You've just left the executive meeting, where several shots of the Falcon were pinned to the brainstorming-board. Ideas were spitballed, stories run up the flagpoles, and concepts were tossed about. Remember all those problems and questions we talked about over the last few posts? Yeah, those. But as you head back to the office, you look at the files that you've been given. Did you get the most impossible assignment of all? You gotta make the final pitch that will let the Falcon finally break out as a flagship character.
So let's start, as most hero stories do, with the origin. We have ditch the whole Red Skull-slash-Cosmic Cube makeover (which BTW was a retcon of the original story, right?), or . . . do we? As much as I'd like to keep Sam Wilson as a selfless and idealistic Peace Corps member helping a small island in revolution, there's not really a lot of inherent conflict there. How about instead we look for that juxtaposition of opposites-- that "Snap" Wilson knew nothing but the law of the streets, which got him on the fast track of organized crime. Thus, when he finds himself crashed on the island, he has to adapt his street smarts into survival smarts. As he adapts to the rigors of survival, he learns the true value of 'freedom,' as exemplified by the birds that he's always envied and identified with. The ultimate expression of freedom? Overcoming the oppression on the island-- the same organized crime that he almost became a part of. The fight is only half-over, of course. The Big Showdown comes as he returns to the City, dons his costume to inspire where once he instilled fear, and triumphs over the Big Bad.
Because obviously that Big Bad had personally ensured Snap's crash, leaving him for dead, making the justice all that more poetic.
Interestingly, it harkens back to the story tradition of the 'civilized' man finding redemption in the foreign location, but adds some modern, and urban, twists. Is it still a "mighty whitey" story trope, and what kinds of avenues can explore if our hero is black? Is there still freedom in a stratified society? If can only find freedom by being truly 'above' society, like a bird aflight, what contradiction does that make with our very humanity? Truly, that's a trope that any superhero must deal with, and suddenly the Falcon can break out into his own story, with his own themes, on his own terms.
But after all of this, the executives remain concerned. They hoped to attach Will Smith to the project, but he wants to sign on as . . . Captain America. *Forehead slap.* Hollywood…
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