Captain America
If you're living under a rock, consider this a SPOILER WARNING
If you haven't been living under a rock, you've probably seen some of the news coverage about the fact that on Wednesday (that's today), Captain America #25 came out in comic book stores where Marvel has made the bold, and certainly controversial, decision to kill Captain America.
Take a minute to let that soak in.
Captain America (Steve Rogers), while being taken in custody to the courthouse, has been shot twice and has fallen. Just to understand the magnitude of this, for those of you who are not comic book fans, here are some mainstream media sources covering this: New York Times, CNN, AP Wire
This is a big deal. And, with the modern day mentality of comic book writing, this will be done better and mean more than Superman's death in 1994, if only because in '94 a death of Superman story was done largely for financial reason as opposed to in '07 where a death of Captain America was done largely for storyline reasons.
While Cap's death is not the only way they could've bailed themselves out of the Civil War storyline, Marvel certainly chose one of the biggest ways. Cap's popularity within the Marvel U at this point is probably debatable at best. During Civil War, the story didn't really run the lines of what the common man is thinking about how the story's been playing out. Think about this in terms of being a regular person in the Marvel Universe: superheroes, commonplace in the world of Marvel, the equivalent of spectacular cops and firemen, are all known by name and costume. "Hey, it's Spider-Man." "Hey, it's the Fantastic Four." etc. Suddenly, there's an announcement by the government: first off, there's a new superhero registration act; secondly, half the world's superheroes are considered outlaws and will be arrested. Leading the way? Cap.
So, what else are people supposed to think in the Marvel U other than Cap being the equivalent of a traitor to the government. The living embodiment of the American flag has become the enemy. So, although Cap surrendered at the end of Civil War ("You think this letter on my head stands for FRANCE!" -classic Cap line from Ultimates), his popularity is thumbs in the middle at best. You can imagine, in a real life situation, the propaganda he'd be combating on top of everything else.
Ok ok, so my first impression was "HOW COULD YOU KILL CAP?!?!?!?!?!!!!" After all, Ol' Winghead is my favorite comic book superhero. His story is complex, his character is layered, his personality and relationships are well-established, etc. He's avoided the silliness of the 60's and managed to remain regal and heroic throughout all endeavors. He's consistently stood for the ideals of human rights and civil liberties, been used to comment on infringements of those rights, and has been on the forefront of Marvel's identity for decades now. If Spider-Man's the spokesman of Marvel Comics, Captain America would be the hero Spider-Man looked up to.
Naturally I'd be devastated that my favorite hero has died. Devastated. However, now that I've had a couple of hours to think about it, I've decided that this could ultimately prove to be a good thing. Well, not necessarily a GOOD thing but at least an interesting thing. Where do we go from here? Well, Jeph Loeb's planning a five-book month-long grieving period for the Marvel Universe. It's going to explore the five-stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance (five stages, five books? Definitely not a coincidence). I'm a big fan of Jeph Loeb and he's a premier storyteller of the modern era (in addition to being one of the best comic book writers, he's also co-creator of Smallville, Lost, and Heroes. Am I exaggerating when I say "premier storyteller"? I think not). On top of that, he (tragically) lost his teenage son a year ago so if there's anybody who knows grief, he's one of them.
Furthermore, there is a chance for this to lead to more in the Marvel Universe as a whole. For one thing, fans are speculating like crazy about who the next Captain America will be. I wholeheartedly believe that Marvel should at least broach the subject. Realistically, there will be an attempt to try to duplicate Cap, if not exactly then as close as possible. Since SHIELD has the resources and abilities, and Tony Stark's both head of SHIELD and in possession of Cap's shield (2 shields!) as well as probably feeling slightly guilty about the death of Cap (he's also the lead character in the acceptance book for the grief stages), I suspect Tony's going to take steps to make a new Cap.
Who should be the new Cap? Well, it's probably not the best idea to use a preexisting character because the character should, by all rights, already be busy being a hero. But, for the sake of argument, let's speculate.
