#FalconAndWinterSoldier

#johnwalker was set up to fail. he clearly has ptsd and tbr is government ignored this and gave him the shield because he was the ‘perfect soldier’ not a ‘good man’. not to say he didn’t have good intentions, but he doesn’t have a strong moral compass.

war, death and trauma has warped and corrupted his morality to the point where it was only lemar who was able to ground him. with lemar dead, there were are literally no hands on the steering wheel.

in comparison to sam who is also a military guy- he luckily did not come out with the same amount of trauma as walker. or he was fortunate enough to have the strength to overcome it. either he isn’t wayward and from TWS we know he has his own solid, unshakeable morality.

this is part of the reason why steve gravitated to him so quickly. he recognised this righteous streak in sam. just like steve, sam won’t move. it’s why steve knows he will be the perfect captain america. and this ‘goodness’ was demonstrated in this episode throughout

his conversations with karli where a real standout moment for his character and disproved zemo’s theory.
“there hasn’t been another steve”

not to call sam a second steve (sam is his own character in his own right), but that same goodness is in sam. sam and steve aren’t perfect-

-they aren’t meant to be perfect. they are flawed, but they are also the ideals. it’s already been said that steve is what america wants to be and john is what america actually is.

sam is probably going to be the middle ground. a touching ground to the realities of america (the racism, the hypocrisy, the injustices because of ones skin colour) while also still embodying the idealistic morality which made steve captain america.

the serum, shield, and uniform is not what will make sam captain america. but it is the small calmer moments as seen with karli, which already makes him as much the hero as steve was. and it’s why john walker could never be captain america.

end of thread.