March 8, 2007
Captain America Is Dead; National Hero Since 1941
By GEORGE GENE GUSTINES
Captain America, a Marvel Entertainment superhero, is fatally shot by a sniper in the 25th issue of his eponymous comic, which arrived in stores yesterday. The assassination ends the sentinel of liberty’s fight for right, which began in 1941.
The last episode in Captain America’s life comes after the events of “Civil War,” a seven-issue mini-series that has affected nearly the entire line of Marvel’s library of titles. In “Civil War,” the government began requiring superheroes to register their services, and it outlawed vigilantism after supervillains and superheroes fought during a reality show, accidentally killing hundreds of civilians. The public likened the heroes to weapons of mass destruction that must be controlled.
The registration act polarized the superhero community. Captain America (whose true identity was Steve Rogers) considered the legislation an erosion of civil liberties; Iron Man, on the other side, believed that training heroes as the military, firefighters or the police are trained would only benefit society. When the factions came to blows and caused more destruction, Captain America chose to fight his battle in court.
But in the current issue of his title, Captain America takes bullets in the shoulder and stomach while on the courthouse steps. The assassin is alleged to be Sharon Carter, an intelligence agent romantically involved with Captain America. She was apparently under the control of Dr. Faustus, a supervillain. “It seemed a little radical when it was first brought up,” said Dan Buckley, the president and publisher of Marvel Entertainment, about the hero’s death. “But sometimes stories just take you places.”
“We as publishers and as creative people knew where the ending was going to go for a long time,” he said. “We knew people might not like it, but I think we delivered a compelling story that made everyone think.”
He added: “The stories we have planned dealing with Cap’s death are really compelling too.”
This is not Captain America’s first brush with death. Toward the end of World War II he plunged into the ocean during a flight on an experimental plane, and he was presumed killed in action. Actually, he was encased in ice and in a state of suspended animation. Many years later he was discovered by the superhero group the Avengers and thawed out to continue his career.
More recently, Bucky, the Captain’s wartime partner — who was thought killed by an explosion as he tried to defuse a bomb — was revealed to be alive. Bucky was saved by Soviet forces, who put him on ice and thawed him for their own missions. Captain America broke the Soviet hold on Bucky, and the two had a brief reunion. Bucky, who has taken on the name the Winter Soldier, is now on a quest to redeem his actions.
So is this the end of Captain America? “He’s very dead right now,” Mr. Buckley said.
Still, these are comic books, where characters have a history of dying and returning. Most famously, DC published “The Death of Superman” in November 1992. That comic was a best seller, but the Man of Steel eventually returned to the land of the living in August 1993.
Fans on newsarama.com, a Web site devoted to comic book news, quickly posted their reactions to Captain America’s death. They ranged from a cynical “Yeah, right!” and “I know it’s temporary” to the more media-savvy: “I’m fairly sure killing Cap with a movie in development (plus a possible Avengers flick on the way as well) would not be very sensible. So, I shall wait and see.”
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