R.I.P., Captain America (1941-2007)?

by Liberty and Power

The New York Daily News yesterday ran the exclusive story that Captain America, the Marvel Comics superhero created in March 1941 and touted as the original sentinel of liberty, was shot dead by a sniper in Captain America #25 (which also debuted yesterday). The shooting follows Captain America's arrest at the end of the Civil War storyline, in which Iron Man and the forces of law and order defeated Captain America's underdog band of freedom fighters.

His death is sure to ignite controversy in the comic book world - still reeling from Superman's death in 1993 and resurrection the following year - and even political pundits, who may see Captain America's demise as an allegory for the United States.

"It's a hell of a time for him to go. We really need him now," said co-creator Joe Simon, 93, after being informed of his brainchild's death.

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Amy H. Sturgis - 3/9/2007

True. It's just good business. Resurrection, like death, is great for sales!

Amy H. Sturgis - 3/9/2007

Excellent point!

There are rumors that The Punisher will assume Captain America's role for a while (presumably until they determine how to resurrect him)... but how do we even know that The Punisher is The Punisher?

Like you said, precedent allows quite a bit of wiggle room.

I found it interesting that there was uncertainty about what Captain America should do in today's political world: "What I found is that all the really hard-core left-wing fans want Cap to be standing out on and giving speeches on the streetcorner against the Bush administration, and all the really right-wing [fans] all want him to be over in the streets of Baghdad, punching out Saddam," Brubaker said.

David T. Beito - 3/9/2007

Perhaps it wasn't the "real" Captain American who died. There is some precedent for this.

When he was brought back in the 1960s, the story-line was that he'd been frozen in a block of ice since WWII.

Later critics pointed out, however, that the Capt'n comic book series had continued into the 1950s and that it had many storylines of him fighting commies in Korea and elswhwere.

As I recall, this problem was dealt with during the 1970s by running a story-line that the 1950s version was not the real Cap but a bloodthirsty McCarthyite imposter.

Aeon J. Skoble - 3/9/2007

My first reaction was "RIP" also, but then it ocurred to me that he might be faking his death a la Batman in TDKR. Hard to say. Comics are almost as bad as soaps in terms of bringing people back from the dead.

Amy H. Sturgis - 3/8/2007

Well, considering that a Captain America movie is in the works for 2009, there's good reason to think he'll be back before then. It's interesting timing, though, and the cover art is very poignant, with his bleeding body collapsed across the courthouse steps.

Roderick T. Long - 3/8/2007

Is the comic book world really "still reeling" from Superman's death and resurrection? I mean, so many characters -- and indeed entire universes -- have perished and come back to life in the pages of both Marvel and DC since then that I think most comic book readers take this sort of thing pretty much in stride by now.

Captain America will stay dead as long as the writers want him dead, and no longer.