Saturday, March 15, 2014

Unsung Heroes: Captain America

People often ask me why I'm such an outspoken advocate for Captain America. For those who don't know me, the question isn't uncalled for—I own a Captain America wallet, backpack, messenger bag, deck of cards, socks, and am constantly talking about him and how awesome he is (I'm super excited for his new movie in two weeks). Typically people's favorite heros are the really big names like Superman, Batman, or Spider-Man who everyone has always known and loved and not some guy who hardly anyone knew until Marvel started making movies about the Avengers. So why do I like him better than all those super powerful heroes? Is it because I'm ridiculously patriotic? No. I love my country but that's not why I love Cap'. 

I love Captain America because, as a member of the Avengers, he fights alongside an immortal god, a genius who can turn into a green giant with limitless strength, another genius who has tons of money and flies around in a mostly indestructible robot suit (as well as, depending on the story arc, a mutant who heals really quickly and has scary claws and many others) so one would expect Steve Rogers, an Irish-American from a lower-middle class New York family who happens to be really fit and has a super durable shield to pale in comparison but he doesn't! In fact, everyone one of them, even the God of Thunder himself, looks up to him as their leader. The reason is because, as Hawkeye puts it in Hawkeye #1, "having Captain America around all the time, he just—the guys just brings out the absolute best in people. You...want to be good when he's around. You really do." Captain America has this infectious heroism about him that, despite his relative dearth in superpowers, compels everyone around him from ego-maniacs like Tony Stark, to killing machines like Wolverine, and even psychotic mercenary assassins like Deapool to be the absolute best they can be. Deadpool, in Deadpool: The good, the bad, and the ugly #1 describes the Captain as "the Tony Robbins of super heroes. The guidance counselor we all want." Even Deadpool loves Captain America so you should too!