Wilson is initially depicted as a veteran United States Air Force Pararescueman who specializes in the use of an advanced jet pack with articulated wings.

A skilled combatant and tactician, Wilson becomes a close friend of Steve Rogers after assisting him during the Hydra uprising, later being recruited by him to join the Avengers.

After being restored to life, he is personally appointed by the now-retired Rogers to become the new Captain America, also receiving from him a specially made version of the iconic shield.

However, believing he cannot live up to the mantle, Wilson decides to surrender the shield to the U.S. government, who in turn appoints John Walker as Captain America instead.

During the ensuing conflict with Walker and the Flag Smashers, Wilson, with assistance from Bucky Barnes, finally accepts the title and passes on his former mantle as Falcon to Joaquin Torres.

He was selected to test a prototype military wingsuit alongside his friend Riley due to insurgents' use of RPGs preventing the use of helicopters.

In 2018,[14] Wilson, Rogers, and Romanoff, who have been in hiding as fugitives, arrive in Scotland to rescue Maximoff and Vision from Proxima Midnight and Corvus Glaive, two of the Children of Thanos.

Wilson pilots their Quinjet back to the Compound where they meet with Rhodes and Bruce Banner, before heading to Wakanda to get Vision help.

In 2023, Wilson is restored to life and is brought via portal by Masters of the Mystic Arts to the ruins of the Compound to join the battle against an alternate version of Thanos.

He then returns to Delacroix to help his sister, Sarah, with the family business until Torres tells of him an attack carried out by the Flag Smashers, a terrorist group that believe life was better during the Blip.

Walker requests the pair join him in aiding the Global Repatriation Council (GRC) to quash the ongoing violent post-Blip revolutions, but they decline and head to Baltimore to meet Isaiah Bradley, a Korean War veteran and super-soldier whom Barnes encountered in battle decades prior, to find out how the Flag Smashers obtained super-solder serum.

While Carter stays behind, Wilson calls Torres for intel and tells Barnes and Zemo they need to travel to Latvia to find Morgenthau.

Enraged by his friend's death and having taken the serum, Walker uses Captain America's shield to kill one of the Flag Smashers in front of a group of horrified bystanders, who film his actions.

Wilson returns home to Louisiana and helps fix the family boat, with assistance from several locals as well as Barnes, who delivers a new Captain America suit he acquired from the Wakandans.

After receiving a lead from Torres, Wilson flies to New York City in his new Captain America suit to save the GRC from the Flag Smashers with help from Barnes, Carter, and Walker.

After carrying out Morgenthau's body, Wilson convinces the GRC to postpone their impending vote to force the relocation of Blip-displaced individuals and make efforts to help them instead.

At the White House, Wilson is told by Ross of his plan to reform the Avengers, as well as picking the new Captain America as the face of the adamantium treaty.

At Celestial Island on the Indian Ocean, Wilson and Torres stop two mind-controlled American pilots from attacking the Japanese fleet to prevent igniting a war between Japan and the U.S.

A brutal battle ensues between the two, in which Wilson manages to narrowly evade some of Ross's attacks and cause minor damage, but eventually is caught and has one of his vibranium wings ripped from him.

Using the kinetic energy stored in his remaining wing, Wilson severely impales Ross and causes an explosion that temporarily knocks both unconscious.

[18]He was introduced as an unnamed former resident of New York City's Harlem neighborhood, who had adopted a wild falcon he trained and named Redwing.

Feige, a self-professed "fanboy", envisioned creating a shared universe just as creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby had done with their comic books in the early 1960s.

[26] In 2005, Marvel received a $525 million investment from Merrill Lynch, allowing them to independently produce ten films, including Captain America.

[27][28][29] In July 2012, Anthony Mackie entered negotiations to star as Wilson/Falcon alongside Chris Evans in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

[33] Mackie appears in the post-credit sequence as well, along with Chris Evans and Sebastian Stan as Steve Rogers / Captain America and Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier, respectively.

[39] Commenting on Rogers' relationship with Wilson, Evans said, "Meeting Mackie's character, he used to serve, now he works at the VA counseling guys who come home with PTSD—they connect on that level.

[40] On including Falcon in Ant-Man, director Peyton Reed said that it was not done just to include the character, rather "[i]t served a plot point; a purpose in our story" and allowed them to enhance Michael Peña's "tip montages", which were written by production writers Gabriel Ferrari and Andrew Barrer,[41] also adding Falcon "seemed like the right character—not a marquee character like Iron Man or Thor, but the right level of hero".

[43] Discussing the relationship between Wilson and Rogers in Captain America: Civil War, Mackie said, "With Falcon and Cap, what's so great is there's a mutual respect.

[54] The response to the character of Wilson was mixed, with Jacob Stolworthy of The Independent feeling he was "memorable solely due to the vibrancy the entertaining actor [Mackie] brings to the role.

"[55] However, Mackie's portrayal of Wilson was widely praised, with Matt Donnelly of Variety noting his "winning tone" and "wry and collegial humour" in the role.