In Mourning for America’s Hero

Podcast audio available here.

A few weeks ago my greatest inspiration and hero was taken from me. Someone I had grown to admire, respect and reflect upon for years. In place of a father figure from an early age, he helped guide and inspire me to do the right thing. He held true to his beliefs and never wavered from his cause. In fact, I looked up to Captain America, often pretending to be him as a child; he is who I aspired to be.

My whole life, I’ve had to defend comic books from those who characterize them as low-brow or intellectually inferior. My mother tolerated my spending habits on them, as she saw that as I struggled with subjects such as math, but I excelled at reading, writing and soon literature. I had a twelfth grade reading and vocabulary level in the fourth grade, solely due to my appreciation of comic books and fiction. Captain America started it all for me.

To say that I am saddened is an understatement, because my icon is gone and all I have are memories. I have back issues to flip through, as opposed to new adventures. To think that Cap isn’t a real hero, a real ideal, or his death is a real shame is beyond words. He has been inspiring generations of people since before our involvement in World War II. Captain America is just as real as the Statue of Liberty. Captain America is just as sacred to me as the flag that his costume was fashioned after. Unfortunately, Marvel Comics holds a copyright on him and he is their intellectual property. Marvel’s Civil War was a timely issue, and brilliantly written, but Cap’s death had no real connection to it and it felt dirty. In the end, it was done for sales. Instead of being able to hold onto an ideal, Marvel had to mire my memory of my most beloved hero with a tragic end at the cost of their increase in sales and PR. Captain America couldn’t live out his days as an old man; he was always trying to save us from the next threat. But that’s what happens to most who try to bring profound change on this sad little ball of mud: a violent end. Casual readers should make no mistake, saving the world is profound. Captain America, epitomized the underdog serving his country, because it needed him. He was a selfless and moral man. A consummate strategist and patriot, he wore a symbolic uniform of the red, white and blue. 

Marvel’s website states about Captain America, “Too frail to join the military, patriotic Steve Rogers agreed to become the recipient of the Super-Soldier Serum. With his body and abilities pushed to peak human levels, Rogers became Captain America, the living symbol of freedom.” Created to be an American symbol against the Nazi uprising, Captain America was created by “Joe Simon and Jack Kirby… in Timely Comics‘ Captain America Comics #1 (March 1941). Often seen as a symbol of America’s spirit, he has been associated with the Avengers since 1964, shortly after their formation, and is considered a founding member. Over the years, an estimated 210 million copies of “Captain America” comic books have been sold in a total of 75 countries,” according to Wikipedia. Timely eventually became Marvel Comics, and the legend of Captain America was reborn. Cap, or Steve Rogers, was an ordinary man doing the extraordinary. He went on to lead The Avengers (Earth’s Mightiest Heroes) many times against seemingly unbeatable foes. In each tale was a lesson of strategy, selflessness, intelligence, honor, and humility.

I wondered if his death served a purpose, as it came on the heels of Marvel’s Civil War; a seven month long sweeping tale encompassing nearly every character, pitting one against another, for the sake of national security. It mimicked our so called “war on terror” well. The government and his best friend adopted laws that made those who could use their minds and bodies as weapons of mass destruction register themselves. This put Cap diametrically opposed to them, as he could not conceive of a loss of liberty for Americans, nor for the heroes who served it; instead, he chose to stand against the government. When the war was over, Captain America was the only one to show remorse for the collatoral damage sustained and surrender to authorities. The government put Cap in a compromised position, leading him to a courthouse for arraignment like a common criminal, exposing him to a sniper’s bullet. He wasn’t killed by the government, but rather, his oldest nemesis, the Red Skull was behind the trigger-man.  

Comic readers have a love/hate relationship with the publishers, because when characters die, they ought to stay dead for continuity’s sake. Eventually someone brings back the character and it doesn’t feel right. Usually this is a third string character and you really could care less but argue with your friends anyway. What saddens me the most is that Marvel insists this is the end for Steve Rogers. In all likelihood, I’m just living without my hero for some unspecified time period, until angry fans demand his return or this marketing campaign has run its course. This is not the first time Captain America has cheated death, as he was frozen in suspended animation from 1945-1963.

Steve Rogers still liked old movies and show tunes, which was never my thing, but he taught me an appreciation for them. Sure, Cap was a man out of his element, stuck morally in the 1940’s, but living in a modern world. He was born in a simpler time, when America was not yet a world power, made to be a literal symbol to rally around. As America developed into a superpower, Captain America became that leader we needed so much. Recently, writers struggled with what to do with his character. He was now longer an underdog, but a respected leader, and so was America. What to do with a character who symbolized American core values, when such are obviously changing from the time in which Captain America was created? Cap did his best to change with the times; this was part of his old school charm. Maybe Marvel killed him to show that when we need him the most, he’s not there. Perhaps they killed him to show that we need a symbol to rally around. The fact was that Captain America was loved the world over, and I miss him terribly already.

To chronicle those I admire - the social satirists, the political revolutionaries, the brilliant philosophers, artists, comedians and mythic heroes – would be a short list compared to those whom I’ve known, and whom polite society has told me I ought to endear.  Few have held a candle to Captain America. I mourn his loss but feel his hand upon my shoulder, still guiding me throughout my life whether he is real or not. He is why I am who I am, where I am and where I am going.