The Sympathetic Strawman - How Marvel Accidentally Created One of the Best MCU Characters [reupload]

While I think the MCU started to go downhill at the start of phase 4, I was genuinely surprised by the character of John Walker (Captain America), especially considering the writing in the rest of Falcon and the Winter Soldier. As such, I believe that he is an excellent case of The Sympathetic Strawman. A strawman character is an individual in a story that is designed to hold a set of ideals and beliefs that contrast with what the main protagonist(s) and the story itself hold as the correct opinion. Strawman characters essentially serve to hold weak arguments so that the story and the other "correct" characters can beat them down and deconstruct them with the "correct" answer. Unfortunately, there comes times when the story and "correct" characters come against the strawman character and, either because the writer hasn't fully explained why we are supposed to root for the main characters and their opinions, or because they write the strawman character too sympathetically and logically, it ends up making the audience root for the strawman. This is the sympathetic strawman. After remembering my thoughts about Don in 28 Weeks Later, and with a bit of research, I have compiled a list of examples to join John Walker as an example of a Sympathetic Strawman. 0:00 Intro 1:35 John Walker (FatWS) 11:45 Senators (FatWS) 12:41 Senator Kelly (X-Men) 13:19 Red Hood (Batman UTRH) 15:00 Superman (Injustice) 15:54 Logan (Fable 3) 17:25 Don (28 Weeks Later)