It is a week of bombs detonating well-established facts over at the Big Two. First, DC Comics launches their REBIRTH, then Marvel ups the ante with a Captain America reveal so shocking the Internet is aflame. So much so that CAPTAIN AMERICA is the top trending topic on Facebook right now. And if there is one thing algorithms don”t care about, it”s your spoiler sensibilities.
WARNING: THE MAJOR SPOILER FOR CAPTAIN AMERICA: STEVE ROGERS #1 IS BEYOND THIS POINT.
A quick recap: When we last saw Steve Rogers, he was in his nineties and had been de-powered. Not much much of a super-soldier. As such, Sam Wilson had taken up the mantle of Captain America. Then, because comic books are just soap operas with capes, Steve came into contact with a sentient Cosmic Cube named Kobik while fighting through a S.H.I.E.L.D. prison that bent reality to put supervillains into normal jobs in the small town of Pleasant Hill. Kobik returned Steve”s powers and made him young again. So now there are two Captain Americas trying to put all the supervillain genies back in the Pleasant Hill bottle.
CAPTAIN AMERICA: STEVE ROGERS #1 oscillates between Steve”s childhood in 1920s New York and present-day Steve fighting the Red Skull and Baron Zemo from doing standard villain stuff like blowing up trains and reforming Hydra. But then there”s the final panel. Take is away, Facebook Trending!
Yep. That”s right. After 75 years, Steve Rogers has finally unveiled himself as a HYDRA agent. Or has he? Here”s a look at the final panel because if you”re in for a penny, you”re in for a pound.
This is what has caused all the ruckus. Without context, it certainly looks bad. Even with context, things aren”t great what with Captain America chucking Jack Flag from the plane right before declaring his allegiance with HYDRA. But there”s a lot here that doesn”t square.
For starters, how long does HYDRA consider a “long con” exactly? If Mrs. Rogers truly brought Steve into HYDRA when he was a child, why wait this long? Steve has killed hundreds, if not thousands, of their people over the decades. He”s destroyed hundreds of millions of dollars in equipment. We know supervillains aren”t always the brightest bulbs, but this is beyond the pale. Then there”s the Cosmic Cube. Steve is still adjusting to his new body. Is he even himself? What exactly did Kobik do to him? Is the man we”re calling Captain America even really Steve Rogers or some imitation?
Then there”s the possibility Steve is (poorly) facetious in the last panel. Baron Zemo had kidnapped Doctor Selvig (the tied up scientist) to help him with the Cosmic Cube. If Steve also needs Selvig”s help, so much so that he was willing to sacrifice Jack Flag, he could be feeling like a villain.
Basically, there could be a dozen reasons besides “CAPTAIN AMERICA IS EVIL NOW!” so we should all probably chill out.
CAPTAIN AMERICA: STEVE ROGERS #1 is on sale now.