essay about captain america

Superhero Captain America in Marvel Comics Essay

Captain America is an imaginary superhero performing in the comic books in the United States of America and produced by Marvel Comics. Captain America currently belongs to the Marvel, and he was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, he made his first appearance in “Captain America Comics #1” in March of 1941. Captain America was intended to be a loyal super soldier who clashed the Axis influences during the World War II over and over again and appeared to be the most prevalent character for the duration of the time of war. The admiration of the fictional soldier served as an inspiration for the brave soldiers that were defending their country and maintained their morale (Howell 802).

Captain America dresses in clothing that stands for the American flag theme, and is equipped with an almost indestructible armor that he tosses at his enemies. The character is frequently portrayed as the doppelgänger for Steve Rogers, a fragile undeveloped human being heightened to the highest of human excellence by an investigational serum in order to assist the United States administration’s forthcoming exertions during the war (Morrison 76). In the case of Captain America, the philosophy and determination of this innovative character was unpretentious: to gather the sustenance for the World War II by generating an American super-soldier that youngsters could follow. Nonetheless, nowadays he appears to be a hero for all people and inspires the individuals of all ages (Jowett and O’Donnell 123).

In 1941, World War II battlegrounds in Europe had expanded far through the Atlantic to the United States, but it was not the war yet. Nonetheless, the internal anti-fascist campaigns have developed to be tougher. After having fully embodied the war situation, and given the militaries the main inducement, Captain America became the American spirit figure. Everything in America was dedicated to maintaining, extenuating, or contributing to the war (Murray 81). The character of Captain America was not dissimilar to any other kind of mass media, which all aided to maintain the combat determination. Obviously, Captain America’s robust guidance and willpower was destined to represent the insolence that the United States had when they arrived to the combat (Cord 326).

Captain America was robust, influential, courageous, and especially faithful to his nation. This appearance of a courageous and principled forerunner, with red, white, and blue clothes, was shaped with a very straight character to be the expression of loyalty during the war. Another significant component to deliberate is that the inventors of these comic books required influencing a huge amount of populace; consequently, they possessed rather vibrant purposes to make the books eye-popping, stimulating, and interesting.

I appear to be a follower of the Marvel comic books, and it means a lot that a fictional simple character was able to evolve into a symbol of an epoch, especially a difficult one. Even despite the fact that the character is not real, Captain America manages to maintain the position of a role model not only for the combats but for the children and adults up to these days. Nonetheless, the educational aspect of the character has been deteriorating since the war, as people do not need to be educated about the military actions anymore (Hayton and Albright 28).

Although Captain America is a superhero, he still needs to continue progressing and developing. The Marvel was and remains to be a great corporation of the epoch; and Captain America holds the role of the legend of the world.

Works Cited

Cord, Scott. “Written in Red, White, and Blue: A Comparison of Comic Book Propaganda from World War II and September 11.” Th e Journal of Popular Culture 40.2 (2007): 325-343. Print.

Hayton, Christopher and David Albright. O Captain! My Captain! Jefferson: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2009. Print.

Howell, Thomas. “The Writers’ War Board: U.S. Domestic Propaganda in World War II.” The Historian 59.4 (1997): 795-813. Print.

Jowett, Garth and Victoria O’Donnell. Propaganda & Persuasion , Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, 2011. Print.

Morrison, Grant. Supergods: What Masked Vigilantes, Miraculous Mutants, and a Sun God from Smallville Can Teach Us About Being Human , New York: Random House, Inc., 2012. Print.

Murray, Chris. Popaganda: Superhero Comics and Propaganda in World War Two , Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, 2000. Print.

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Bibliography

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Why I'm Writing Captain America

And why it scares the hell out of me

Two years ago I began taking up the childhood dream of writing comics. To say it is more difficult than it looks is to commit oneself to criminal understatement. Writers don’t write comics so much as they draw them with words. Everything has to be shown, a fact I knew going into the work, but could not truly know until I had actually done it. For two years I’ve lived in the world of Wakanda, writing the title Black Panther . I’ll continue working in that world. This summer, I’m entering a new one—the world of Captain America.

There’s a lot to unpack here. Those of you who’ve never read a Captain America comic book or seen him in the Marvel movies would be forgiven for thinking of Captain America as an unblinking mascot for American nationalism. In fact, the best thing about the story of Captain America is the implicit irony. Captain America begins as Steve Rogers—a man with the heart of a god and the body of a wimp. The heart and body are brought into alignment through the Super Soldier Serum, which transforms Rogers into a peak human physical specimen. Dubbed Captain America, Rogers becomes the personification of his country’s egalitarian ideals—an anatomical Horatio Alger who through sheer grit and the wonders of science rises to become a national hero.

Rogers’s transformation into Captain America is underwritten by the military. But, perhaps haunted by his own roots in powerlessness, he is a dissident just as likely to be feuding with his superiors in civilian and military governance as he is to be fighting with the supervillain Red Skull. Conspirators against him rank all the way up to the White House, causing Rogers to, at one point, reject the very title of Captain America. At the end of World War II, Captain America is frozen in ice and awakens in our time—and this, too, distances him from his country and its ideals. He is “a man out of time,” a walking emblem of greatest-generation propaganda brought to life in this splintered postmodern time. Thus, Captain America is not so much tied to America as it is, but to an America of the imagined past. In one famous scene, flattered by a treacherous general for his “loyalty,” Rogers—grasping the American flag—retorts, “I’m loyal to nothing, general … except the dream.”

I confess to having a conflicted history with this kind of proclamation—which is precisely why I am so excited to take on Captain America . I have my share of strong opinions about the world. But one reason that I chose the practice of opinion journalism—which is to say a mix of reporting and opinion—is because understanding how those opinions fit in with the perspectives of others has always been more interesting to me than repeatedly restating my own. Writing, for me, is about questions—not answers. And Captain America, the embodiment of a kind of Lincolnesque optimism, poses a direct question for me: Why would anyone believe in The Dream? What is exciting here is not some didactic act of putting my words in Captain America’s head, but attempting to put Captain America’s words in my head. What is exciting is the possibility of exploration, of avoiding the repetition of a voice I’ve tired of.

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And then there is the basic challenge of drawing with words—the fear that accompanies every effort. And the fear is part of the attraction because, if I am honest, the “opinion” part of opinion-journalism is no longer as scary it once was. Reporting—another word for discovery—will always be scary. Opining, less so. And nothing should really scare a writer more than the moment when they are no longer scared. I think it’s then that one might begin to lapse into self-caricature, endlessly repeating the same insights and the same opinions over and over. I’m not convinced I can tell a great Captain America story—which is precisely why I want so bad to try.

In this endeavor, I’ll be joined—hopefully for all my time doing it—by the incredible Leinil Yu on interior panels and Alex Ross on covers. Both Leinil and Alex are legends. Even if you don’t consider yourself a comics-head, you should check out their work to see what the best of the form has to offer. I’m lucky to have them—and have been luckier still to have a community of comic creators ( Matt Fraction , Kieron Gillen , Jamie McKelvie , Ed Brubaker , Kelly Sue DeConnick , Chip Zdarsky , and Warren Ellis , among others) who’ve embraced me and helped me learn the form. And I’ve been lucky in my editors— Sana Amanat , who brought me on; Wil Moss , who edits Black Panther; Tom Brevoort , who’s editing Captain America; C.B. Cebulski , who just helped me refashion the script to the first issue; and Axel Alonso , who first broached the idea of me writing Cap.

