Issue 30: Superhero Information Initiative
By Amdnarg Toh

Death of a Hero: “The Red, White, and Blew”

Ok… If there’s one iconic hero that should be left the hell alone, it’s Captain America.

I mean… He saved America from the Nazis, the Japs, the Communists, and just about every other anti-American force that our country has faced since the early 1940’s. He survived decades floating in the Atlantic Ocean, frozen in a big ice cube in suspended animation. (Just in time to be unfrozen to battle the Cold War Communists.)Whenever a new enemy came into power, Captain America was sent in to battle evil, and promote freedom, democracy, Mom, and apple pie.

As we played on the playground in the first grade, the Captain was one of the few heroes that we thought we actually had a chance of actually becoming. He didn’t shoot beams out of his eyes. He couldn’t fly. He wasn’t invulnerable, and didn’t have x-ray vision. He was a tall, lanky art student named Steve Rogers, (how generic!), who was given a serum that “pumped” him up, and granted him extraordinary agility. Along with his bulletproof shield, he kicked supervillain ass from sea to shining sea. With some work, we could be just like him. Or so we thought. Over the years, he became the sole bearer of the old red, white, and blue as he battled the forces of evil across the globe…

Until recently…

A number of innocent bystanders were killed as the result of a cataclysmic battle between a group of superheroes and their archenemies. The public was enraged. They did what any group of good citizens would do – insist the government fix the problem. So the United States Congress, with the assistance of Tony Stark, (alter ego of Iron Man), drafted and passed legislation requiring all super beings to register with the government. Part of their reasoning was to try to train superheroes in law enforcement techniques. But many super powered beings insisted that it was instead a witch hunt designed to identify them so they could be singled out, and the debate quickly became focused around civil rights. With heroes of every stripe falling on both sides of the debate, and the eventual conflict, Captain America found himself the leader of the anti-Registration alliance.

Pitting hero against hero, the battle ensued, placing some of our favorite heroes into settings and battles in which it would be difficult to tell who was on the “right” side…

Spiderman fighting Iron Man? The Fantastic Four split up? Unheard of…

Why? Politics. Not just make-believe word politics. Real world politics.

Given the current political climate, the writers began to feel pressure from extremists on both the right and left, wanting Captain America to be the shield bearer, (no pun intended), for their particular “American” cause. Reflective of the real world political climate, without any clear enemies to battle, some wanted Captain America to focus on fighting internal battles, like having him stand up against the current administration, and some wanted to make him the leader of the armed forces, fighting Bin Laden and the Taliban.

Rather than fight on either of those fronts, it was decided to invent a new evil, with the drafting of the Superhero Registration Act. So our beloved Captain became an outlaw, a fugitive. A defender of the American way, one that fought for justice and freedom for all, even those with superpowers. As leader of the anti-registration coalition of heroes, he began to fight “the man” even when it meant fighting former colleagues. During a final confrontation with Tony Stark, the leader of the pro-Registration movement, Captain realized he had become a threat to the very people he was duty-sworn to protect, so he surrendered himself, and prompted his team to do the same.

The battle over, the President granted amnesty to all super heroes that had opposed the legislation, except for Captain America, who was incarcerated. While being escorted outside a courthouse, he was shot by a sniper several times. The image of a hero – my hero – draped in the colors that define our country, soaked in blood, is a new form of “shock and awe”.

Whaddyamean dead? Surely he’ll come back right? Nope. We’re assured this isn’t some ploy like DC pulled with Superman. Steve Rogers is dead.

I can understand the difficulty in creating interesting settings for heroes, when there aren’t a lot of clearly defined “enemies” to fight. But too much of the real world has intruded into these wonderful make-believe universes. Often changes are made because of the intrusion of real world politics, or the result of not enough funds because of waning sales. This time, it’s not a sales ploy. Captain America comic books were selling fine, even doing fairly well. So we’re left to believe it was more political than anything else…

So please give me some heroes back. I’m not sure who I’m gonna believe in without some over-idealistic folks with super powers battling the clearly defined forces of evil. Paint my comics in bright colors with high contrast. Leave the shades of gray out in the real world.