The End of Captain America?
--by Stephen Schleicher
I think the image says it all. Issue #25 of Captain America has Steve Rogers taking a couple of bullets and is apparently off to the great beyond. If you have been following Civil War, you knew there was a new Captain America coming (Punisher anyone?), but the death of Steve Rogers seems to have taken many by surprise.
Unlike the death of Superman, which had been hyped for months prior to the issue hitting the stands, issue #25 arrived (on time for a change) with nary a peep.
The big question is, “How long is Rogers going to stay dead?” According to Joe Queseda, he’s told his writers if they plan on killing a character, it better have some meaning. At this point I’m going to put my money on “Less Than Two Years” before Steve Rogers is back.
Update: I’ll go one further. Knowing there is an undgerground group of heroes working against the registration act, my guess this “death” is a fake out to get Steve off the radar and working with the resistance.
Is this just another gimmick to bolster sales or is this true storytelling? I’ve been on many message boards this morning and readers/fans seem genuinely angry at Marvel for this turn in story telling. Post your thoughts in the comments section!
The complete AP Newswire piece follows as well as the “shocking” image from page two of the issue as posted by the New York Daily News.
Captain America has undertaken his last mission — at least for now. The venerable superhero is killed in the issue of his namesake comic that hit stands Wednesday, the Daily News reported.
On the new edition’s pages, a sniper shoots down the shield-wielding hero as he leaves a courthouse, according to the newspaper.
It ends a long run for the stars-and-stripes-wearing character, created in 1941 to incarnate patriotic feeling during World War II. Over the years, an estimated 210 million copies of “Captain America” comic books, published by New York-based Marvel Entertainment Inc., have been sold in a total of 75 countries.
But resurrections are not unknown in the world of comics, and Marvel Entertainment editor in chief Joe Quesada said a Captain America comeback wasn’t impossible.
Still, the character’s death came as a blow to co-creator Joe Simon.
“We really need him now,” said Simon, 93, who worked with artist Jack Kirby to devise Captain America as a foe for Adolf Hitler.
According to the comic, the superhero was spawned when a scrawny arts student named Steve Rogers, ineligible for the army because of his poor health but eager to serve his country, agreed to a “Super Soldier Serum” injection. The substance made him a paragon of physical perfection, armed only with his shield, his strength, his smarts and a command of martial arts.
In the comic-book universe, death is not always final. But even if Captain America turns out to have met his end in print, he may not disappear entirely: Marvel has said it is developing a Captain America movie.
via New York Daily News (link)
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March 7th, 2007 at 12:50 pm
Oh… no.
I can’t believe they’d be that stupid.
March 7th, 2007 at 12:55 pm
Matt: You gonna do a review on this issue?
March 7th, 2007 at 1:03 pm
I’m glad they had the guts to see it through.
Looks like Steve didn’t, though! (Urbane Chuckle)
March 7th, 2007 at 1:09 pm
I’ll hit it tomorrow, unless you want to… I haven’t picked up today’s books yet.
Heck, I could even do a second review this evening, if I get some time…
March 7th, 2007 at 1:14 pm
You have more time than I, and since I’m about 250miles from the nearest comic shop, I won’t be picking this issue up anytime soon.
March 7th, 2007 at 1:35 pm
Alrighty, then. I’ll handle it.
March 7th, 2007 at 2:45 pm
I just got done reading CAP #25 and I’m still in shock. In recent memory, Marvel has done the ‘get killed and come back schtick’ a couple of times and I truly hope that is what they are planning on doing. Otherwise, everyone will remember Cap’s death was preceded by some female reporter bitching at him about Myspace & NASCAR.
The Interweb is buzzing with conspriacy theories:
- Bucky becomes Capt. America
- Punisher becomes Capt. America
- Steve Rogers’ death was faked by the Underground Avengers and he’s actually Ronin
A powerful issue, quick on the heels to the underwhelming conclusion to Civil War. This latest event has and will continue to change the scope of the Marvel Universe as we know it. Long time readers may become disenfranchised, while casual folk will come in droves to the shops.
I just don’t know at this point.
March 7th, 2007 at 3:04 pm
All I can say is: Life Model Decoy.
March 7th, 2007 at 3:23 pm
[...] I had a pretty good morning. There was snow on the ground, work was going to be quiet (especially after yesterday’s pisser) and most importantly Wednesdays are always great because: New Comics are shipped. Through the power of the Interweb, my local shop … Bagged & Boarded has an awesome webscription service that takes the effort out of actually get the new books in your hot little hand. Anyway, I usually head over to B&B, and chat with Josh & Co. during my lunch hour. The big issue today (for me at least) was Captain America #25. [...]
March 7th, 2007 at 4:41 pm
Chet has a point. They’ll almost certainly bring him back at some point, but I’m intrigued to see where it’s going to go from here.
It’s odd, I was prepared to be all angry if they killed him in Civil War, and yet, I still found the issue to be incredibly moving. Brubaker hit all the right beats for me, right down to his last words.
March 7th, 2007 at 7:09 pm
Captain America dead? Does this mean the terrorists have really won?
March 7th, 2007 at 7:13 pm
No, just Iron Man, though the methods are similar.
March 8th, 2007 at 9:19 am
[...] know I have been avoiding this news for a couple days…but still, the weight of it could not escape me. Obsidian posted a couple [...]
August 1st, 2007 at 8:16 am
As a longtime fan of Cap, I have to say that this ish hit me hard, harder than a fictional character’s death has any right to. And as much as I want to see Steve back on his feet, fighting the good fight, another part of me wants to see him stay dead. If he comes back like nothing happened, then this all loses its meaning.
Oh. And that “Captain Punisher” silliness needs to go away. Now.