The Falcon And The Winter Soldier Addresses Rumors That He Left Social Media Over John Walker Hate

Move over Thanos, there’s a new Public Enemy No. 1 in the MCU, and it’s the second Captain America, John Walker, who’s gone off the deep end over the last couple of episodes of Marvel’s The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. 

The Disney Plus series has introduced a compelling new antihero into the franchise in Walker, who’s been corrupted by his newfound status and super soldier powers, and is the perfect foil for Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson and Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes. But some fans seem to having trouble telling fiction from reality.

Dunking on Walker has become a favorite pastime of Marvel lovers on Twitter, but there’s unfortunately been a lot of hate – including death threats – directed at star Wyatt Russell himself, from those who apparently can’t tell the difference between actor and character. Earlier this month, it was circulating on Twitter that Russell had deactivated his social media accounts in response to the backlash, but he’s now addressed this rumor and clarified that it’s not actually true. As he explained on The Rich Eisen Show:

“No. Somebody asked me that. I’ve never had… I don’t have social media. I’ve never had it.”

If you do some digging online, you’ll discover that it was actually a Wyatt Russell fan account that was deactivated due to being bombarded with hate. While it’s good that Russell wasn’t hounded in this way, it’s a terrible shame that this fan had to face that instead. It’s probably for the best that the actor’s not on Twitter, then.

In the same interview, he revealed that he has a pretty zen attitude to the whole thing, as he knows that the “ire and hate” isn’t really aimed at him but at his character.

“All the ire and hate and whatever it is, I’d say like, ‘It’s okay, you can feel that way.’ I wouldn’t go too far with it. It’s still a movie. It’s fake. It’s a comic book and it’s a TV show. It’s not real. But it’s fun.”

Unfortunately, while discussion around WandaVision was a lot more light-hearted, the political nature of TFATWS seems to have riled up the fandom in a different way, with a lot of toxicity going around. It would be good if folks could actually pick up on the messages of the shows they’re watching, though. Don’t be like John Walker, people. Be more like Sam Wilson.

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier reaches its season finale this Friday, April 23rd on Disney Plus.