U.S. Agent

Superherobox|


caption=U.S. Agent.
Art by Leinil Francis Yu.
comic_color=background:#ff8080
character_name=U.S. Agent
real_name=John F. Walker
species= Human (empowered)
publisher=Marvel Comics
debut="Captain America" (vol. 1) #323 (November 1986)
creators=Mark Gruenwald
Paul Neary
alliance_color=background:#ffc0c0
alliances=Omega Flight New Invaders S.T.A.R.S. The Jury Force Works Secret Defenders West Coast Avengers Commission on Superhuman Activities Bold Urban Commandos
partners = Battlestar
aliases=Jack Daniels, Super-Patriot, Captain America
powers=Superhuman strength and stamina
Peak human agility, reflexes, and durability|

U.S. Agent (John Walker, formerly the second Super-Patriot and the sixth Captain America) is a fictional character, a comic book superhero in the Marvel Comics universe. He was created by Mark Gruenwald and Paul Neary in "Captain America" (vol. 1) #323 (November 1986).

Publication history

U.S. Agent's early appearances included issues of "Captain America" and "West Coast Avengers"/"Avengers West Coast." During the 1990s, U.S. Agent wore a discarded costume of Steve Rogers, the original Captain America, which was black and had a different alignment of the stars and stripes to differentiate it from Steve Rogers' original Captain America suit design.

Like some West Coast Avengers teammates who had their own series ("Iron Man" and Hawkeye in "Solo Avengers"), the character was popular enough to earn his own limited series in 1993. The mini-series was used to finish off a long-standing Marvel Universe plot thread involving the Scourge of the Underworld.

During the events of Maximum Security, U.S. Agent was given a new uniform reminiscent of riot police uniforms and similar in style to Judge Dredd or Guy Gardner. He continued to use that uniform in his 2001 mini-series, which followed the events in Maximum Security and was written and drawn by Jerry Ordway.

Fictional character biography

Origin

John Walker grew up idolizing his older brother, Mike. Mike was a soldier and helicopter pilot who died in the Vietnam War. John wanted to honor his brother's memory by enlisting in the military.

After John left the military, he was told by a friend about the Power Broker, a mysterious individual who gave people superhuman abilities. Walker and his friend received the treatment, which granted the gifts of superhuman physical power.

uper-Patriot

*First Appearance "Captain America" (vol. 1) #323Walker, now in debt, needed a way to pay back the Power Broker. Walker intended to join the Unlimited Class Wrestling Federation, until he met Ethan Thurm. Thurm persuaded Walker to become a hero instead. With Thurm backing him, Walker debuted as the corporate-sponsored Super-Patriot. Walker, as Super-Patriot, traveled the country promoting his image to the nation.

Walker organized a rally in Central Park to publicly criticize Captain America. At this rally, Walker was attacked by self-proclaimed 'supporters' of Captain America, called the B.U.C.s (Bold Urban Commandos) or "Buckies". The Buckies wore variations on Captain America's deceased sidekick Bucky's costume. Walker defeated these protesters and proclaimed to Captain America that the people should decide who was worthy of being Captain America. These Buckies were in fact frauds, who staged the fight in order to heighten Super-Patriot's status to the American people.

Walker would go on to demand a challenge from Captain America, with Captain America declining. Captain America told Walker that he would keep an eye on him. Later, Captain America thought that Walker was behind the Buckies, because they were now his partners. Captain America attacked, but "lost" to Super-Patriot (thinking afterwards that no one wins every fight). Captain America actually dominated the fight, and neither man fell, with Captain America feeling that the confrontation had ended in a draw. But the brash Super Patriot - having struck the Captain squarely in the chest with a throwing star that caused little to no actual damage - felt inclined to declare victory. After his fight with Captain America, Walker killed a terrorist named Warhead who had threatened to detonate a nuclear weapon in Washington, D.C.

Walker is technically the second Super-Patriot character in the Marvel Universe. The first Super-Patriot debuted in "Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D." (vol. 1) #13 in July 1969 and would never appear again. The original Super-Patriot's costume bears no resemblance to that used by John Walker.

Captain America

*First Appearance "Captain America" (vol. 1) #333Soon after, the original Captain America, Steve Rogers, was forced to abandon his costume and identity or blindly serve the U.S. Government. Rogers resigned, donning a black costume and called himself the Captain. Dr. Valerie Cooper, a member of the Commission on Superhuman Activities, suggested that Walker should be made the new Captain America. After a meeting with her, Walker was made the sixth Captain America. The Commission's chairman, Douglas Rockwell, was secretly an ally of the Red Skull. The Red Skull came up with the plan of destroying Captain America's image and at this point, his plan was working.

