The new Captain America's ability to talk to birds was cut from the MCU, and movie fans will likely never see this superpower on screen.
Sam Wilson, otherwise known as the Falcon and current Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, has a little-known superpower that will most likely never be seen on screen. As Steve Rogers' friend and confidant, Sam is much more than a sidekick: he's an excellent tactician and hand-to-hand combatant, but is otherwise an ordinary human being. This is decidedly not the case in the comics, where Sam does actually possess a superhuman ability: he can talk to birds.
First appearing in Captain America #117 in 1969, Sam Wilson was created by artist Gene Colan out of a desire to introduce a black superhero to the series. The Falcon quickly became a main character and the book was eventually retitled Captain America and the Falcon for most of the 70s and 80s. Sam Wilson's original costume sports wings just like the one seen in the MCU, but he was also accompanied by Redwing, his pet falcon (Wilson was a trained falconer in addition to being a social worker). While the MCU's version of Redwing - a semiautonomous drone - could be controlled by Falcon via a device on his wrist, the comics would later reveal that Sam Wilson had a telepathic ability to communicate with birds - a link not only shared with Redwing, but all other birds.
Sam always worked well with Redwing in the comics - a bird he acquired on vacation and subsequently trained - but in Captain America #174, Professor X reaches out to Falcon via telepathy and discovers he has an affinity for mental communication. Falcon wonders if this revelation means he's a mutant. "Not necessarily," says Xavier. "Though I've heard you have an uncommon rapport with your hawk!" Regardless of Sam's mutant status, this means that Falcon's connection with Redwing is more than a simple bond and is in fact a telepathic connection. Later in the issue, he demonstrates an ability to psionically control Redwing like a pilot controls an airplane, even seeing through his eyes.
The MCU's version of the Falcon, with his subdued colors and lack of feathered wings, is noticeably more grounded in reality than his comic counterpart. And the comic book origin of Falcon's powers would be quite difficult to translate to the film series as it involved the Red Skull's manipulation of reality via the Cosmic Cube. Seeing as the MCU Red Skull was transported to Vormir in 1945, and the comic boo Tesseract lacks the reality-warping powers of its cinematic counterpart, the origin of Falcon's powers would have to be drastically changed - or omitted entirely, as was eventually the case.
Much is made of Sam's lack of superpowers during the final episode of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, in which Falcon - now Captain America - admits he did not take the super-soldier serum. Sam is very much his own man and not just a copy of Steve Rogers, but giving Sam the ability to talk to birds would give him a unique ability regardless. Perhaps the idea is not entirely off the table, and MCU fans can see the new Captain America acquire his classic superpower in the future.