Finally, but most importantly, I have to thank the black comic creators I admired as a youth, often without even knowing they were black— Christopher Priest , Denys Cowan , Dwayne McDuffie , specifically—without whom none of this would be possible. There has long been a complaint among black comic creators that they are restricted to black characters. I don’t know what it means to live in a world where people restrict what you write, and the reason I don’t know is largely because of the sacrifices of all those who were forced to know before me. I have not forgotten this.

Captain America #1 drops on the Fourth of July. Excelsior, family.

The Moral Philosophy of Captain America

In a story from the early 1980s, Captain America uses his amazing powers to destroy a renegade American intelligence agency that is plotting an attack on the Soviet Union in order to make the United States the last remaining superpower. Confronting the plotters, the comic-book hero makes one of many declarations of faith that resound throughout his more than 70-year-long career as a fighter against evil: “I represent the American dream! A dream that has precious little to do with borders, boundaries, and the kind of blind hatred your ilk espouses!”

The authors of Captain America’s early adventures were liberals, and something of the universalistic spirit of American liberalism has infused the character they invented. Created as a contribution to the U.S. struggle against the Axis powers that was already on the horizon, the Captain first appeared on the scene nine months before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Throughout the war years the comics were an enormous popular success, but the Captain failed to make the transition into the bleak peace that followed. His sterling qualities ill-suited to the grim intrigues of the cold war, he vanished from view, seeming at times to have been killed off.

The heroic fighter resurfaced in the 1960s and with occasional intermissions has been saving the world from darkness ever since. Selling hundreds of millions of comics in many countries, the character has spilled out into television and movies. A sequel to Captain America: the First Avenger (2011), in which Chris Evans played the superhero —Captain America: the Winter Soldier —has just been released, with Evans in the title role again and Scarlett Johansson as a former KGB agent who has defected to join the battle against evil. The action in these films is set in the present, and plans are afoot for further adventures. There is no sign of the Captain giving up his mission.

When he first appeared in March 1941, Captain America was the alter ego of Steve Rogers, a skinny art student from New York who had been transformed into a super-soldier by the U.S. army. Trying to enlist, but rejected because of his scrawny physique, Rogers agrees to be used as a subject in a secret project. Injected with a special serum and exposed to a course of radiation with “Vita-Rays,” the scrawny young man acquires astonishing strength, resourcefulness and courage. Captain America isn’t a superman; he is an average human being whose powers have been enhanced to the nth degree. It may be the fact that he is so recognizably human that makes him the most modern of the comic superheroes.

As the writer who launched the superhero in his most recent incarnation in 2012 put it, the Captain “is a patriotic soldier, directed by a personal ethical compass, belief in the American dream and faith in his fellow man ... He can punch bad people and jump through glass. He’s the person you wish you were.”

Appearing in the run-up to U.S. entry into a world-shaking conflict, the Captain has always embodied the good in human beings. In his new book, The Virtues of Captain America: Modern-Day Lessons on Character from a World War II Superhero , Mark D. White argues that there can be no better model of ethical behavior today: “Cap’s ‘old-fashioned’ moral code is exactly what we need to restore civility and respect in the 21st century in both our personal lives and our political debates. He is what ancient philosophers—yes, more ancient than Cap—called a moral exemplar.”

For White, who teaches philosophy at City University of New York and who has published widely on ethics as well as written about other comic-book heroes, the Captain is loyal to “timeless principles of freedom, equality and justice.” These principles are distinctively American, White believes, but he is keen to dispel “any illusion that Captain America is a jingoist flag-waver ... Instead he embodies an inclusive patriotism that balances idealism with clear-eyed pragmatism.” His principles are universal: as White puts it, he believes “American ideals apply to everyone—not just all Americans, but all people around the world.”

You might be wondering whether White is serious in making these large claims, but he means what he says—and says it with some style. Enjoyable and consistently stimulating, presenting complex arguments in ways that will be accessible to just about any reader, The Virtues of Captain America is popular philosophy of a high order. The trouble is that, because he takes Captain America so seriously, White doesn’t see any problem in treating the superhero’s American ideals as universal human values. Like the Captain himself, he thinks they are one and the same.

Captain America’s values, according to White, aren’t a product of America’s history as a modern country. They go all the way back to the Greeks: “I’m going to present Captain America’s personal morality in terms of virtue ethics, a type of moral theory originating with ancient Greek philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle and the Stoics ... If we look at them this way, Cap’s values are old-fashioned, dating from about 2,500 years ago, but many philosophers (including myself) regard the work of the early virtue ethicists as timeless.”

Examining five basic virtues—courage, humility, righteous indignation, sacrifice and perseverance—White aims to show how they are vitally necessary today: “The lessons of the virtue ethicists are more important now than ever—and a ‘man out of time’ such as Captain America can see that better than anyone.”

Sadly, the suggestion that Captain America embodies Aristotelian virtues verges on the absurd. That Aristotle assumed his account of the human good could be realized only by middle-aged, property-owning males is well known. What is more important, from the standpoint of White’s argument, is the absence in Aristotle’s thinking of any of the modern liberal ideals that Captain America embodies. Consider an idea such as personal autonomy. Certainly Aristotle believed that individuals are responsible for their actions; but there is nothing in him of the idea that they are the authors of their lives. Even the favored few, in Aristotle’s account, model themselves on the same conception of human excellence.

The modern belief that the good life comes in divergent forms, with each person’s containing something peculiar and unique, was unthinkable in ancient Greek times. If Aristotle could somehow have imagined the Captain’s mission of giving everyone freedom to live as they choose, he would undoubtedly have reacted with incredulous contempt.

It’s not just modern liberal values that Aristotle lacks. There is also a striking absence in his thinking of ideas and beliefs that have shaped western thinking over the past 2,000 years. A struggle against evil is the pivot of every one of the Captain America stories. Yet there is no idea of evil in Aristotle’s ethics or anywhere else in ancient Greek thought. Yes, there are bad states of mind and character such as imprudence and cowardice. But the Greek exponents of virtue ethics had no belief in evil as an active force on the world. That is an inheritance from monotheism, and more particularly from the rather strange version of Christianity that America received from the Puritans.

According to White, the Captain embod­ies principles and virtues that are timeless and universal. In fact, the Captain is shaped by moral ideas and beliefs that are historically highly specific. The view that the world is torn between the forces of good and evil is the most obvious example. It is often described as Manichaean, though this risks doing a disservice to the Iranian prophet Mani (216-276), who seems to have believed the outcome of the cosmic struggle was uncertain. In contrast, the Captain never betrays the slightest doubt that good will triumph in the end.

In terms of the longer history of theism, the Captain’s view is distinctly unorthodox. At least since St. Augustine—himself a convert from Manichaeism—the dominant theist position has been that good and evil are not separate forces; they run through every human heart. The Captain could only have appeared in America, which, more than any other modern society, has been shaped by an aberrant strain of Christianity in which the moral universe is understood in starkly binary terms.

Why White should have failed to notice the formative influence of American religion on the Captain’s mission of fighting evil is an interesting question. Part of the explanation may be the professional deformation of academic philosophy. Especially in America, contemporary philosophy is obsessively secular; showing any unduly sympathetic interest in religion is a quick way of committing career suicide. Some of the popularity of virtue ethics may have come about for this reason. Many philosophers have recognized that utilitarianism and rights theory are impoverished ways of thinking about ethics. Few have cared to explore the Jewish and Christian traditions from which modern western ethics actually developed. Instead they look back to the Greeks. Lacking any sense of the ways in which moral ideas change—because contemporary Anglo-Saxon philosophy is also thoroughly unhistorical—they do not realize that the ancient exponents of virtue ethics lived in a world in many ways almost unimaginably remote from our own.

