Last Wednesday morning, I found out that Marvel had decided to make Steve Rogers, Captain America a HYDRA sleeper agent, detailing how he had been in HYDRA since childhood. HYDRA, for those of you mercifully unaware, was the National Socialists’ research and development arm in the Marvel backstory in World War II, and survived the fall of the Third Reich to wear goofy outfits, try to take over/destroy the world, and further the aims of the Nazi Third Reich.
So, they turned Captain America into a Nazi.
And I, being the calm, rational person that I am and recognizing a publisher’s desperate attempt to keep comic books relevant in an age of ubiquitous webcomics, naturally lost my shit.
Because most articles about it, like the one linked above, take a “Who cares? They’re just trying to sell comics. Don’t take it so seriously!” tone.
And I get it. I do. It’s just Marvel trying to sell comics.
And on my way to the BBQ to burn every bit of Captain America material I owned, it occurred to me what set me off.
It’s how they decided to sell their comics.
Captain America, by writer Joe Simon and artist Jack Kirby, was a consciously political creation by two Jewish-American creators appalled at the rise of Nazi Germany. The first issue went on sale in December, 1940, a full year before the United States entered the war, and showed Captain America punching Adolf Hitler in the face.
They received death threats from pro-Nazi readers. Threats that were serious enough that then-Mayor of New York City, Fiorello LaGuardia, personally contacted Simon and Kirby to offer his support and ordered the creators to be protected by the NYPD.
And now, here we are.
Even Stan Lee thinks this is a good idea.
Well, he’s wrong.
A Nazi Captain America empowers everyone who has ever used his image to support racism, anti-Semitism, and white supremacy. A Nazi Captain America tells the neo-Nazi supporters of Donald Trump that popular culture is on their side. A Nazi Captain America pisses on the heroism that Joe Simon and Jack Kirby showed, by taking an unpopular stance against anti-Semitism and fascism while the United States, still technically neutral, had large and vocal pro-Nazi organizations lobbying to support Germany.
As an aside, my grandfather fought in WWII. We know that he was in the infantry, in Europe, in 1945. I don’t know any more than that because when we grandkids would ask, he’d get this look on his face. I can’t describe it. Then he’d start to drink. I never looked further into what he did in the war, because I don’t want to know what he saw that would do that to him. But I can guess.
And it’s that, that horror, that Marvel has decided to ally Captain America with to use as a selling point for comic books.
Stories matter. When fascism was rising in Europe, Simon and Kirby took a stand against it. And as fascism rises in the United States, Marvel Entertainment is taking a stand for it.
The writer, Nick Spencer, alludes to the rise of Trump and claims that the story of Captain America as a secret Nazi infiltrator is meant to be a metaphor for the rise of fascism in the US.
Which shows his privilege, or his ignorance of not only European history but our own, because the rise of fascism in the United States has been anything but a secret infiltration. We’ve been watching it, screaming ourselves hoarse with warnings about it, for decades. Hell, the rural SoCal town I grew up in had Nazis and KKK openly recruiting. The rise of fascism in the US has been screamingly obvious for anyone who has been paying attention.
Fascism is not an infiltration. Fascism is loud. That’s the point, to move public opinion until fascism is acceptable. When I was a child, fascists were seen as cranks and far-right extremists. Now the Republican Party nominee for President of the United States is a fascist, and we’re told it makes a great story.
So, after thought, I decided not to burn my Captain America stuff. Captain America is too important a symbol to be surrendered to the far right. By walking away, allowing this, accepting this, we cede yet another patriotic symbol to white supremacy.
So I decided, since Marvel’s own canon allows that any American that upholds the ideals of Captain America has a right to the name and costume, that instead of denying Captain America, I’d take a harder path.
I became Captain America. Marvel and Steve Rogers, by supporting fascism, have forfeited the right to the Captain America mantle.
As a white man with German heritage, I have the moral responsibility to stand against white supremacy, against bigotry, against fascism. Though I am damn near as disabled as Steve Rogers was before he got the super-soldier serum (and in many aspects worse) it is up to people like me to take an open stand, to remind people that this is not acceptable, and not what it means to be an American.
So no, I’m not “cosplaying” Captain America. I’m not “impersonating” Captain America. I am Captain America. And, no matter what race, creed, religion, gender or orientation you are, if you stand against bigotry, fascism, and hatred then you should be Captain America too.
I’ll be making my own shield and as much of my Captain America kit as I can. It won’t be easy, but I’m not advocating giving Marvel money for this. In fact, I support Captain America fans donating the cover price of Captain America: Steve Rogers #1 to the Holocaust Museum.
And if I can scrape up the social to attend rallies, GOTV, and voter registration drives, I’ll be doing so as Captain America. Because that’s a damn sight closer to the Captain America that Simon and Kirby gave us than HYDRA Steve Rogers is.