Warning: Major Spoiler for Steve Rogers: Captain America #1
Marvel’s latest Captain America comic book was released last week and I like many fans am outraged. Steve Rogers: Captain America is written by Nick Spencer who is also the writer of Sam Wilson: Captain America, the other Captain America comic book currently being published. And no, the outrage isn’t over the fact that there are currently two Captain Americas, but rather over something that happened in towards the end of Steve Rogers: Captain America #1 when Steve Rogers says the words that fans thought would never come out of the Captain’s mouth: Hail Hydra.
Yes, Captain America the embodiment of morality was revealed to be a member of Hydra, the Nazi organization he’s been fighting against since 1940. The comic book showed that Steve Rogers had been a member of Hydra since he was a kid, meaning that throughout his whole time as Captain America he’d really been Hydra. Right now it seems like Marvel did this purely for shock value, to get us to talk about it and it was a success because here we are talking about it. However, the implications of Marvel’s choice are far greater than a comic book.
From the moment the first issue was published, Captain America has been a political character. In 1940, when most of America’s opinions towards the Nazis ranged from apathetic at best to favorable at worst, Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, two Jewish men decided to show their objection to the Nazis by creating a character who stood up for truth and justice. Simon and Kirby didn’t shy away from their feelings and in the first issue of Captain America the cover had the blond-haired, blue-eyed Steve Rogers, the Aryan-ideal punching Hitler in the face. Fast forward, to 2016 and Marvel has taken what was once a symbol of hope and have turned him into a Nazi.
In response to the reveal and the subsequent outrage Marvel’s Senior Vice President of Publishing Tom Brevoort said, “Having this go on in the middle of this odd and offbeat and contentious presidential primary process – and all of the stuff going on in the world right now – we guessed right. This in a sense feels more relevant right now than it would have a year ago.”
So what are they trying to tell us, that people with ignorant and violent opinions are all around us. We already know that, if this election cycle is taught us anything it’s that some people still hold beliefs that we consider inaccurate and maybe even dangerous. In that case Brevoort is right this reveal is quite timely; however, we aren’t rooting for those people and we don’t trust them to protect us. They are the opposite of what we consider a hero to be.
Making Captain America a member of Hydra isn’t just bad writing, it’s also insulting to the memories of his creators and to the fans who’ve supported the character. If Marvel expects us to keep rooting for Steve Rogers, they’ll need to rethink the direction they’re going in and make sure that they don’t alienate the fans.