A striking feature of White’s account of the Captain’s virtues is its unblinking moral parochialism. White praises the Captain for his humility, and it is true that the Captain is not known for boasting about his extra­ordinary feats. In one story he even tells the president that he is reluctant to speak to the press about his feats because it will sound too much like bragging. (In the end the Captain complies with the order of his commander-in-chief.) But there is nothing Aristotelian in the Captain’s behavior.

Never betraying any doubt as to his superior abilities and valuing others only to the extent that he can see something of himself in them, Aristotle’s conception of an ideal human being looks nowadays more like a model (always male) of arrogant pride. Alasdair MacIntyre—a contemporary philosopher who generally favors Aristotle’s way of thinking about ethics—described the Aristotelian ideal as being “almost an English gentleman,” and dismissed it as “appalling.” Whatever you think of the English gentleman, it is clear that humility isn’t a virtue Aristotle would have recognized.

The trouble with talk of timeless virtues is that not many virtues are timeless. It makes sense to think of prudence and courage as humanly universal—lacking these qualities entirely, no one can live well. But there have been many conceptions of what it means to live well, and they aren’t all compatible. The virtues of Homeric heroes aren’t just different from those of Jesus. For Hector, turning the other cheek would be mere cowardice. Again, Greco-Roman hedonist philosophers such as Epicurus and Lucretius wouldn’t have admired the all-embracing compassion of the Buddha; for them, such universal sympathy would have been an obstacle to peace of mind. The same kind of moral conflict breaks out today when believers (religious or secular) collide with skeptics. For skeptics, a capacity for doubt is a virtue. For believers, it looks more like a feeble refusal to make up one’s mind. What is virtuous in one moral outlook may be a vice in others.

There is not much sign of doubt in White’s account of human values. Along with most other English-speaking philosophers today, he writes as if every human being is born essentially a liberal and becomes anything else by accident or mistake. He tells us that the Captain embodies “the core ideals of the United States of America ... Refocusing our attention on these ideals, remembering what we have in common while debating our differences, is the first step toward recovering a sense of national unity and restoring civility to our political life.” A little skepticism might have been useful here. As Alexis de Tocqueville noted more than a century and a half ago, America is the most sectarian of all modern societies. Its deep divisions are unlikely to be healed any time soon.

However much at odds with itself America may be, there can be no doubt that the Captain is a peculiarly American superhero. What then accounts for his undoubted appeal beyond America’s shores? In one of his exchanges with the super-villain the Red Skull, the Captain indignantly rejects the idea that universal freedom and equality is a myth:

“A myth, is it? Then America herself is just a myth—as are liberty, and justice—and faith! Myths that free men everywhere are willing to die for! It’s tyranny which is the myth—and bigotry which is an abomination before the eyes of mankind! It’s you who are the fool! For humanity has come of age—and as long as love not hatred fills men’s hearts the day of the tyrant is ended!”

Maybe it is this simple-minded faith that accounts for the Captain’s wide and enduring popularity. Many will go to the film of his most recent exploits simply for the entertainment they provide—the fast-moving action scenes and powerful special effects. But there is also something soothing in the Captain’s adventures, and reassuring in the moral world he inhabits.

When Captain America first appeared on the scene, the world was faced by a threat that anybody halfway decent and not willfully self-deluding had to see as extremely malign. Today there is no single threat to civilization, just a morass of problems and conflicts that look more or less intractable. In such circumstances, it is not surprising that the Captain should make another appearance. The reason for his popularity isn’t that many people still believe in his black-and-white moral world. It’s that so many no longer can.

John Gray is the New Statesman’s lead book reviewer. His latest book, The Silence of Animals: on Progress and Other Modern Myths,  is published by Penguin.

This piece originally appeared on newstatesman.com.

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Captain America: Changing Conscience of a Nation

• R. Joseph Parrott

In March 1941, the United States remained neutral while World War II raged in Europe and Asia , but the country was inching toward war. Newspapers announced policies to support the Allies like the Lend-Lease Act, even as isolationist sentiment earned space in opinion pages.

Yet next to the adult fare at the newsstands was something far less ambiguous: a four-color spectacle featuring a red, white, and blue clad figure holding a shield in one hand and using the other to punch Adolf Hitler square in the jaw.

This was the first appearance of Captain America. Created by writer Joe Simon and artist Jack Kirby in the eponymous Captain America Comics #1 , the patriotic hero became a breakout star for Timely Comics (the company that would evolve into Marvel Comics ).

The cover of Captain America Comics #1 from March 1941 (left). Interior artwork from the same issue (right) . Artwork by Jack Kirby.

Joined by young sidekick Bucky Barnes, Captain America placed the United States firmly on the side of the Allies months before Pearl Harbor . Over the decades following his debut, Cap—as fans called him—has continued to anticipate and reflect our changing national attitudes toward war and patriotism.

Captain America was Steven Rogers, an undersized youth who wanted desperately to fight overseas. Classified “4-F,” or unfit for military service, Rogers accepted a role in an experimental program meant to create an army of super soldiers to defeat the Nazis, only to become the program’s sole success when German agents murdered the scientist leading the research. Together, he and the United States would—in the words of the first issue— “gain the strength and the will to safeguard our shores.”

Nine months after Captain America’s first appearance, the United States entered the war for real. While superhero rivals Batman and Superman mostly stayed home, Timely plunged Cap into battle in Europe and the Pacific.

Stories of fanciful Nazi invasions reinforced the real sense of insecurity that accompanied the war, while stereotyped depictions of Japanese enemies mirrored the dehumanizing propaganda used by allied governments.

Captain America’s Sentinels of Liberty membership card, 1941 (top). Captain America's Sentinels of Liberty kit postage, 1941 (bottom).

These dynamic adventures made Captain America an unofficial part of the war effort. His winged visage enlivened patriotic calls for children to collect scrap metal and buy war bonds. Fans could join the Sentinels of Liberty, whose card featured a saluting Cap alongside a set of principles that pledged members to honor God, the constitution, and their duties as citizens.

Captain America Comics continued to be published until 1949, but postwar sales faltered without a real-world conflict to give the character weight.

The Korean War brought Rogers (now a professor!) out of retirement as “Captain America, Commie Smasher!” in 1953, but Korea was no substitute for the “good war.” Four-color McCarthyism could not pull enough coins from adolescent pockets to prevent the superhero revival from fizzling.

Still, it was hard to keep a good character down. The iconic duo of artist Jack Kirby and writer Stan Lee brought Cap back for good in 1964, during the self-proclaimed Marvel Age of comics.

A 1992 photo of Jack Kirby from The Art of Jack Kirby (left) . Stan Lee speaking at the 2014 Phoenix Comic-Con. Image by Gage Skidmore (right).

Lee rejected the simplistic, perfect heroes that typified previous comics in favor of fantastical soap operas grounded in very human emotions, where heroes bickered and faced personal crises, punctuated by kinetic fights choreographed by Kirby.

Ignoring the 1950s revival, Lee and Kirby had the Avengers fish Captain America out of an ice flow where he had lain since World War II. They positioned the character as a time-tossed representative of old-school American values set adrift in the turbulent 1960s. This contrast became an essential element of the Captain’s mythos and a ready plot device for both celebrating and critiquing contemporary society.

The resulting stories increasingly distanced Cap from the realities of the day while reinforcing the national celebration of World War II as the good war fought by the greatest generation. After a brief trip into North Vietnam in 1965, Captain American generally avoided the conflict—and the larger Cold War—as it became increasingly unpopular with Marvel’s college-age fanbase .

