap ventured to the south where he experienced a lot of first-hand racism. By the time he was 18, Snap had relocated to Los Angeles where his hardened life let to his working with the local mob. Instead of living in Rio like he previously claimed, Sam actually went there on a drug run. On the flight back, Sam decided to take the haul for himself and attacked the pilot causing their plane to crash off shore from Exile Island. Captain America cannot believe any of this because it greatly contradicts the Sam Wilson first met on the island. That’s when the Skull reveals the depths of his deception, claiming that upon learning on Sam Wilson’s presence on the island he decided to use Sam as his pawn. Using the Cosmic Cube, the Skull changed Sam’s personality so that he would be an ideal candidate for Captain America’s new partner, even going so far as using the Cube to create the mental link between Sam and his hawk, Redwing.[2]

Meanwhile, in Virginia, Dave Cox has come to say goodbye to Sharon Carter, saying that he is going on a long trip and won’t be back for a while. He has decided to leave because he has found himself falling in love with Sharon while has been trying to figure out what to do about her relationship with Steve Rogers.[3]

Back at the Red Skull’s hideout, Peggy and Gave are left chained up while Captain America is locked in a room where the Falcon is ordered to fight him to the death.[4] With the attention off them for the time being, Gabe is able to use the razor hidden in his shoe to cut himself free and then unties Peggy. Peggy then uses her hidden radio equipment to try and contact SHIELD. However, this distress call is intercepted by another organization who responds and begins acting before the real SHIELD can come to their rescue.[5] For a moment, Gabe and Peggy almost give into the growing romantic tension between the two of them but stop short of kissing each other by focusing on their mission.

They end up getting some guns and free Captain America who has just knocked out the Falcon in combat. Killing his men with his Dust of Death, the Red Skull tries to escape. When Captain America tries to stop him, his foe throws a handful of the dust at him. Steve manages to prevent his own death by whirling so fast that the dust is disbursed before it can touch him. Unfortunately, the Red Skull manages to escape in the confusion. Cap is forced to let his foe go, because he has to deal with a more immediate concern over what he should do about the Falcon.

Recurring Characters

Captain America, Falcon, Red Skull, SHIELD (Sharon Carter, Peggy Carter, Gabe Jones), David Cox, Redwing

Continuity Notes

1. The whole Captain America/Red Skull body swap that led to Cap’s meeting and training Sam Wilson into becoming the Falcon was chronicled in Captain America #114-119. The pair officially became partners in Captain America #133.

2. All-New Captain America #3 presents a story where Sam Wilson believes that “Snap” Wilson background was a fabrication of the Red Skull to sow doubt in his true identity. However, this simple dismissal puts it at odds with other continuity. See “The Saga of Snap Wilson” below.

3. When Steve retired as Captain America in issue #176, Sharon was pleased. However she became deeply upset when she learned he wanted to get back into costumed heroics in issue #180 and returned to being Captain America in issue #183-184.

4. Cap recalls the last time he was forced to fight the Falcon in Captain America #164, when he Sam was turned into a werewolf by Nightshade.

5. These men are later revealed to be minions of the Druid, as seen next issue.

Topical References

• Captain America states that his first encounter with Sam Wilson happened six years prior to this story. This should be considered a topical reference per the Sliding Timescale as it denotes the passage of time between publication. According to the Timescale, their first meeting (in universe) was actually about two years prior to this story.

The Saga of Snap Wilson

As one could understand the whole Snap Wilson thing grew to become problematic in later years because the whole idea perpetuates a lot of negative stereotypes about African-Americans. The revelation in All-New Captain America #3 kind of tosses the notion away with the Sam (then Captain America) rejecting this version of his past, deciding that the Red Skull fabricated Snap Wilson to make Sam doubt himself.

As you’d expect for such a hap-hazard toss away, it has greater implications to previously established continuity (much in the same way as Tom Brevoort’s tinkering with Reed Richards and Sue Storm’s first meeting.) As I’ve repeated countless times before, Marvel continuity is not conducive to hard retcons to remove history. Doing so is lazy and more something out of the DC Comics playbook.

The intention of tossing the Snap Wilson stuff makes sense. Marvel has been making real efforts to be as inclusive as possible to all readers. That said, the cavalier dismissal doesn’t take into account other stories that reinforce the whole Snap Wilson thing. Notably, Captain America #191 where Sam is made to stand trial for the crimes he allegedly committed as Snap Wilson. He’s found guilty and released on probation due to his time as the Falcon.

Another story about Snap in Captain America #276-278. The plot involved Sam running for congress. The pressure of the campaign caused him to start reverting to his “Snap” persona. Here, the persona is explained as being an alternate personality that Sam created to deal with the trauma of his parents being murdered. These issues are detailed by Sam’s sister and Reverend Garcia in this story arc. In the end, Sam’s loses the election because he reveals the truth about his criminal past to the public.

All of Sam’s profiles in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe up to his most recent profile (as of this writing in June 2021) in Avengers Now! #1, make mention of Snap Wilson and list Sam as having a criminal record in his statistics. Mind you, even Avengers Now! #1 pre-dates the events of All-New Captain America #3.

Marvel has yet to explain all of this since publication of handbooks have become greatly reduced since 2011 with only a handful being published whenever there is a big event planned. So there is no explanation for these conflicting bits of continuity and the likelihood of it being addressed in a handbook will probably have to wait until the Falcon is included in a major event in some way, but I wouldn’t hold your breath.

In lieu of an official explanation, I think that there is an event that can explain how other people remember Sam’s time as Snap Wilson even though that past does not exist. The answers come from the Secret Empire event of 2017. Readers may remember the catalyst behind this story was the Captain America was secretly a Hydra agent the entire time. The event later reveals that this happened when the Red Skull used the Cosmic Cube to change Steve Rogers history. Sound familiar? In the end, the real Steve Rogers was restored and his fascist counterpart became part of a parallel reality wherein Steve was a Hydra sleeper agent (designated Earth-61311 by the Appendix)

That said, one could assume that Sam Wilson his past altered by the Red Skull in the way he later did to Captain America during Secret Empire.