Will We See Joaquin Torres In Captain America 4?

With "Captain America 4" now officially in production at Marvel Studios with Anthony Mackie as its titular character, fans are wondering about the range of implications this new Cap may have on the MCU. One fan-favorite character, in particular, has drawn speculation as to his upcoming possible inclusion in the beloved media mega-franchise: Lieutenant Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez), who made several appearances in "Falcon and The Winter Soldier" on Disney+.

Torres is a good friend of new Cap Sam Wilson's and an officer in the United States Air Force. He starts the series teamed up with Sam for a rescue mission on foreign soil, a heart-racing clock-beater of a scene that sees the pair trying to rescue a captured Air Force captain before the kidnappers can reach the nearby Tunisian border. He later appears while investigating the extremist freedom fighter group, the Flag Smashers, and in the finale, he looks on proudly as his friend takes the mantle of Captain America. Having charmed viewers around the globe, do we have any reason to believe Torres will reappear in "Captain America 4?" As it turns out, we have more reason than you might think.

Joaquin Torres wasn't invented out of whole cloth for the "Falcon and The Winter Soldier" TV show. The 2015 comic series, "Captain America: Sam Wilson," introduced the Mexican immigrant and American hero as a central character to that storyline. While providing humanitarian aid to immigrants at the Mexican-American border, Torres is captured by the Sons of the Serpent, a villainous hate group seeking to sow racial division. While in captivity, he is experimented on by the evil scientist Dr. Karl Malus. These unethical experiments forever transform Torres into a winged combination of human and falcon. Since Cap's previous aviary sidekick, Redwing, was used to induce Torres' transformation, he shares a psychic link with Sam and eventually takes the title of Falcon.

The reason this comic book lore may feed into "Captain America 4" is revealed in the connection between Torres and the Serpent Society. Dr. Malus and the Sons of The Serpent are a splinter group of the Serpent Society, a snake-themed group of supervillains. You may recall that, ahead of the reveal for "Captain America: Civil War," Marvel Studios pulled a joke on the crowd (via Daily Superhero), pretending for a moment that the third installment in the "Captain America" series would be subtitled "Serpent Society." While this was played for laughs at the time, it is highly likely Kevin Feige and his pals at Marvel Studios have been thinking about a Serpent Society storyline for quite some time. 

Whether they decide to pay off this connection in "Captain America 4" remains to be seen, but it sure does seem like the stars are aligning in that direction, and Danny Ramirez is hungry for more of the role.