Instead, the Captain faced a rogue’s gallery centered on unrepentant Nazis, such as the Red Skull and Baron von Strucker’s fascist Hydra organization. As anti-war protests roiled the nation, the best way to preserve the altruistic self-conception of U.S. power at the core of Captain America was to tie him inextricably to past glories.

More than just a man out of time, Captain America became a symbol out of time.

Cover of Secret Empire #1 (May 2017). Artwork by Mark Brooks (left) . Teaser poster for Secret Empire . Published by Marvel Comics (right).

The dramatic tension between Cap’s timeless ideals and the churn of contemporary politics reached its apex amidst the Watergate scandal of 1974. In an obvious allegory of Nixonian malfeasance, the multi-issue Secret Empire arc culminated at the White House, where writers implied the president—who commits suicide in the Oval Office before a stunned Rogers—had been at the head of an evil cabal.

The Secret Empire story fundamentally transformed Captain America’s relationship to the U.S. political project. Lamenting he had to watch “everything [he] fought for become a cynical sham,” Captain American temporarily gave up the shield.

Writers used Captain America’s disillusionment during this period to explore the darker side of American politics and policy, without abandoning the superhero genre’s ultimate optimism.

They rewrote (retconned in comic-speak) the McCarthy-era Captain America into a jingoistic stand-in, turned racist villain and temporarily replaced the idealistic Rogers with a brash, violent anti-hero during the Reagan Era.

Isaiah Bradley, a black Captain America born out of experiments on hundreds of African Americans. Promotional image from Marvel.com (left) . Artwork for the cover of Truth: Red, White & Black 1 (Jan, 2003) featuring Isaiah Bradley as Captain America. Art by Kyle Baker (right) .

In the 2000s, one miniseries even adapted elements from the historic Tuskegee Study to portray World War II era scientists creating a second, black Captain America by experimenting on hundreds of African Americans.

Even as the subject matter of Captain America 's storylines grew more morally complex, writers continued to position Steve Rogers himself as a paragon of increasingly rare virtue. He became Marvel’s personification of a vague, idealized “American Dream”—exemplified by 1980’s Cap for President! story—that contrasted with the more ambiguous reality.

This meant keeping the hero at arm’s length from the government post-Watergate, even when 9/11 gave Rogers a reason to fight. While Cap did square off against Al-Qaeda and bomb-wielding terrorists, by 2004 he was also defending an Islamic scholar held unjustly in Guantanamo Bay by overzealous military officers.

More than a patriotic hero, Captain America became a symbol of the nation’s conscience.

It was a version of this Captain America that formed the loyal opposition in major storylines like the massive 2006-2007 Civil War crossover event—with its allegorical allusions to the War on Terror and the PATRIOT Act—and ultimately moved beyond comics when Chris Evans’s affable Steve Rogers became the moral center of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The cover of Civil War: Front Line #01 . Published by Marvel Comics (left) . Cover of Civil War 7 (Jan, 2007). Art by Steve McNiven (right) .

Cap’s inherent morality made the 2017 storyline that saw a (false) Captain America lead Hydra’s takeover of the United States all the more shocking to many readers, even as a commentary on the global surge in authoritarian nationalism . (The real Steve Rogers won out in the end, of course, with help from longtime ally The Falcon.) Recent issues have seen writer Ta-Nehisi Coates explore the process of burnishing a tarnished symbol.

Such storylines have fed culture-war criticisms that comics have become too political in recent decades, or perhaps too politically correct. But as Captain America’s 80-year history reveals, this is far from a new development.

From his origins in World War II, Captain America waded into national debates with sometimes blunt force. Since the 1960s, his stories have reflected complex ideas about patriotism, recognizing national flaws while clinging stubbornly to an inherent, even exceptional belief in the United States.

Want to Learn More about Cap?

Joe Simon et. al. Captain America: Evolutions of a Living Legend (Marvel, 2019)

J. Richard Stevens, Captain America, Masculinity, and Violence: The Evolution of a National Icon (Syracuse, 2018)

Matthew J. Costello, Secret Identity Crisis: Comic Books and the Unmasking of Cold War America (Continuum, 2009)

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Marvel Revises Comic in Which Captain America Called U.S. ‘Deeply Flawed’

Changes to an essay in the hero’s voice cause a stir.

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By George Gene Gustines

Marvel Comics No. 1000, a special issue in honor of 80 years of storytelling , was supposed to be a cause for celebration. But revisions to one page of the comic, which came out Wednesday , are casting a pall over the festivities.

The page, written by Mark Waid and drawn by John Cassaday, is narrated by Captain America. In earlier versions of the page that comic-book retailers received in July, the star-spangled hero opened with: “I’m asked how it is possible to love a country that’s deeply flawed. It’s hard sometimes. The system isn’t just. We’ve treated some of our own abominably.”

He went on to say that fixing America’s system is “hard and bloody work” but that it could be done when enough people take to the streets, call for revolution and say, “Injustice will not stand.”

Captain America concludes: “That’s what you can love about America.”

The version that arrived in stores and online, however, has new text, also written by Waid, in which Captain America ruminates on his own image, not the United States: “Captain America isn’t a man. It’s an idea. It’s a commitment to fight every day for justice, for acceptance and equality, for the rights of everyone in this nation.” The hero says that those qualities — “not hatred, not bigotry, not exclusion” — are the values of true patriotism.

Marvel and Waid declined to say why the page was changed. But in an email message, Waid expressed frustration at how his original text was being presented. “I’m disappointed that the cherry-picked quotes circulated by the media severely mischaracterize what was actually written,” he wrote. While the essay was critical, he added, “As written, Cap is supportive of America as a whole.”

The change to the Captain America text comes nearly two weeks after The Guardian reported that the cartoonist Art Spiegelman said he was asked to remove criticism of President Trump from a foreword for the upcoming book “ Marvel: The Golden Age 1939-1949 ,” published by the Folio Society. The essay, which The Guardian published , included the line, “In today’s all too real world, Captain America’s most nefarious villain, the Red Skull, is alive on screen and an Orange Skull haunts America.” Spiegelman said he was told by the Folio Society that Marvel was trying to stay apolitical. Folio and Marvel didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the change.

Captain America, who made his debut in 1940 (though the comic had a cover date of 1941), has a long and tangled relationship with American politics. In the issue of his own title that came out Wednesday, written by Ta-Nehisi Coates and drawn by Jason Masters and Sean Izaakse, he finds himself at the Southern border of the United States, helping to guarantee safe passage for a group of migrants. When one of them asks why they were being hunted, Cap answers: “Ignorance. Ignorance and hate.”

In 2016, a story twist made the hero an operative of Hydra, a Nazi-like organization that was out for world domination. Fans of the character did not like seeing the patriotic champion in such a light, prompting Marvel to issue a statement asking readers “to allow the story to unfold before coming to any conclusion.”

The character eventually returned to the side of the good guys but not without damage to his reputation. That is one of the themes Coates explores in the current Captain America series. “This is a game of public relations,” an ally tells him. “If that doesn’t suit you, I’ve got a better word: redemption.”

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An earlier version of this article misspelled the surname of an artist. He is John Cassaday, not Cassady.

