
It is known that Sam's experiences on the island thereafter were real, and though it is unclear what had brought him there, it was there is memories where manipulated. Sam survived on the island and found himself bonding with a falcon on the island who he named Redwing.

The Exiles were former collaborators with the Red Skull, who recognized that despite his criminal behavior, Sam Wilson had the potential to become a worthy partner to Captain America and that if he did then Skull could use it against both of them at a future date. After building up a reputation as a criminal, "Snap" was heading to his biggest job yet in Rio de Janeiro when his plane crashed on Exile Island, run by the former World War II Axis war criminals, the Exiles. In this false history, he relocated to California and changed his persona to "Snap" Wilson, a dangerous criminal. Wilson's mind would later be manipulated by the Red Skull, when wielded the Cosmic Cube and with it created false memories of becoming a criminal.

To honor his father, Sam became a community volunteer but two years later, he lost his mother after she was killed in an attempted mugging, which filled him with grief and caused him to turn his back on his altruistic causes.

The next night, Sam Wilson's father, a minister, was killed in an attempt to end a fight. Growing up a bit cynical about religion, Sam decided to forego the church, to which his open-minded parents responded to by giving him books on religion to help him make his own faith-based choices.
