| “ | You think you can wake up one day and decide who you wanna be? It doesn't work like that. Well, maybe it does for folks like you. | „ |
| ~ Isaiah Bradley to Bucky Barnes. |
| “ | They were worried my story might get out. So, they erased me. My history. But they've been doing that for five hundred years. Pledge allegiance to that, my brother. They will never let a black man be Captain America. And even if they did, no self-respecting black man would ever wanna be. | „ |
| ~ Isaiah to Sam Wilson. |
Isaiah Bradley is a supporting character in the Disney+ miniseries The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and is set to return in the upcoming film Captain America: New World Order..
He is a Korean War veteran who was unwillingly subjected to human testing's of the Super Soldier Serum in the 1950s. A sole survivor of the trials, he was assigned by the United States military to eliminate Winter Soldier in South Korea, although he failed after a skirmish. After the government feared the ramifications of an African-American super soldier, he spent three decades in prison experimented on by the U.S. government and infiltrators from HYDRA.
In the 1980s, he was freed and was relocated to Baltimore after his death was faked, during which he raised a grandson. In 2024, Sam Wilson became the new Captain America, Bradley's heroics were memorialized at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.
He is portrayed by Carl Lumbly.
Personality[]
| “ | If you ain't bitter, you're blind. | „ |
| ~ Isaiah to Sam. |
In his prime, Bradley was a patriot and deeply believed in American values. He was willing to join the Korean War and even fight and defeat another Winter Soldier, another super soldier, to serve his country. Much like his predecessor Steve Rogers, Bradley showed exceptional bravery, being willing to go behind the enemy lines once again without the knowledge of his superiors in order to save the captured African American POW's of his unit before the U.S. Air Force could bombard the prison camps to hide the evidence of their experiments, believing that these soldiers were his brothers-in-arms and not just "evidence". This daring feat was enough for the U.S. government to imprison Bradley and run tests on him for three decades. His imprisonment forbid him from ever seeing his wife Faith again, and the government also made sure that she never got the letters that he sent her over the years.
Due to both the government and HYDRA using him as a test subject for three decades, as well as witnessing his fellow soldiers perish, these traumas soured Bradley into a bitter and pessimistic individual. This caused Bradley to become deeply disillusioned with America and what the country truly represents. When Sam Wilson brought up Bradley's past, he angrily demanded Wilson and Bucky Barnes to leave his house immediately. Also, when Wilson spoke up about the shield's symbolism, Bradley looked at it with contempt, stating that America would never let any other black man be Captain America, and that no self-respecting black man would ever want to represent America. Bradley's tragic past influenced him to live a quiet secluded life, not wishing his story being brought up to the world, lest he gets targeted again.
Like Barnes, Bradley has a dry very sense of humor. After he and his grandson Elijah were invited by Wilson to the Smithsonian, which he accepted, and saw the memorial that included the biography about his past, this selfless act caused him to cry after finally recieving the closure and recognition for the sacrifices that he made for his country, including going to jail for thirty years.
Biography[]
Korean War[]
Becoming a Super Soldier[]
Following Steve Rogers' apparent death during World War II, the United States of America attempted to recreate the Super Soldier Serum in order to create more super soldiers. During the Cold War, the United States Armed Forces produced several different versions and used African-American soldiers as test subjects, lying to the men that they were being given tetanus shots. However, out of all of the different serum versions they had created, only one was sufficiently recreated, which had been solely administered to soldier Isaiah Bradley.
Encountering the Winter Soldier[]
Powers & Abilities[]
Powers[]
Artificially Enhanced Physiology: The Super Soldier Serum enhanced all of Bradley's bodily functions, such as his strength and lifespan. According to Bucky Barnes, Bradley was feared by HYDRA as much as Captain America.
- Enhanced Strength: As a super soldier, Bradley demonstrated increased strength. Even in his advanced age, he was able to fling a metal can into a wall with enough force to embed itself. He can also carry his heavy potted plants with no difficulty, and even removed the Winter Soldier's titanium arm.
- Enhanced Durability: His bones and muscles are very durable as he was able to withstand against Winter Soldier and inflicted injuries that would be fatal to average humans.
Longevity: As a result of the Super Soldier Serum, Bradley ages much slower than the normal human, a trait he shares with fellow super soldiers Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes. Despite having been born in the 1930s and living up to 2024 without being placed in cryostasis, he has the bearing of a man a few decades younger.
Abilities[]
- Expert Combatant: As a former soldier, Bradley is trained in hand-to-hand combat. During the Korean War, he was able to defeat the Winter Soldier and rip his metal arm off.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- In the Marvel comic series "Truth: Red, White, and Black", Isaiah Bradley was one of 300 African-American soldiers who were used as guinea pigs as part of the United States government's attempts to replicate the Super Soldier Serum. After surviving the procedure, Bradley took on the mantle of Captain America. This was seen as treasonous by the military, who sentenced him to life in prison as punishment, although he was released after 17 years.
- Bradley's past as an unwitting test subject for the recreation of the Super Soldier Serum is an allegory for the Tuskegee Syphilis Study.