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'Captain America: The First Avenger' Review Essay (2014) [part of 'Special Feature: The Marvel Cinematic Universe' - pp.17-24]

2014, Scope: An Online Journal of Film Studies

(pp. 17-24) Although paving the continuity road towards 'The Avengers', 'Captain America: The First Avenger' is as interesting for the ways in which it differs from the previous four Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films as for its similarities and connections with them. Fittingly, at the heart of the film is the notion of mould-breaking, as the emergence of Captain America (Chris Evans) simultaneously heralds a new beginning for U.S. efforts in the Second World War, and the disappearance of a promised future army of Super-Soldiers with the death of scientist Abraham Erskine (Stanley Tucci) at Nazi hands. In Marvel comics, the status of Cap as a one-off is regularly foregrounded in the dynamic of his relations with other heroes; respecting this singularity, Cap's origin as an instrument to fight a specific war is developed by director and screenwriters in a way that accounts for the existential loneliness, as well as the matchless virtues of heart and courage, of the character.

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The History Of Captain America's Relationship With Spider-Man Explained

Despite his iconic branding as the "friendly neighborhood" superhero of the Marvel universe, Spider-Man has had a pretty rough journey — especially in terms of relationships. It's not just his bond with the citizens of New York that suffers, but the rest of the superpowered do-gooder community as well. For many reasons, the people of Spider-Man's world have had a difficult time trusting him, with many initially believing the lies and accusations thrown at him by the Daily Bugle's J. Jonah Jameson.

That said, there are still a few people who are able to look past the bad publicity and decide for themselves that Spider-Man truly is a hero. Among the spandex-clad crowd, one of the most prominent figures who's been on Team Spidey since the web-slinger's very beginning is the Sentinel of Liberty himself, Captain America.

Fans who are most familiar with the Marvel Cinematic Universe's take on Spider-Man associate the young hero more closely with Iron Man. But within the comics, Steve Rogers has played a significant role in Peter Parker's life since before he even received his fateful spider bite. How did the Star-Spangled Avenger go from being a young boy's idol to a seasoned superhero's trusted friend and teammate? We're here to find out. This is the history of Captain America's relationship with Spider-Man, explained.

Young Peter Parker daydreamed about being Captain America

During the 1940s, a frail-bodied young artist named Steve Rogers made a fateful decision: In order to serve his country and fight the Nazis, he volunteered to be the test subject for an experimental serum. This selfless choice ended up transforming him into the mighty Captain America, changing his life forever. Decades later, another skinny youth would find himself inspired by the Captain's adventures and example, unaware that he was due for a life-changing transformation (albeit an accidental one) himself.

In the 1997 flashback issue  "Amazing Spider-Man" #1 , a young Peter Parker — who has yet to be bitten by a radioactive spider — stumbles upon his Uncle Ben's collection of old comic books while helping clean the attic. In an attempt to encourage Peter to take up sports and build self-esteem, Uncle Ben lets Peter keep his old comics in exchange for playing a few rounds of baseball. This predictably doesn't end well for the decidedly unathletic Peter, but he does find solace in the world of Uncle Ben's comics, even daydreaming about being the confident and courageous Captain America.

It is later revealed that this stroke of inspiration — combined with Peter's imagination, scientific brilliance, and desire to uphold justice — leads him to develop a prototype for the web-shooters he goes on to use as Spider-Man.

The wall-crawler meets the super-soldier

As a symbol of hope during wartime, Captain America has mostly enjoyed positive buzz from the media and the near-unanimous support of his countrymen. In contrast, Spider-Man's early days are filled to the brim with negative publicity that seems to hound him from every corner. 

Taking place a few days after Spider-Man saves the Avengers from his robot doppelganger,  "Amazing Spider-Man Annual" #37  captures the wall-crawler's first formal encounter with the Star-Spangled Avenger, immediately after the former subdues the Sandman . (In a neat twist, the Sandman ends up turning over a new leaf later on, even joining the Avengers himself, albeit briefly.) After a quick chat, in which Captain America thanks Spider-Man and offers his assistance in the future, four time-travelling scientists suddenly appear, apparently aiming to terminate the Sandman to avert an imminent global disaster. Working together, Spider-Man and Captain America manage to save the Sandman and change the course of history.

The next day, Captain America tracks down Spider-Man again and offers to make a public statement to clear his name. Spider-Man appreciates the gesture, but realizes that his bad reputation could drag the Captain down. Thus, he turns down the offer and swings away. It is implied that this encounter ends up inspiring Cap to allow reformed criminals to join the Avengers, planting the seeds of his formation of the " Kooky Quartet " with Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, and Hawkeye. 

A botched attempt at Avengers membership

For much of Spider-Man's publication history, his reputation as a loner has been the status quo. There are just so many things that make it difficult for him to stay on a team, from his adamant refusal to share his secret identity to his oftentimes off-putting sense of humor. That's not to say, however, that he hasn't tried to join some of Earth's premiere super-teams over the course of his career.

After Spider-Man fails to join the Fantastic Four in "Amazing Spider-Man" #1 , he decides he's better off on his own. This is why he's surprised to receive an invitation from the mighty Thor to join the Avengers in  "Amazing Spider-Man Annual" #3 . Peter opts in, realizing that such a high-profile membership could certainly help both his finances and his PR. Unfortunately, Spider-Man's temper causes his formal application to devolve into a massive scuffle with the entire team. Captain America comes up with a swift solution: They'll test Spider-Man to see if he's truly Avengers material. 

The team asks him to bring in the Hulk, who was recently seen in the city. Spider-Man finds and subdues the Hulk — but after seeing him revert to Bruce Banner, the hero has a change of heart, and decides the Hulk deserves to be free. Spider-Man returns to Avengers Mansion and reports his "failure," intentionally botching his membership bid.

Teaming up against an unbeatable foe

Spider-Man and Captain America have both amassed impressively villainous rogues galleries , which feature an assortment of bad guys they've been able to deal with on their lonesome. However, some foes are so deadly, they've required Spider-Man and Captain America to team up. One such instance ended up playing a key role in one of Spider-Man's most traumatic experiences.

"Marvel Team-Up" #128  sees Spider-Man and Captain America work together to take down Vermin, a mutated rat-human hybrid who commands an army of rodents and wants to take over the streets. Vermin proves to be a tad too strong and agile for either hero to beat on their own, and even manages to momentarily get the upper hand on both of them during a fight inside a cramped grocery store. With much effort, the duo eventually beats Vermin, after which they go their separate ways.

However, the fact that Spider-Man needed Captain America's help haunts him later on, when Kraven the Hunter schemes to bury Spider-Man alive and take his place, thus proving himself superior to his arachnid foe. Dressed in Spider-Man's black costume, he beats and captures Vermin, an enemy Spider-Man couldn't take down on his own, and sets him free. Spider-Man must chase him down after literally digging himself out of his own grave.

The Assassin Nation plot

Prior to Spider-Man's eventual acceptance into the Avengers, he and Captain America frequently cross paths. One of the most prominent examples of this happens during " Secret Wars ," an event that sees numerous heroes and villains get whisked away and forced to fight on the makeshift planet Battleworld. It is during this adventure that Spider-Man comes to possess the alien symbiote costume that later becomes the anti-hero Venom .

On another occasion, the two superheroes team up to save the reputations of not one, but two countries: the United States and the fictional nation of Symkaria. In the " Assassin Nation Plot " storyline, a hired killer targets the king of Symkaria and ends up killing the country's prime minister instead. The perpetrators frame the United States for this, aiming to cause an international incident to destroy the country. Spider-Man gets involved in an attempt to assist his occasional ally, Symkarian mercenary squad leader Silver Sable. Soon enough, Captain America drops in (literally, via parachute) to help the ragtag bunch investigate the matter.

It is eventually revealed that the assassin was the mutant criminal Sabretooth, and that the true goal of the ultimate mastermind — none other than longtime Captain America foe Red Skull — is to destroy the United States' Constitution, Declaration of Independence, and Bill of Rights, pin it on Symkaria, and make war inevitable. Unsurprisingly, Spider-Man thwarts the Red Skull's plans and further earns Captain America's respect.