Walker was trained in the use of Captain America's shield by the Taskmaster, and was partnered with a new Bucky, Lemar Hoskins. Hoskins was originally a member of the BUCkies, who later changed his codename to Battlestar. As the new Captain America and Bucky, they followed the orders of Adrian Sammish.

Although he made an honest effort to emulate Rogers' ethics, Walker was more brutal than his predecessor, due to his reactionary points of view. Walker's former partners, now calling themselves Left-Winger and Right-Winger, revealed Walker's identity to the press because they were jealous of his new success. His parents were subsequently killed by The Watchdogs, a militia group under the control of the Red Skull. This incident drove Walker ever closer to a mental breakdown. In a state of rage, he killed many of the Watchdogs and eventually caught up to Left-Winger and Right-Winger, leaving them to die in an explosion. They survived (barely) because of the condition of their bodies' physiology, but they were left terribly burned and in critical condition.

The Red Skull, now in a clone body of Steve Rogers, lured Walker to Washington, D.C. The Skull attacked Walker through Walker's rogues gallery of his villains. Then the Red Skull arranged for Walker to confront the Captain. Rogers defeated Walker - this time not only dominating the fight again, but also dealing the knock-out blow that had proved elusive during their first encounter - and confronted the Red Skull directly. Walker woke up and threw his shield at the Red Skull, preventing him from exposing Rogers to his "dust of death." Instead, the dust was inhaled accidentally by the Red Skull, giving his head a reddish skull appearance, but the Skull escaped.

Rogers and Walker gave a report to the Commission, with the Commission giving the uniform of Captain America back to Steve Rogers. At a press conference announcing the return of the original Captain America, General Haywerth had set up the false death of Walker, Haywerth wanting to set up John Walker in a new identity. To take the edge off of Walker's psychosis, he was hypnotized into believing his parents were still living and he would not recover his full memory for many years.

U.S. Agent

*First Appearance "Captain America" (vol. 1) #354

Avengers & Force Works

Walker soon resurfaced as the U.S. Agent, wearing a variation of the costume that Rogers had worn as the Captain and using his vibranium disc as a shield. Walker continued to work for the Commission. He was placed as a watchdog of West Coast Avengers and the Vision by the Commission, as a condition to possibly get their government clearance reinstated.

U.S. Agent fought alongside the Avengers in several battles. After the Avengers moved to a United Nations based charter, he received only one vote (though not from himself) in the ensuing vote and consequently lost his place on the team. Even with his personality conflicts and reckless behavior, he proved himself worthy of being an Avenger and was able to rejoin.

When the West Coast Avengers dissolved, he dumped his U.S. Agent costume and shield into the Hudson River. Soon after, most of the then-current members of the West Coast Avengers, were asked by Tony Stark to found Force Works, and U.S. Agent joined them, wearing a new costume and using an energy-based shield. When Force Works was re-absorbed into the Avengers lineup, he left the team.

During this time, U.S. Agent was featured in a Marvel UK comic called "Super Soldiers", teaming up with American and British soldiers empowered by a variation of the drugs that created Nuke.

Liegeman

*First Appearance "Avengers" (vol. 3) #2U.S. Agent was briefly referred to as the Liegeman in "Avengers" (vol. 3) #2-3 as it was the codename for him in the Morgan le Fay verse.

The Jury & S.T.A.R.S.

He eventually became the field leader of the Jury, a group of armored corporate vigilantes, owned by Edwin Cord, owner of Cordco. U.S. Agent again wearing his original U.S. Agent uniform and now using an eagle-shaped shield that could be directed in midair via remote control. The Jury's job was to take down the Thunderbolts, but they were defeated by the Thunderbolts and their new leader Hawkeye, a former Avenger teammate of Walker's. The Jury attempted to apprehend the Thunderbolts a second time, but instead the two groups joined forces together against Brute Force and the soldiers of the Secret Empire.

U.S. Agent was severely beaten to near death by Protocide. Due to emergency medical procedures performed on him, he was outfitted, by S.H.I.E.L.D., with an enhancing exo-skeleton.

Following his recovery, he soon adopted a new costume and rejoined the Commission on Superhuman Activities, with the position at the head of the federal government's U.S. Marshal division, called S.T.A.R.S., the Superhuman Tactical Activities Response Squad. The group battled alien invaders and superhuman threats and was responsible for their imprisonment.

Invaders

Most recently, he was a member of the New Invaders, wearing a more Captain America-like costume. When most of that group disbanded in the wake of the apparent death of the original Human Torch, U.S. Agent, Union Jack (Joseph Chapman), and the Blazing Skull are still together as members. Towards the beginning of the run, U.S. Agent insisted on being called Captain America, although many of the older team members who knew the original Cap refused to do so.

Choosing Sides

In the special one-shot "", U.S. Agent is forced to choose a side. He must choose between the government he has always remained loyal to or the man whose legend he attempted to uphold.

