In 2021, while watching the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s newest TV addition on Disney+, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, is when I was first introduced to Danny Ramirez. In the show he portrayed a character named Joaquin Torres, United States Air Force lieutenant and intelligence officer who helps Sam Wilson throughout the TV series. Of course, from his name, fans knew that this character was going to be the one to take over the mantle of “Falcon” and the show even hints towards it at one point. Now, Danny Ramirez is back to fully take this character on in the new film Captain America: Brave New World. Immediately, I felt connected to Ramirez due to him being hispanic and it felt so special to me to see a Mexican superhero. Ramirez is making incredible strides in Hollywood for the hispanic community and I cannot wait to see him continue to grow.
Danny Ramirez was born on Sept. 17, 1992 to a Mexican mother and a Colombian father in Chicago. While being an actor wasn’t always his dream career, he discovered a passion for it and moved to New York City to attend Tisch School of the Arts of NYU. While attending Tisch, Ramirez made his TV debut in The Affair as well as his film debut in Rapid Eye Movement. However, his career didn’t really take off until after graduating when he began to star in very key latino roles, including a recurring role in Netflix’s On My Block as Mario Martinez. Since then, his career has skyrocketed with Ramirez starring in major roles, even starring alongside Tom Cruise in Top Gun: Maverick as Fanboy in 2022.
Ramierz has used his rise to popularity to uplift his latino community, never shying away from his identity. In fact, in early 2023, Ramirez talked about how he auditioned for a role in which the plot was very dependent on the character being Latino. In the end, they decided to cast a white actor, completely rewriting the story and character to now fit this white actor. Ramirez shared his frustration with the industry, stating, “if you can rewrite last minute for a white person[,] I better see rewrites the other way around as well.” He has taken small roles that focus on his latino heritage, such as in a commercial that appeared during the 2024 Super Bowl for Doritos’ Dinamita alongside Jenna Ortega, Patricia Mauceri, and Olivia Negron. He also played the main male lead in the music video for “Mercedes” by Becky G and Oscar Maydon. Ramierz also made an appearance at Paris Fashion week, modeling for Willy Chavarría alongside other prominent Latino celebrities.
For me, being able to see someone on the big screen be so unapologetically latino especially in a movie franchise that I love, means so much to me. Ramierz’s character in Brave New World fits him so perfectly as a character that loves his culture and his people and uses his talent to the fullest. Ramierz is so dedicated to giving the best performance as he can as Joaquin Torres, saying in an interview that he listens to a lot of Bad Bunny, another influential latino celebrity, to get into character.
I cannot remember the last time that I was this excited for a Marvel movie and it is definitely because of Ramierz. I was so impressed with the small amount of screentime that he had in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier so I know that he is going to blow me away in Brave New World. Ramierz has also been cast to join the hit TV show, The Last of Us, alongside Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey.
I hope that young latino children can watch Ramierz as the Falcon and realize that they can do whatever they put their minds to, despite their skin color. I’m so happy that the latino youth today have role models like Ramirez to look up to since I didn’t have many, especially not ones that got to play the good guys. Catch Danny Ramiez flying into action in Captain America: Brave New World which releases in theaters on February 14th.