Spider-Man, Avengers reservist

Given that Captain America has become almost synonymous with the Avengers ever since the original team saved him from an icy demise in "The Avengers" #4 , it's not surprising that many of Spider-Man's encounters with the Star-Spangled Avenger are connected to the team and his failed attempts to join it. 

In "The Avengers" #236 , Spider-Man breaks into Avengers Mansion to join the team (after Thor invited him to become part of it 15 issues earlier ). Before the Avengers can properly deal with him, they are forced to leave via Quinjet to address an urgent threat. Spider-Man hitches a ride in a web cocoon under the jet, much to Captain America's consternation. The team is forced to work with him while fighting the Lava Men, but Spider-Man's over-eagerness and inability to follow orders becomes apparent (with Captain America even calling him a "young fool" at one point). In the end, despite Captain America's personal request, the U.S. government vetoes Spider-Man's potential membership due to him being a "major security risk."

Spider-Man wouldn't officially be counted among the Avengers' ranks until 1990's  "The Avengers" #329 . But he isn't actually made into a full-time member at this point — rather, he becomes one of seven reservists, alongside the Black Knight, Falcon, Hercules, Captain Marvel, and probationary Avengers Rage and Sandman. They take the place of anyone on the main roster who can't fulfill their duties.

A fateful airport encounter

Being married to a superhero can be extremely difficult — just ask Mary Jane Watson-Parker. Despite their intense love for each other, Peter and Mary Jane have had to weather some particularly tough times. For a while, the two even have to live separately, just so they can work out their issues and priorities. As luck would have it, no less than Captain America himself ends up playing a part in their eventual reconciliation.

"Amazing Spider-Man" #50  sees Peter and Mary Jane have a serious talk about their relationship in an airport, only to be interrupted by the arrival of Doctor Doom — and a subsequent assassination attempt on the Latverian ruler's life that causes entire sections of the airport to collapse. Peter springs into action as Spider-Man and rescues a disguised Captain America from the ruins. Together, they fight off numerous would-be assassins in robotic suits, saving Doom's life in the process. 

After the chaos ends and emergency responders arrive, Peter (still suited up as Spider-Man) and Mary Jane are able to continue their conversation, with the latter jestingly bringing up that Peter never introduces her to his superhero colleagues. This prompts Peter to formally introduce Mary Jane to Captain America as "a very, very dear friend." The wise war veteran is quick to pick up on the truth, and leaves Spider-Man with an important piece of advice: "The mask is supposed to hide your face. Don't let it hide your heart."

Forming the New Avengers

Due to the actions of the Scarlet Witch in the " Avengers Disassembled " storyline, the Avengers are left utterly broken and disbanded. Captain America is particularly distraught, admitting in " Avengers: Finale " that he never thought he'd see the day when the Avengers would cease to be a team. Of course, in the world of comics, status quo shake-ups like this rarely stick, and soon enough, a brand-new team of Avengers forms in the wake of the original's breakup. Most notably, Spider-Man finally earns a spot on the team as a permanent member, though this is largely because he's in the right place at the right time.

In "New Avengers" #1  (which takes place six months after the events of "Disassembled"), the supervillain known as Electro orchestrates a breakout from the Raft, a maximum security prison for supervillains. Spider-Man is one of a handful of heroes to respond to the crisis, along with Luke Cage, Spider-Woman, Daredevil, Captain America, and Iron Man. The assembled heroes end up working together well enough to mostly contain the madness. Afterwards, Captain America and Iron Man discuss putting the band back together to track down the villains who successfully escaped. Steve Rogers personally visits Peter Parker in  "New Avengers" #3  to recruit him — and, naturally, Peter accepts.

Iron Spider versus Captain America

Even though Captain America recruits Spider-Man into the New Avengers, the web-slinger ends up forging a stronger relationship with his fellow scientist Iron Man. Unsurprisingly, Peter sides with Tony when the enforcement of the Superhero Registration Act — a mandate that effectively outlaws superheroes with secret identities — drives a wedge between Iron Man and Captain America. While Peter eventually switches sides, one of his most important assignments as part of Team Tony results in him directly confronting his superhero idol.

In  "Amazing Spider-Man" #534 , Spider-Man and Captain America come to blows after the former asks the latter to surrender. Despite the many advantages built into his spanking-new Iron Spider suit, Spider-Man is unable to defeat Captain America in hand-to-hand combat. However, Spider-Man soon realizes that he's on the wrong side of the argument, and after publicly denouncing Iron Man, meets up with Captain America on a rooftop in  "Amazing Spider-Man" #537 . 

After their discussion, Captain America formally welcomes Spider-Man to the resistance group and takes him to their base — but not before delivering a now-iconic line: "When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the whole world — 'No, you move.'"

Grieving the fallen Captain America

The superhero Civil War ends with Iron Man's side claiming victory, the non-registered Avengers (and a fugitive Spider-Man) on the run, and Captain America seemingly assassinated. While the Captain eventually makes his triumphant return to the land of the living some time later, his apparent death sends shockwaves across the superhero community, practically uniting the pro-registration and anti-registration heroes in their grief. Among the heroes who take the loss of the Captain the hardest is Spider-Man, who's already seen his fair share of death and tragedy.

In  "Fallen Son: The Death of Captain America" #4 , an emotionally unstable Spider-Man, clad in his black costume, attacks the Rhino at the cemetery where Peter's Uncle Ben is buried. This turns out to be a massive mistake: The Rhino is merely visiting the grave of his mother, and Spider-Man's attack causes him to destroy her headstone. Understandably enraged, the armored villain nearly beats Spider-Man to a pulp, until a last-minute burst of strength and willpower allows the hero to defeat his foe. Wolverine gives Spider-Man a (very bad) pep talk after this battle, and while Spider-Man generally responds to his Avengers teammate with misplaced anger, their conversation does help him get through his grief, if only slightly.

Two nerds at heart bond over art

After Cap returns to life, some of his old artwork — specifically, a comic strip called "Liberty Bonds" he drew when he was in art school, during a time he believed this was the only way he could contribute to the war effort — is rediscovered and put up for auction by an antique hunter (as seen in  "Avenging Spider-Man" #5 ). This piques Peter's curiosity, making him realize that he and Steve were actually both "nerds" in their youth. He proceeds to pester Steve about his erstwhile art career during an Avengers mission, and even brings it up at their headquarters. Cap dismisses him, though, and even asks Peter if he still plays with his first chemistry set, just to get his point across.

But in the end, Peter's persistence rekindles Steve's love of art. The two Avengers end up bonding over their geeky interests by collaborating on, appropriately enough, a superhero comic book. 

Captain America inspires Spider-Man to go beyond

In the "Beyond" storyline, Peter's clone Ben Reilly  returns and attempts to reclaim the title of one true Spider-Man at the behest of the Beyond Corporation. Initially, Peter isn't exactly sure how to deal with this — but a confrontation with the U-Foes leaves him bedridden and on the brink of death. As Ben operates as Spider-Man with Peter's blessing, Peter undergoes a slow process of recovery. He has a vast support network of people rooting for him to get back on his feet — one of whom gets the idea to help Peter by enlisting the aid of the most inspiring superhero in the Marvel universe.

In  "Amazing Spider-Man" #87 , the Black Cat asks Captain America to join her in helping Peter relearn how to be Spider-Man. The Captain readily agrees to this, serving as Peter's coach, nutritionist, and sparring partner, rolled into one. With assistance from the Star-Spangled Avenger himself, Peter's journey towards becoming Spider-Man once again rehabilitates not just his body, but his fighting spirit as well.

