Sam Wilson

A Harlem-born social worker, Sam Wilson first encountered Steve Rogers on the island of Exiles, and the two forged an unlikely partnership—with Sam bonding empathically with his trained falcon Redwing—before donning a winged flight harness to fight alongside Captain America as Marvel's first African-American superhero.

Few characters in Marvel history have had a journey quite like Sam Wilson's — bursting onto the scene in Captain America #117 in 1969, a landmark Silver Age debut crafted by the legendary Stan Lee and Gene Colan, he arrived at a pivotal cultural moment and never looked back. Over an extraordinary 57-year publishing history spanning 724 catalogued appearances, Sam has become one of Marvel's most enduring and significant figures, racking up an impressive 24 key issues that collectors prize and historians point to as milestones. His world is populated by the very best of the Marvel Universe — he shares his pages with Steve Rogers, Iron Man, Spider-Man, and more, placing him squarely at the heart of Marvel's biggest stories across Captain America and Avengers titles alike. If you're building a serious Marvel collection or simply want to trace one of comics' most compelling and consequential characters from Silver Age origins to the present day, Sam Wilson is absolutely essential reading.