I began researching the star-spangled Avenger to prepare for this book, I already had some preconceived notions about the man known as Steve Rogers. He was brave, loyal, and true. Beyond his representation in the Marvel films by blonde dynamo Chris Evans, I had come to appreciate the steadfastness Cap embodied in all of his adventures. He was going to do what was right every single time, no matter the cost, and no matter how many people he had to punch to do it! Plus, can anyone explain the physics-defying mechanics of how he throws his shield, bounces it off several buildings, and still manages to catch it? If that’s not 100 percent patriotic magic at work, then I don’t know what is!
It is for this reason that, whenever I think of the good captain, the very first image that pops into my head is the cover to Captain America Comics #1. Released in 1941, this cover features Captain America socking Adolf Hitler in the jaw, as Cap’s good pal and sidekick, Bucky, salutes the camera as if to say, “Job well done!” Even if you think you’ve never seen this image, I’m certain you’ve glimpsed it in a comic book or pop culture store at some point in your lifetime. It’s iconic! The very image of America punching evil right in its stupid face. The cover declares: “Smashing thru Captain America came face-to-face with Hitler”—and he certainly did. I like to think this image has something to do with the lasting legacy of Captain America. With a debut image this striking, how could the comic book reading audience ever forget him?
The cover’s famous artists were Joe Simon and Jack Kirby (the luminary co-creator of many of Marvel’s other famous creations, including Spider-Man, X-Men, and the Hulk). Simon, before his time at Marvel, was a political cartoonist and anti-isolationist. With Kirby, he cooked up the anti-Hitler cover to express their political leanings, and several readers at the time did not think this type of cover belonged on a comic book.
The cover of Captain America Comics #1 is a clear and concise character introduction; however, the story contained inside veers off the rails in some interesting ways. We meet scrawny Steve Rogers, a boy from Brooklyn who volunteers for an insane science experiment that is going to permanently alter his life. Only a non-paranoid American story icon would volunteer to have his body pumped full of dangerous chemicals. In the years to come, when many young Americans were forced into service by the draft, Steve volunteered. Steve could have given up. However, he kept going. Driven by a need to serve his country, he was a hero before he ever became Captain America. The experiment transforms Steve into a new godlike body—he is described as the first of a corps of superagents that the United States will implement. Steve dons his star-spangled costume and does what any young, patriotic man who wanted to save his country in 1941 would have done: He stays stateside and busts up spy rings! Yeah! Wait, what?
There is no exaggeration in my previous paragraph. For the rest of the stories in the very first issue of Captain America, the captain never leaves America. Shocking, I know, as I bet many of you thought he would immediately join the war effort, tying his boots as he leapt into a boat headed for war-torn France. The one problem with that? America didn’t enter World War II until December of 1941, and Cap’s first issue debuted in March of the same year. Nine months early! All notions of Captain America immediately smashing his way into battle must be swept away. Captain America could not fight a war America wasn’t a part of. Even his first encounter with the Red Skull takes place on American soil!
The most interesting thing to note about Steve Rogers in this issue is that he retains his secret identity. Steve joins the Army. He enlists as a lowly private, guarding Army camps around the nation and wearing the biggest-brimmed hat you’ve ever seen this side of basic training. His adventures as Captain America lead him to confront many of the same villain archetypes you would see in any superhero comic of the time. Cap was published during the “Golden Age” of comics, an age kicked off by the creation of Superman in Action Comics #1. The stories back then were simpler; heroes fought gangsters and villains in straightforward tales. One of Captain America’s “Golden Age” stories concerns a man who makes disastrous predictions about the future; another deals with a Nazi assassin known as “The Dictator” with a penchant for chessboards. This Captain America was more superhero than soldier. Soldier was his day job. If you believed everything you read in comic books, you might come to think being a soldier in the US Army consisted of nothing but guard duty. (Which sometimes is true, but not as much as Cap’s early tales would lead you to believe.)
In my entire tour of duty in Iraq, I believe I had “official” guard duty only twice. One time was on the main gate of the Air Force base we resided in, and the other was to guard our specific area of the base, called Camp Sapper. It could get really boring looking out at the sand dunes that surrounded our home base. I think I must have counted every dune at least seventeen times. Sometimes, my brain would pray for an attack—which is that last thing that anyone in a combat zone would want! Despite the hyperbole, I hope you can understand the feeling.
The early Captain America stories having nothing to do with the war shouldn’t be surprising. This was a common tactic employed by many of the comic book publishing companies of the time. Publishers looked at their books as propaganda tools and morale boosters for service members. Timely Comics (the company that would go on to become Marvel Comics) had started to push anti-isolationist politics into their comics. Before Pearl Harbor, they portrayed the Third Reich as the enemy. This was popular among American readers. Many Timely Comics covers also featured Nazis as the villains. Putting provocative images on the covers of their comic books not only worked to sell issues, it also sent a powerful message to the public. The story could have little substance beyond a minor escapade, but a cover image could send shock waves.
Powerful images have always been tied to the military. I can remember, from my pre-deployment days at Ft. Sill in Oklahoma, seeing recruitment posters all over the place—well-drawn pieces of art that were usually obscured by bold block lettering. In one poster, Uncle Sam would tell us to re-enlist for the “good” of America. Another would be a sailor chastising us about “loose lips” and sinking ships. I can remember thinking, “You’ve already got us in. Stop advertising to us!”
I saw Captain America in exactly the same light. Without deeper research, he becomes nothing more than a symbol—a personification of the American flag that can only spout platitudes. Luckily, the character is much deeper than my basic assumptions.
Captain America #332 is an issue simply titled “The Choice.” Steve Rogers is called in to a government council assembled by the President of the United States. These officials request that Captain America serve his country again in an official capacity. Reading from Cap’s original Army contract, these slimy bureaucrats state that Captain America even agreed to serve as the nation’s mascot back in the 1940s. Clearly, Steve Rogers needed to do a better job of carefully reading his contract when he signed on the dotted line. The government wants Captain America to work for them again, lock, stock, and barrel. However, Cap pauses. He begins a soliloquy that would bring George Washington to tears. He states that, while the US President represents the government, Captain America represents the American dream, and the American people who believe in that dream. What Captain America represents is intangible, and if he’s tied to the concrete edicts of the government, he will have to violate these principles and ideals constantly.
Yes, you did read the above correctly. Captain America, the perfect soldier, just disobeyed a direct order from the United States government.
It is possible for a service member of the armed forces to refuse an order. If the order is illegal, unethical, or immoral, it is your duty to refuse and to explain why you are refusing for the greater good. You cannot state—like the many former Nazi soldiers at the famous Nuremberg trials—that you “were just following orders.” I, myself, disobeyed an order or two during my time in a combat zone. I won’t go into specific details on those occasions, but let’s say that, if I had followed the orders of my commanding officer, I wouldn’t be writing this book right now. Back to Captain America, true believers!
Captain America was faced with an impossible choice and, instead of backing down, he stood true.
