At this point I should probably tell you this article is going to be full of spoilers for one of Marvel’s newest series, Captain America: Steve Rogers #1. I implore you, however, to keep reading because this article is a heartfelt letter to convince fans not to read it.
Let me explain.
If there is one thing everyone who reads my articles knows, it’s that I am a die-hard comic book fan. It’s one of the things that I have loved in my more formative years and is something you can guarantee I will always be fired up about. Typically, I enjoy arguments like, “Who’s your favorite Spiderman?” or “Which Avengers set-up was the best?” The conversation is not so fun today because Marvel has managed to make a disgraceful mockery of one of the greatest characters of over seventy years.
It was revealed in Captain America: Steve Rogers #1 that, due to Steve Rogers’ mother being recruited into HYDRA before he was born, Steve had actually been a secret HYDRA agent this whole time, retconning over seventy years of story. Not only has this literally already been done with Bucky Barnes, aka The Winter Soldier, but also this is an insult to Captain America character.
Hydra, as many fans of the Marvel Comics and Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) know, is a genocidal Nazi group hell-bent on world domination at the hand of Red Skull. When Captain America first had life put into the character by Jewish comic artists Jack Kirby and Joe Simon, America was in the middle of fighting World War II. As a way to put a little power back into the hands of their Jewish brothers and sisters enduring the Holocaust overseas, Kirby and Simon made a character meant to punch Adolf Hitler, and Nazism itself, in the face. Steve Rogers is a symbol of freedom and power in the hands of everyday people to do good, and now he’s a Nazi.
Marvel has essentially spit and danced on the graves of Kirby and Simon by making their symbol, who was written to fight Nazi’s, a part of the genocidal group who murdered millions of Jews, gay people, Romani, etc. It shows that Marvel has absolutely no respect for their creators or their fans. Captain America is the character that would, and has, literally given his life to stop HYDRA and just for shock value made him a Nazi.
Not only are they disrespecting Holocaust survivors but they are destroying all of the hard work put into these comics since the Secret Wars reboot arc. They had finally passed the mantle to Sam Wilson, The Falcon, one of the first African American characters in Marvel’s universe and has been fighting alongside Steve since his story began. Captain America, the symbol of America, was a black man and it was one of the most important moves in comic book history since there is still such a lack in diversity for major heroes. They had also aged up Steve Rogers into an elderly man so that his story could finally move on, he fought in World War II after all. The story was moving on, something that rarely happens in comics, and instead make Steve Rogers thirty-something again, give him back the shield and all just so they can make him a genocidal racist.
I’ve heard a lot of flack on the account of “well they made Bucky a HYDRA agent! It’s no different!” Listen here buddy, pal, my guy--Bucky Barnes was not originally made to be anti-Nazi propaganda and what it means to survivors to see a hero who was shown to be the way for two Jewish storytellers to get out their pain and anguish over a tragedy they could only watch in horror as it unfolded. Bucky Barnes was a trauma survivor at the hands of HYDRA that Steve Rogers was able to save his best friend from.
This story arc will most likely end with “Steve Rogers was a double-double agent the whole time!” but I’m going to be honest, I don’t care and that won’t make this better. Captain America is a sacred character to so many fans for so many reasons, and to disrespect his very existence for the sake of shock value is why Marvel losing ground to DC. You don’t respect women, you don’t respect minorities and you don’t even respect your own character anymore. Shape up Marvel, you’re an embarrassment.
P.S. To anyone who tries to tell HYDRA isn’t a Nazi Organization have this picture from Captain America #148
