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Many people have idols growing up. Sometimes they’re people they read about or see onscreen. Some find it in family members. John Walker was one such person; he found his brother’s time as a soldier to be the best thing to strive towards. Things don’t always go how you want them to though. So what happened to John? Let’s find out!

Jonathan F. Walker was born to Caleb and Emily Walker in Custer’s Grove, Georgia. He was the middle child, idolizing his older brother, Mike, while his little sister, Katie, idolized John. Mike was a soldier and had gone to war and John saw him as a hero, especially after Mike rescued John when their house caught fire. His parents would later explain that Mike had died in combat which devastated John, but he still wanted to be just like his brother. Unknown to John, his brother had been suffering greatly from his time in combat, he had accidentally started the fire that he rescued John from and he took his own life, with his parents making up the “died in combat” story for the kids. John wouldn’t learn about this until he was well into adulthood.

Deciding to enlist, John would become a soldier as well, but he was never sent to any combat and he felt his time spent in the military was wasted. He would get an honorable discharge and try to find a new path for himself and found the Power Broker. This was a company and man who could give you superpowers… for a price. John would gain heightened strength, speed, and durability, and to help pay off his debt, would join the Universal Class Wrestling Federation. Here, he would don the identity of the Super-Patriot, wrestling other super-powered individuals for audiences.

His popularity would get him the interest in joining up to do hero work, but to ensure he had the best image, he would go up against fellow wrestlers Lemar Hoskins, Jerome Johnson, and Hector Lennox, who would go by the Bold Urban Commandos, or BUCkies. The trio would wear Captain America masks, looking to be rowdy vigilantes to discredit Steve Rogers’ work as Captain America, then John would sweep in and stop them. It worked, the people and the government agreed and Steve Rogers quit in disgust. John Walker was made the new Captain America and would bring on Lemar as Battlestar, his sidekick. The two’s stardom would rise, but they left Hector and Jerome behind, who would don new identities as Left-Winger and Right-Winger and seek out vengeance on their former teammates.

John’s identity would be revealed to the world thanks to the Wingers causing a terrorist group to capture and kill his parents. Infuriated beyond reason, John would kill every one of the terrorists responsible and then go on to capture the two men who revealed his identity and light them on fire. Steve Rogers would return, now as The Captain, to take John down for going too far in his vengeance. This would cause John to lose his title as Captain America after only a short time.

The government wasn’t through with John yet, though. They would have him fake his own death and become Jack Daniels, the US Agent. Now wielding his own shield and costume similar to Captain America’s but far more willing to do what the government told him to, John would join the West Coast Avengers. John would continue working for the government even when he wasn’t on a super team but he did often work with other heroes to some degree.

During the hero civil war, John sided with the government, of course, and was pro-registration. During this time he would lead Omega Flight, in Canada, much to his chagrin. By the end of the war, John would lose several limbs in a fight against the cyborg, Nuke. When given the option of cybernetic replacements, John turned them down for more traditional prosthetics and a job as chief of security at the Raft, the floating super-prison. It would take an encounter with the alien symbiote, Venom, becoming a temporary host, which would regrow John’s limbs.

Another Captain America would take up the shield, this time it was Sam Wilson. The government didn’t much care for Sam and asked John to step in to demand the shield back but John was on Sam’s side, until Steve Rogers stepped in to personally ask John to get it back for him, unaware that Steve Rogers was not who he used to be. This fight with Sam was only the beginning and it would eventually be revealed that Hydra had taken over and John would join the battle against Hydra. Though John had aided in restoring Steve Rogers back to his normal self and stopped Hydra, he would lose his status as US Agent later on upon refusing to open fire on protestors and ended up fighting the government officials who were there with him.

There you have it! John Walker loves his country but often at the expense of himself and others. He’s wound tight and isn’t a role-model but he tries to do what he thinks is right. He’s recently made his first live action appearance on the small screen and is built a bit differently so far. What will John Walker get up to next? See you next time!

Suggested Reading
Captain America #323
Captain America #333
Captain America #354
US Agent Vol. 1&2

Dr. Bustos
drbustos@comicattack.net