Home — Essay Samples — Life — My Heroes — Captain America and Ironman: My Favorite Superheroes

Captain America and Ironman: My Favorite Superheroes

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What i find passionate in both of them.

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Virtue Ethics in Captain America: The First Avenger, Movie Review Example

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Virtue ethics hold that a person’s character is the driving force for moral behavior. In Captain America: The First Avenger , Steve Rogers seeks admittance into the US Army during World War II so that he, too, can fight for his country. Despite having been rejected multiple times, Rogers continues to try to enlist—illegally through the falsification of information—because he feels that it is his duty to fight for his country. His perseverance eventually gets him noticed by Dr. Abraham Erskine who is in the process of recruiting candidates for a secret soldier initiative that is intended to rival the secret technological exploits of Johann Schmidt/Red Skull, who eventually becomes Captain America’s arch nemesis. It is Steve Rogers’ character, before and after his transformation, that demonstrate, through virtue ethics, that he is a true hero; on the contrary, Johann Schmidt’s lack of virtue demonstrate that he is a true villain.

Virtue ethics argue that virtue is an inherent character trait that is concerned with the reactions, desires, perceptions, attitudes, interests, expectations, and sensibilities of an individual. There are many instances in which Steve Rogers demonstrates that he is a virtuous person. For instance, he tries many times—and fails—to enlist in the US Army despite the fact that he is unfit for duty due to his many medical conditions. Rogers believes that regardless of these inhibitions, he has the obligation to fight for his country and deserves to be given the chance to prove his valor like any other enlisted man. It is this virtuous determination that prompts Dr. Abraham Erskine to select Rogers for the super-soldier program despite the fact that he appears to be weak. It is important for Dr. Erskine to find a candidate that is virtuous because the super-soldier serum amplifies the good and virtuous qualities of an individual, as is seen in Steve Rogers and is amplified in Captain America; the serum also has the power to amplify the corrupt characteristics of Johann Schmidt, which are amplified in Red Skull.

A virtuous person is defined as someone who is “morally good, excellent, or admirable” that “acts and feels…rightly” (Hursthouse, 2012). Rogers demonstrates these skills in the face of adversity, standing up for what he believes in—and often getting beat up for it. One of the most virtuous acts that Rogers does is jumping on top of a grenade during training; though it is revealed that the grenade is a “dummy” grenade, Rogers did not know that at the time that he jumped on the grenade with the intent of sacrificing himself in order to save his fellow soldiers ( Captain America: The First Avenger , 2011).

Virtue ethics also contend that a virtuous person exhibits practical wisdom. Practical wisdom can be defined the knowledge or understanding that allows its possessor to do the right thing in any given situation (Hursthouse, 2012). Practical wisdom is derived from two distinct sources: life experience and the ability to recognize features in a situation that are more important than others. Steve Rogers’ personal wisdom comes from a lifetime of being bullied and he tells Dr. Erskine that he is not necessarily looking to kill Nazis, but rather wants to stop the Third Reich’s bullying of others. Steve Rogers says, “I don’t like bullies. No matter where they come from” ( Captain America: The First Avenger , 2012). The second source of practical wisdom is exhibited by Captain America as he disobeys orders so that he can attempt to rescue POWs that have been taken captive by Red Skull. Although Captain America has been relegated to promoting the sale of war bonds and is used as a media tool, he knows that he has the power to make a difference. Captain America states that he knows that he was meant for more than being a lab rat or a dancing monkey. Captain America is able to recognize that the soldiers being held captive by Red Skull are in need of being rescued and that he has the skill and strength to pull off the rescue. Despite the fact that the impetus for his actions is his concern for his long-time friend, Bucky Barnes, he knows that it is important that he rescues the POWs regardless of the dangers that he may encounter.

A third element of virtue ethics is eudaimonia, which can be defined as a moralized concept of happiness. In the case of Steve Rogers/Captain America, his goal is to become a soldier, regardless of the costs, and to serve his country. “Virtue ethicists claim that a human life devoted to physical pleasure or the acquisition of wealth is not eudaimon , but a wasted life” (Hursthouse, 2012). In the case of Steve Rogers/Captain America, he lives to serve his country and to protect the citizens of the United States. Captain America’s desire to fulfill his duty, enables him to be willing to sacrifice his life in order to save millions. Because Captain America’s actions are self-less, it can be argued that he is fulfilling his eudaimonia.

All the virtuous characteristics that are present in Steve Rogers/Captain America are missing in Johann Schmidt/Red Skull. Schmidt’s desires are selfish and he eventually turns on his country in order to pursue his own dreams of world domination. Moreover, Schmidt is only concerned with his well-being and is willing to sacrifice not only POWs, but also his fellow Nazi commanders, his Hydra followers, and his loyal companion, Dr. Zola. Schmidt/Red Skull is also unable to recognize features in a situation that are more important to others and instead focuses on himself and his personal desires. Because Red Skull is the polar opposite of Captain America, and since good always triumphs over evil, Captain America has the virtuous qualities that enable him to take down Hydra and destroy Red Skull.

Steve Rogers’ virtuous nature is what makes Captain America so noble and heroic. The super-soldier serum amplified the good that was in Rogers and amplified his virtuous qualities. Through his character, Rogers is able to demonstrate that virtue is not something that can be learned but that it is something that is inherent to an individual.

Captain America: The First Avenger (2011). Dir. Joe Johnston. United States: Marvel Studios. Hursthouse, R. (2012). Virtue Ethics. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Accessed 17 April 2012, from <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2012/entries/ethics-virtue/>

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• / Miscellaneous

Superhero Essay: Captain America

By: Tasha   •  Essay  •  656 Words  •  December 12, 2009  •  2,312 Views

Essay title: Superhero Essay: Captain America

Superhero essay: Captain America

As a child he stood out from the rest, something was different about him and no one could figure it out. Who knew that Steve Rogers would one day be saving the world from the evil Nazi's and the Axis powers. Steve Rogers was born during the Great Depression into a poor family and was always seen as being very week (Wikipedia). Tragically he loses both of his parents very young, his father when he is just a child, and his mother when he is in his teens. He decides to study fine arts in school and focusing on illustrations. After Rogers sees the terrible crimes Hitler has committed in Europe, he tries to enlist in the army but is rejected and not allowed to join due to his frail appearance (Marvel). At this point in Steve Roger's life story, an army officer offers him a chance to be a test subject in Operation: Rebirth. Operation: Rebirth was a top-secret government project that was trying to create s super-soldier formula.

After weeks of testing and what not, Rogers emerges with the perfect human body. He is given a uniform with the colors red, white and blue to symbolize the American flag. Rogers is also given a shield and the name Captain America. His mission is to target the Red Skull, which is the Nazi's and Axis power's in Europe and to protect his country (Marvel). The Red Skull, is the Captain America's only enemy from World War II. James "Bucky" Barnes soon becomes his sidekick and they head off to go and protect the world from all the evil people. He serves as a symbol of freedom and American pride during this hard time. After the war is over, Captain America falls into the Artic Ocean and is temporarily frozen there, until decades later he is saved by the new crime fighting group called the Avengers (Wikipedia). He becomes a very important crime fighter in this group, and saves the world yet again from many bad things. Eventually Captain America sees what the war between him and other superheroes is doing to the American people and surrenders in his secret identity, showing the American people his true self that he is just like them. While at the federal court house in New York City, Captain America gets shot in the shoulder by a sniper

• MLA 7  
• CHICAGO  

(2009, 12). Superhero Essay: Captain America. EssaysForStudent.com . Retrieved 12, 2009, from https://www.essaysforstudent.com/essays/Superhero-Essay-Captain-America/24423.html

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Captain America: Marvel’s Ultimate Defender of Life

I n the vast Marvel Universe filled with superheroes and cosmic beings, Captain America stands out for his unwavering commitment to preserving innocent life above all else. According to Lyra, also known as Life itself, Steve Rogers is the only hero completely loyal to this cause, making him Life’s true champion.