Omega Flight

In "" U.S. Agent was a part of the line-up of Omega Flight. He was assigned to the team as an American representative, but is personally motivated out of hate towards the Purple Man who humiliated him and stole his shield.

Powers and abilities

As a result of the experimental mutagenic process conducted on him by the Power Broker, John Walker has superhuman strength. His endurance is also heightened albeit to a lesser degree. His speed, agility, dexterity, reflexes, coordination, and balance are of the order of a superior Olympic athlete.

Aside from the above advantages, U.S. Agent is an exceptional hand-to-hand combatant trained in Captain America's own fighting style, by the Taskmaster. He is also a seasoned combat veteran with military combat experience in tactical and strategic planning and observations, special operations, and is highly proficient in the use of conventional firearms.

He is capable of using his shield for defensive purposes and as a weapon. He has great accuracy at throwing his shield and due to his superhuman strength, it is potentially a lethal weapon. He also uses an energy truncheon that is capable of knocking out opponents. It can be also used as an energy laser to cut objects.

At one point, the Agent used wrist guards which produced an energy shield as well as energy blasts.

Other Versions

Marvel Zombies

In one panel, U.S. Agent is shown as one of the surviving heroes. He questions why Magneto is present, to which Nick Fury answers "anyone who is not a zombie is an ally."

In other media

Television

*Though Force Works frequently appeared in the "Iron Man Animated Series", the U.S. Agent was not in it (maybe for his excessively rough attitude) being replaced by Hawkeye. He did appear in the connected 8 issue series "Marvel Action Hour: Iron Man".

Video games

*U.S. Agent appears as a palette swapped version of Captain America in "Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter". In "", he appears as a supporting character who can assist the player in battle with a special move.

* U.S. Agent is an alternate costume for Captain America in the action-RPG .

Toys

*In 1990, ToyBiz produced a U.S. Agent action figure for their Marvel Superheros toyline. The figure was merely a repaint of the previously released Captain America action figure.

*In 1995, ToyBiz released an action figure line for the Iron Man Animated Series. A U.S. Agent action figure was produced but never made it to mass market. However, the figure eventually did get released in international markets and the odd short packed case. It became one of the more valuable figures in the line. ToyBiz did release the original version of the figure at a convention, that version usually sells for 2-3 times more than that of the international release.

*U.S. Agent is in the Marvel minimates license. He is a two inch figure that comes with his shield, and a repainting of Blade's belt. He appears in the pack with the Taskmaster.

Bibliography

List of titles

* "Alpha Flight" (vol. 1) #102-103
* "Avengers" (vol. 1) #332-333, 345
* "Avengers" (vol. 3) #1-4, 35, 56, 82-84, 86-88, 501-503
* "Avengers West Coast" #50-51, 53-63, 65-69, 71-72, 74-82, 84-96, 100-102
* "Avengers West Coast Annual" #5, 8
* "Avengers: The Crossing"
* "Captain America" (vol. 1) #323, 354, 358, 372-378, 390-382, 400-401
* "Captain America" (vol. 3) #10, 20, 33-35, 50
* " #1
* "Force Works" #1-10, 12-22
* "Infinity Gauntlet" #2
* "Iron Man" (vol. 1) #311-312, 317, 322
* "Marvel Comics Presents" #104, 159-161
* "Maximum Security" #1-3
* "Moon Knight" Vol. 3 #50
* "New Invaders" #0-4, 6-9
* "Secret Defenders" #20-21
* "Omega Flight" #1-5 (Planned mini-series beginning in April 2007)
* "Thunderbolts" #23, 28, 32, 57
* "U.S. Agent" (vol. 1) #1-4 (June 1993 - September 1993)
* "U.S. Agent" (vol. 2) #1-3 (August 2001 - October 2001)
* "War Machine" #9-10, 15, 20-21
* "West Coast Avengers" #44-47
* "West Coast Avengers Annual" #4
* "Wolverine" (vol. 2) #134
* "Wonder Man" (vol. 1) #16-18

ignificant stories

* "West Coast Avengers" #44 (May 1989); "Better a widow..." - U.S. Agent joins the Avengers.
* "Force Works" #1 (July 1994); "Day-Break" - U.S. Agent involved in the creation of the new team.
* "Maximum Security" #1 (December 2000); "Illegal Aliens" - U.S. Agent is made head of S.T.A.R.S.
* "Avengers" (vol. 3) #82-84 & "New Invaders" #0 (July 2004 - August 2004); "Once an Invader" - U.S. Agent fights the Avengers and is involved in the creation of the new Invaders.
* "Civil War: Choosing Sides" one-shot; U.S. Agent is assigned to join Omega flight.

External links

* [http://www.geocities.com/avengers_usagent/ USagent Website]