With Great Knowledge comes Great Responsibility.. The character John Walker was first introduced as the supervillain Super-Patriot in Captain America #323 (November 1986). Mark Gruenwald created Walker to counter the general message in Captain America of patriotism being invariably good, describing him as someone "who embodied patriotism in a way that Captain America didn't—a patriotic villain. "Basically, I just wanted to do the opposite of Steve Rogers. Okay, Steve Rogers is a poor northern urban boy. So I'll make a guy from rural middle class south. Cap is now old, so this guy'll be a real young up-and-comer. Cap has lofty ideals, so I'll make Super-Patriot be more realistic and more pragmatic. So, I put together his background and character traits by playing the opposite game."
After a return appearance in Captain America #327, Gruenwald reintroduced him as the new Captain America in issue #333. Though Gruenwald said he would not have done this if it had not been a logical development from the preceding storylines, he also openly acknowledged that the motivating reason for replacing Steve Rogers as Captain America was to boost sales.
John Walker's installation as Captain America indeed provided a major boost to the series and he remained the main character of Captain America for issues 333 through 350, during which his character generally became more heroic. In Captain America #354 he was given another name and costume change, this time as U.S. Agent (created by writer Mark Gruenwald and artist Kieron Dwyer) using a discarded costume of Steve Rogers (the original Captain America)
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