In Captain America #8, written by J. Michael Straczynski, Steve finds himself in a conflict between Life and Death on the battlefield, with Lyra declaring him as her champion. Despite Steve’s doubts about his worthiness compared to other powerful heroes like Captain Marvel and Thor, Lyra reminds him that his loyalty to preserving life sets him apart from the rest.

Steve Rogers’s dedication to saving lives is evident throughout his entire superhero career. He does everything in his power to save as many people as possible and offers them second chances whenever he can. This commitment is not just limited to his time as Captain America; it’s ingrained in his very essence, as revealed in the Change Agents storyline. Steve was born destined to make a significant impact on the world, and being Life’s chosen champion feels like a natural progression for him.

While other heroes may have their own agendas or loyalties, Steve’s singular focus on protecting innocent lives makes him Marvel’s ultimate protector. He never wavers in the face of adversity and is willing to sacrifice himself if it means saving others. This unwavering dedication to the cause of life makes Captain America one of Marvel’s most powerful and respected heroes, earning him the title of Life’s true champion.

What is Captain America’s main motivation as a superhero?

Captain America’s primary motivation as a superhero is to preserve innocent life above all else. He is dedicated to protecting and saving as many people as he can, offering them second chances whenever possible.

Why does Lyra declare Captain America as Life’s champion?

Lyra, also known as Life, declares Captain America as her champion because of his unwavering commitment to preserving innocent life. Unlike other heroes who may have different agendas or loyalties, Captain America’s singular focus on protecting life sets him apart and makes him Life’s true champion.

How does Captain America’s dedication to saving lives transcend his role as a superhero?

Captain America’s dedication to saving lives goes beyond his role as a superhero. It is ingrained in his very essence, as revealed in storylines like Change Agents , where it is shown that Steve Rogers was born destined to make a significant impact on the world. His commitment to protecting innocent lives defines him both as a hero and as a person.

What sets Captain America apart from other superheroes in terms of his commitment to preserving life?

What sets Captain America apart is his unwavering dedication to the cause of life. While other heroes may have their own agendas or loyalties, Captain America’s singular focus on protecting innocent lives makes him Marvel’s ultimate defender. He is willing to sacrifice himself if it means saving others, demonstrating a level of commitment and selflessness that few can match.

How does Captain America’s commitment to preserving life make him one of Marvel’s most powerful heroes?

Captain America’s commitment to preserving life is a testament to his strength of character and sense of duty. His unwavering dedication and willingness to sacrifice himself for others make him not only a powerful superhero but also a symbol of hope and inspiration for people both in the Marvel Universe and in the real world.

Screen Rant

I'm concerned for the mcu's new captain america (way more than steve rogers).

Steve Rogers has faced some significant threats throughout his MCU tenure, but there is a lot more reason to be concerned for the new Captain America.

• Sam Wilson faces a formidable new threat in his solo movie against mind-controlled super soldiers and a powerful telepathic villain.
• Without the Super Soldier Serum, Wilson is at a disadvantage against enemies like Isaiah Bradley and The Leader in Captain America: Brave New World.
• The confirmed cast for the movie, including Tim Blake Nelson, hints at high stakes and a compelling storyline for the new Captain America.

As Captain America: Brave New World approaches, there is a lot more reason to be concerned for Steve Rogers' Captain America replacement in the MCU . Captain America: Brave New World will be Sam Wilson's first solo movie and the first time that he appears on the big screen under the titular mantle once held by Wilson's friend, Steve Rogers . As his appearance in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier established, Wilson has particularly big shoes to fill, and not just in terms of proving himself worthy to carry the shield.

Details for the plot for Captain America: Brave New World were expanded recently as footage of the movie was aired during CinemaCon. This showed Harrison Ford in his role as Thaddeus " Thunderbolt " Ross, now president, as he interacted with the new Captain America . This gave way to some action as an assassination attempt on the president came in the form of mind-controlled soldiers including Isaiah Bradley, who was introduced in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier . This snippet alone shows that Sam is up against a particularly fearsome threat.

Captain America 4 Set Photos: 10 Reveals About The Story, Returning Characters & More

Sam wilson will face a different threat than steve rogers.

The footage revealed at CinemaCon does depict one stark similarity between Sam Wilson's solo debut and Captain America: The Winter Soldier in the form of an adversarial super soldier. Yet instead of just one (the Winter Soldier himself), Sam and the President's security detail brawl with a host of enemies, with one of them being enhanced by the Super Soldier Serum. With Bucky Barnes posing a significant threat to his fellow super soldier, Steve Rogers, Sam is immediately on the back foot as he is not a super soldier himself.

Throughout Sam Wilson's MCU appearances , he has proven capable of going toe-to-toe with some hefty threats, including his fellow Avengers in Captain America: Civil War , where he fought Spider-Man, Vision, War Machine, and Iron Man. Still, with these arguably being the biggest threats Falcon has faced, the fact that nobody intended to fight to the death means that Falcon could very well be out of his depth when it comes to murderous super soldiers. He is, after all, only human - and Steve Rogers struggled enough with both Red Skull and Bucky Barnes.

Compounding this threat is the greater one that is controlling Bradley's mind. The Captain America sequel is unlikely to simply have Cap face-off against yet another Super Soldier as he did in Captain America: The First Avenger and Captain America: The Winter Soldier . With the confirmed cast for Captain America: Brave New World including Tim Blake Nelson, this is a worrying sign for Sam Wilson's solo outing.

Ranking Every Villain In The Captain America Movies

Captain america: brave new world footage teases a powerful version of the leader.

The Winter Soldier program included the brainwashing of several agents to have them fight for the Soviets against their political enemies. Something similar seems to have occurred with Isaiah Bradley, as his attempt on the President's life was not his own volition. The fact that Tim Blake Nelson will be appearing means that he will likely be portraying The Leader - a powerful telepath whose intelligence has no upper limit in a similar vein to Hulk's anger, thanks to the gamma radiation his brain received in The Incredible Hulk .

The Leader, therefore, is a far greater threat than a Super Soldier - and Sam Wilson is presumably the one to go up against him solo. Without Steve Rogers' strength and agility afforded by the Super Soldier Serum, this puts Sam in an especially precarious position against an enemy who can use telekinesis, telepathy, and whatever creations his unbridled intelligence has manifested. Whatever the case, it will certainly make Captain America: Brave New World all the more compelling as Sam is one especially imperiled underdog.

Captain America: Brave New World

Captain America: Brave New World (formerly titled New World Order)  marks Sam Wilson's first MCU big-screen appearance as Steve Rogers' successor after receiving the suit and shield in Phase 4's The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Anthony Mackie returns as the titular Avenger alongside Danny Ramirez as Joaquin Torres, Carl Lumby as Isaiah Bradley, and Tim Blake Nelson as The Incredible Hulk's former ally Samuel Sterns. Harrison Ford makes his MCU debut replacing the late William Hurt as Thaddeus Ross.

Key Release Dates

Deadpool & wolverine, thunderbolts (2025), blade (2025), avengers: the kang dynasty, avengers: secret wars.