If this was DC, the sidekick would be first choice. This isn't DC but, surprisingly, Cap does have a "sidekick." Ok, not a SIDEKICK per se but there exists in the Marvel U a certain character named Patriot who is the teenage Cap equivalent on the Young Avengers (scroll down to "Eli Bradley" in the Wiki article). So, Patriot's a possibility. He's still young, however, and isn't "approved" by Cap officially so he's not too likely.
There's Bucky, the original sidekick, now known as the Winter Soldier. He was thought dead but he's been resurrected by Brubaker in the past few years. He's confused, still young, but contains a wealth of mad assassin skillz. He'd probably be the obvious choice but would probably feel like he's not worthy, considering the fact that he's still trying to atone for his assassin days with Soviet Russia.
There's Danny Rand, better known as Iron Fist. He has the necessary skills and hook-ups but he recently subbed for Daredevil while Matt Murdock was trying to fix his life recently so I doubt anybody wants to retread that path, especially since Danny's penciled in to be part of the New Avengers with common cohort Luke Cage.
There's Peter Parker, better known as Spider-Man. Um.... probably not.
There's Taskmaster. Ok, Taskmaster probably isn't a real choice but he's a possibility as one of the trainers for the next Cap. There are precious few people in the Marvel U who can throw a frisbee like Cap and Taskmaster is certainly one of them.
Ok, I think I've made my point. There are a whole plethora of places the story can go from here. How will the Marvel U look without Cap? Who will fill the holes? With the epic underlying storylines that now resonate through Marvel's writing policies, this will definitely continue to live just below the surface of a lot of books. And, with the aftermath of Civil War coming up and the Hulk World War storyline just on the horizon, this will definitely continue.
So, the bottom line is that Cap's dead but it may not be the end of the world yet. There's a world of possibility out there for the character and his influence in comics. So, let's mourn Steve Rogers' passing. He was truly the shining light and epitome of heroism in the Marvel Universe. Beyond that, he was the flagship character for the United States during World War 2, becoming one of the symbols of patriotism and the American spirit. His presence has always been a part of Marvel comics and has been a linchpin, if not catalyst, for a lot of great storylines. Steve Rogers will be missed (for however long he's gone. Let's face it, we're still talking about comics here) but his spirit will persevere. He is, in essence, America.
If you haven't been living under a rock, you've probably seen some of the news coverage about the fact that on Wednesday (that's today), Captain America #25 came out in comic book stores where Marvel has made the bold, and certainly controversial, decision to kill Captain America.
Take a minute to let that soak in.
Captain America (Steve Rogers), while being taken in custody to the courthouse, has been shot twice and has fallen. Just to understand the magnitude of this, for those of you who are not comic book fans, here are some mainstream media sources covering this: New York Times, CNN, AP Wire
This is a big deal. And, with the modern day mentality of comic book writing, this will be done better and mean more than Superman's death in 1994, if only because in '94 a death of Superman story was done largely for financial reason as opposed to in '07 where a death of Captain America was done largely for storyline reasons.
While Cap's death is not the only way they could've bailed themselves out of the Civil War storyline, Marvel certainly chose one of the biggest ways. Cap's popularity within the Marvel U at this point is probably debatable at best. During Civil War, the story didn't really run the lines of what the common man is thinking about how the story's been playing out. Think about this in terms of being a regular person in the Marvel Universe: superheroes, commonplace in the world of Marvel, the equivalent of spectacular cops and firemen, are all known by name and costume. "Hey, it's Spider-Man." "Hey, it's the Fantastic Four." etc. Suddenly, there's an announcement by the government: first off, there's a new superhero registration act; secondly, half the world's superheroes are considered outlaws and will be arrested. Leading the way? Cap.
So, what else are people supposed to think in the Marvel U other than Cap being the equivalent of a traitor to the government. The living embodiment of the American flag has become the enemy. So, although Cap surrendered at the end of Civil War ("You think this letter on my head stands for FRANCE!" -classic Cap line from Ultimates), his popularity is thumbs in the middle at best. You can imagine, in a real life situation, the propaganda he'd be combating on top of everything else.
