Origin

Joaquin Torres is seventeen years old living somewhere between Tuscon, AZ and Sonoita, AZ. He came to America from Mexico illegally with his mother and grandmother when he was a young boy. Joaquin is a Samaritan, one who runs food, water, and medicine to broder crossers so they don't starve or die before they reach their destination.

On a border run delivering water, Joaquin was abducted by the Sons of the Serpent and delivered to a lab in New York operated by Dr. Karl Malus. When Joaquin's grandmother, Mariana, made a request to Captain America on the news to look into his disappearance, Sam Wilson investigated and was captured himself. Malus experimented on them both. Sam's transformation into Cap Wolf was temporary. However, splicing Redwing's DNA irreversibly onto the younger man's, Joaquin was permanently changed into a falcon/human hybrid complete with arm wings, falcon eyes, and telepathic connection to Redwing. Also, due to Redwing's vampiric nature from his run-in with Baron Blood, Joaquin's regenerative abilities prevent his transformation from being reversed. While recovering in the hospital from Malus' experimentation, Misty Knight and Dennis Dunphy took turns watching over him.

Creation

Joaquin made his first appearance in Captain America: Sam Wilson #1 by Nick Spencer and Daniel Acuña.

Major Story Arcs

Falcon's Falcon

Joaquin proved to be a bit of a handful on a couple of occasions, having taken to flying around the hospital whenever he became bored. As Sam Wilson continued his investigation into Malus and the Sons of the Serpent, he came into conflict with Viper and Serpent Solutions. Discovering he and Redwing shared a telepathic link with Sam, Joaquin sensed Sam in danger and flew out a hospital window and arrived in time to catch Sam in mid-fall after he had been pushed out a window. With Sam paralyzed by Asp, Joaquin had to fight off Serpent Solutions by himself until he received help from Diamondback, Misty Knight, and Demolition Man. After Viper and his group had been defeated, Joaquin designed his own costume and declared himself the new Falcon.

Later, while the Avengers found themselves in a second Civil War, Sam and Torres found themselves trying to cool tension between the new Americops and Rage, who was leading a neighborhood protest against the Americops aggression. This was the beginning of the end of Sam Wilson's tenure as Captain America. The media, public outcry, and political elites starting pushing back, including targeting Torres' immigration status. Thanks to some encouragement from Rage, Torres even confronted one of the political talking heads calling him out in the media, only to end up saving her from violent liberal terrorists.

Sam was proud of Torres, but when Rage was arrested on false charges and beat into a coma in prison, Sam had had enough. He quit as Captain America, putting Torres' status a a sidekick into question.

Champions

During Hydra's attempted takeover of America, Torres joined the Resistance and eventually fell in with Kamala Khan's new Champions during the various rescue efforts. Specifically, he helped Amadeus Cho look for survivors in the rubble of Las Vegas

He would remain on the team for awhile offering support, especially when the team was manipulated by Blackheart into fighting each other and when the team turned into criminals thanks to the Kamala's Law, which prohibited superhuman vigilantism for anyone under 21 unless they have a mentor.

Symbol of Truth

After liking the feeling of being back in his Captain America uniform, Sam continues using the identity with Torres as his wingman. A tip from Misty Knight put him and Sam on a vibranium smuggling operation, where they find migrants being attacked by mysterious henchmen. Sam and Torres split up to investigate further, with Torres staying with the migrants, including his cousin Luisa who was among them, at an off the books black site.

That black site was eventually attacked by White Wolf and Crossbones to recapture the migrants, forcing Torres to flee with his cousin. After getting her to safety, Torres started tracking more migrant buses. He followed them to a lab behind an invisible shield where White Wolf was creating vibranium weapons. After narrowly being taken prisoner, Torres was able to escape with the other prisoners who had banded together.

Meeting back up with Sam, Torres continues looking into White Wolf as their two investigations become one. In a pro-apartheid attack in Mohannda, Torres is injured, injected with a mutagen that mutates him further. Overwhelmed by rage, Torres attempted to attack Sam and Nomad at the expense of their mission against White Wolf, but Sam was able to subdue him before he caused any significant damage.

Powers & Abilities

Avian Physiology: Torres has been transformed into a human/bird hybrid using genetics of Redwing. He has falcon like talons on his hands and feet, enlarged eyes with enhanced vision, and wings capable of keeping his body weight in the air, sprouted from his arms.

• Psychic Connection: As a result of his transformation, Torres has a psychic connection to Redwing, which allows him to connect to Sam Wilson, who has a similar connection.

Healing Factor: Due to Redwing being infected with vampirism, so to was Torres. Birds, however, are not susceptible to most of the symptoms of vampirism, thus the only vampiric ability Torres has is the healing factor. He is able to heal from fatal wounds and may even be able to regrow limbs. It has also been hypothesized that this healing factor is what is stopping most attempts to change him back.

Other media

The Falcon and The Winter Soldier

Joaquin appears in the TV-series The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. The character has been portrayed by actor Danny Ramirez. The character is portrayed slightly older and as an active member of the US Air Force, working as Sam Wilson's main contact. He is the first person to clue Sam in on the Flag-Smashers. He is last seen recovering Falcon's broken wing gear after Sam tells him to keep it.