Why Rhodey Showed Up In The Falcon & Winter Soldier Premiere

The premiere of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier had a surprise in store when James “Rhodey” Rhodes, a.k.a. War Machine (Don Cheadle), showed up in a pivotal scene. The second of Marvel’s Disney+ shows appears to be, on its surface, a much more traditional Marvel approach than the Marvel show that preceded it, WandaVision. Both Sam Wilson, a.k.a. Falcon (Anthony Mackie), and Bucky Barnes, a.k.a. the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), are dealing with a world turned upside-down in the wake of Avengers: Endgame, with new enemies, new challenges, and new alliances to navigate. However, the series also appears set to navigate more complicated subtext touching upon everything from mental health struggles to institutional racism.

A particularly poignant scene finds Sam Wilson giving something akin to a memorial speech for Steve Rogers as he turns over Captain America’s shield to the U.S. government. Rhodey is in attendance in his Air Force blues, and the camera cuts to him multiple times throughout the scene. Afterward, he and Sam go for a walk through the memorial exhibit for Steve Rogers and Rhodey finally asks Sam the question that’s been on his mind: “Why didn’t you take up the mantle?” It’s the pivotal question around which Sam’s storyline in the series will turn.

Audiences who knew Don Cheadle was set for an appearance in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier may have been surprised to see it come so early, but he’s the only Marvel character who could have shown up in that scene and, more importantly, had that conversation with Sam. Rhodey’s facial expressions throughout Sam’s speech show he fundamentally agrees with Sam’s decision to turn over Captain America’s shield to the government. But as the only other Black man in the Avengers, one not only living in America but also navigating the particular challenges of being a Black man in the U.S. military, Rhodey doesn’t push Sam or openly express his disagreement as he knows exactly why Sam isn’t taking up the shield.

During their talk, Sam explains, “When Steve first told me about the shield, the first words I said were, ‘It feels like it belongs to someone else.’ That someone else is Steve.” That’s a fair way for Sam to feel, and understandable. But everything in the scene implies Rhodey sees what Sam is not yet ready to: How important it would be in current times to see a Black man taking up the shield as a symbol of America. It could be that Rhodey understands Sam doesn’t feel deserving of the shield because of his Blackness – not that he’s right in thinking it, but that that’s how he’s been made to feel. How they’ve both been made to feel in ways both big and small. Rhodey is the only one who can recognize what Sam might be struggling with without even realizing it: That he subconsciously believes it’s only men who look like Steve – not him or Rhodey – who can be Captain America.

That idea is driven home later in the episode. When Sam turns in the shield, a U.S. Dept. of Defense liaison tells him, “It was the right decision.” But at the end of the episode, that same liaison disrespects Sam by taking everything Sam said about needing heroes and repackaging it in a speech to introduce a new Captain America – another blonde-haired, blue-eyed white man. The message is clear: The U.S. government believes the “right” decision is to give the shield to someone who suits their conservative, old-fashioned idea of what “America” looks like than acknowledge that as a Black man who is seen as a hero, it is exactly Sam who represents the idea of what America is at its best. It’s a stark reminder of all the ways in which Sam and other Black men are constantly undermined and kept from being valued as they should even once they’re deemed “successful.” As the only other hero who knows exactly what Sam might be wrestling with, it’s only fitting that Rhodey was the one to show up in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier to be Sam’s support in a tough moment.

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