Who is Leila Taylor in Marvel? Key ‘Captain America: New World Order’ character, explained

Next year, Captain America: New World Order will swap Steve Rogers for Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson in a brand-new suit. The plot is largely under wraps right now, but, there are several new characters and rumors suggest a love interest will be casted.

For those unaware, we recently reported on intel from The Cosmic Circus which claims Wilson’s Leila Taylor will be in the project. The character has been around in the comic pages for decades and was first created in 1971. In source material, she is a regular human reporter, dated Wilson, and is one of the first people to know his true identity when secrecy of this type was still a thing in superhero culture. She has also been an advocate of equality for Black Americans and others regardless of their skin color and, while often someone Wilson had to rescue and little more, later stories gave her depth and her own power as a good journalist.

In a story with Captain America and Wilson in his Falcon role from 2004, she works to expose drug smuggling in the United States. She and Wilson later get engaged, but this does not pan out and her latest appearances were tied to The Daily Bugle.

Now, as movies can change a lot between production and when they finally release, it is best to take the suggestion the character will be brought back from obscurity with a grain of salt, but, if it does happen, The Cosmic Circus speculates Xosha Roquemore will be taking on the role. She is the right age to be paired with Mackie, though other claims suggest the Diamondback will be given this prominence instead. In the comics, Rachel Leighton was a supervillain first before catching feelings for Steve Rogers. She later sided with him during Marvel’s Civil War and ultimately returned to being a villainous figure, but, in the cinematic universe things can certainly differ so we could also have this and possibly a love triangle of sorts on our hands, too.

Whatever the case, here’s hoping for a tie-in to Spider-Man if Taylor ends up in the film. There has been little on the character since Spider-Man: No Way Home, and he has had some funny moments with Wilson in the past, so this could be a good cross-promotional opportunity, especially if rumors about another film with the character starting soon are even correct at all.