Falcon’s Smiling Tiger Alias Is Secretly A Brutal Baron Zemo Insult

In the third episode of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, “The Power Broker,” Sam and Bucky reunite with Captain America: Civil War antagonist Baron Zemo, who saddles Falcon with a potentially backhanded alias. With the Flag-Smashers threat rising, the show’s titular heroes need to get creative with their allies in a hurry. And in this particular case, enlisting the man who orchestrated the Avengers’ self-destruction several films ago might have come back to bite Sam. After all, as a fervent opponent to everything super-soldiers represent, perhaps Zemo gave the Falcon a less-than-ideal alias as a subtle jab to his reluctant liberator.

After Bucky breaks Zemo out of prison to help them find the source of the super-soldier serum, the trio head to Madripoor, a fictional Southeast Asian island divided into Hightown and Lowtown. The latter, a bustling criminal sanctuary, is the domain of the Power Broker—and also the location of the trio’s first lead with regard to finding the serum. To blend in, Zemo requires the group to go undercover. For him, this is easy, as he fits right into the underworld. For Bucky, he need only pretend to be the Winter Soldier once again. But for Sam, a relative well-known Avenger, he chooses Conrad Mack, a.k.a. the “Smiling Tiger.” Sam dismisses the character as a pimp, but Zemo quickly defends him as being merely a “fashion-forward Black man.” Perhaps this defense was a ruse.

When they finally meet their lead, Selby, she immediately remarks that Smiling Tiger is “taller” than she’d expected. This would suggest that Conrad Mack potentially has little man syndrome—a personality complex in which a short man compensates for their lack of height by being socially aggressive or domineering. The stylishly-dressed Mack could have a reputed inferiority complex in the underworld, all without Falcon’s knowledge.

That being said, there’s also ample evidence to the contrary. It can’t be an insult, because it’s already a comics Easter egg. Conrad Mack, the Smiling Tiger, debuted in 1992’s New Warriors #19 where he was introduced in his trademark yellow fur with a pseudo-smile design on his face. He made several appearances in Marvel comics, most frequently as a mute, half-feral antagonist. On certain occasions, however, he joined up with the good guys, even joining the Thunderbolts after the Civil War and registering officially as a superhero.

But the Smiling Tiger that appears in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is a far cry from his comic origins. He’s described by Zemo as “a charming, sophisticated African rake” rather than a mutant animal hybrid who communicates mostly through grunts. Gone, too, are his trademark yellow fur and smiling facial design for which he is named. Perhaps the Conrad Mack/Smiling Tiger reference extends only as far as the name and was merely an Easter egg for the comics fans in the audience while still being a dig from Zemo to Sam.

Whether or not Zemo used this opportunity to insult Sam Wilson, who he knows as the Falcon, their relationship could be generously described as tenuous. As The Falcon and the Winter Soldier progresses, the dynamic between the Baron and his former adversaries-turned-reluctant-allies will be a thread to watch as the Flag-Smashers and Power Broker threats grow.

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