Sam Wilson’s Bucky Speech Confirms He’s Avengers 5’s Best Leader

Sam Wilson’s heartfelt speech to Bucky in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier episode 5 proves he’s the best candidate to lead the MCU’s next team of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in an eventual Avengers 5 movie. With Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, and Natasha Romanoff gone, the MCU is in need of a revamped lineup of Avengers. The number of superpowered individuals will not be an issue, considering the amount of new heroes making their debut in Phase 4. However, only a handful of them will likely make up the core members of the team, and only one may take the role of leader.

Sam Wilson started out as a former pararescue airman who casually befriended Steve Rogers. After proving himself a great fighter with his EXO-7 wings, he became the hero “Falcon” — an official member of the Avengers. Despite not having any superpowers, Sam managed to hold his own against the likes of the Winter Soldier, Ant-Man, Spider-Man, Iron Man, and Thanos’ army. In The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Sam has fought more than one super soldier, including an enraged John Walker, and lived to tell the tale. But above all of these physical feats, Sam Wilson has put his leadership, courage, and empathy on display.

As Tony Stark said in Avengers: Age of Ultron, the man inside the Iron Man suit just paid for everything, designed everything, and “made everything look cooler” while Steve Rogers actually spearheaded the Avengers. Similarly, the next iteration of the team will probably benefit from Jane Foster’s might, Shuri’s intellect, and Doctor Strange’s mystical power, but the force that may tie them together would be Sam Wilson’s guidance. Sam’s skills as a leader are best displayed during his dialog with Bucky at the end of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier episode 5, where he tells Bucky to actually put in the work when correcting the errors of his past. When Sam tells him “you weren’t amending, you were avenging”, he’s prioritizing his friend’s wellbeing over the typical act of fighting bad guys.

Sam also provides Bucky with some tough love when he tells him that he isn’t making much progress by just saying sorry. Sam could have let Bucky take the slow way toward redemption, but he still chose to confront him and advise him to truly make amends by reaching people and be of service. Sam grasps the Captain America shield with confidence while he offers his advice, as if giving an inspiring speech was one of the tests in his self-issued superhero training.

It seems that Steve Rogers was always right in his decision to pass on the torch to Sam Wilson despite the disparaging situations Sam had to endure after giving up the shield, such as witnessing Captain America’s legacy be tarnished by John Walker, learning about the pain that Isaiah Bradley went through, and having to let the Flag-Smashers slip away from him. Fortunately, all these circumstances have turned Sam Wilson into the best Captain America this new era of the MCU could ever wish for, from The Falcon and the Winter Soldier through Avengers 5 and beyond.

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