Ok ok, so my first impression was "HOW COULD YOU KILL CAP?!?!?!?!?!!!!" After all, Ol' Winghead is my favorite comic book superhero. His story is complex, his character is layered, his personality and relationships are well-established, etc. He's avoided the silliness of the 60's and managed to remain regal and heroic throughout all endeavors. He's consistently stood for the ideals of human rights and civil liberties, been used to comment on infringements of those rights, and has been on the forefront of Marvel's identity for decades now. If Spider-Man's the spokesman of Marvel Comics, Captain America would be the hero Spider-Man looked up to.
Naturally I'd be devastated that my favorite hero has died. Devastated. However, now that I've had a couple of hours to think about it, I've decided that this could ultimately prove to be a good thing. Well, not necessarily a GOOD thing but at least an interesting thing. Where do we go from here? Well, Jeph Loeb's planning a five-book month-long grieving period for the Marvel Universe. It's going to explore the five-stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance (five stages, five books? Definitely not a coincidence). I'm a big fan of Jeph Loeb and he's a premier storyteller of the modern era (in addition to being one of the best comic book writers, he's also co-creator of Smallville, Lost, and Heroes. Am I exaggerating when I say "premier storyteller"? I think not). On top of that, he (tragically) lost his teenage son a year ago so if there's anybody who knows grief, he's one of them.
Furthermore, there is a chance for this to lead to more in the Marvel Universe as a whole. For one thing, fans are speculating like crazy about who the next Captain America will be. I wholeheartedly believe that Marvel should at least broach the subject. Realistically, there will be an attempt to try to duplicate Cap, if not exactly then as close as possible. Since SHIELD has the resources and abilities, and Tony Stark's both head of SHIELD and in possession of Cap's shield (2 shields!) as well as probably feeling slightly guilty about the death of Cap (he's also the lead character in the acceptance book for the grief stages), I suspect Tony's going to take steps to make a new Cap.
Who should be the new Cap? Well, it's probably not the best idea to use a preexisting character because the character should, by all rights, already be busy being a hero. But, for the sake of argument, let's speculate.
If this was DC, the sidekick would be first choice. This isn't DC but, surprisingly, Cap does have a "sidekick." Ok, not a SIDEKICK per se but there exists in the Marvel U a certain character named Patriot who is the teenage Cap equivalent on the Young Avengers (scroll down to "Eli Bradley" in the Wiki article). So, Patriot's a possibility. He's still young, however, and isn't "approved" by Cap officially so he's not too likely.
There's Bucky, the original sidekick, now known as the Winter Soldier. He was thought dead but he's been resurrected by Brubaker in the past few years. He's confused, still young, but contains a wealth of mad assassin skillz. He'd probably be the obvious choice but would probably feel like he's not worthy, considering the fact that he's still trying to atone for his assassin days with Soviet Russia.
There's Danny Rand, better known as Iron Fist. He has the necessary skills and hook-ups but he recently subbed for Daredevil while Matt Murdock was trying to fix his life recently so I doubt anybody wants to retread that path, especially since Danny's penciled in to be part of the New Avengers with common cohort Luke Cage.
There's Peter Parker, better known as Spider-Man. Um.... probably not.
There's Taskmaster. Ok, Taskmaster probably isn't a real choice but he's a possibility as one of the trainers for the next Cap. There are precious few people in the Marvel U who can throw a frisbee like Cap and Taskmaster is certainly one of them.
Ok, I think I've made my point. There are a whole plethora of places the story can go from here. How will the Marvel U look without Cap? Who will fill the holes? With the epic underlying storylines that now resonate through Marvel's writing policies, this will definitely continue to live just below the surface of a lot of books. And, with the aftermath of Civil War coming up and the Hulk World War storyline just on the horizon, this will definitely continue.
So, the bottom line is that Cap's dead but it may not be the end of the world yet. There's a world of possibility out there for the character and his influence in comics. So, let's mourn Steve Rogers' passing. He was truly the shining light and epitome of heroism in the Marvel Universe. Beyond that, he was the flagship character for the United States during World War 2, becoming one of the symbols of patriotism and the American spirit. His presence has always been a part of Marvel comics and has been a linchpin, if not catalyst, for a lot of great storylines. Steve Rogers will be missed (for however long he's gone. Let's face it, we're still talking about comics here) but his spirit will persevere. He is, in essence, America.
posted by Chris "Krang" Yang | 11:47 PM
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