No, Captain America is not going to stay a deep-cover HYDRA agent.

…Fine, Marvel can get what it wants: people talking about their latest Captain America plot twist. But let me be blunt; this is the creative equivalent of running twenty thousand volts through a dead frog’s leg in order to get a galvanic jump. It works, but it doesn’t fix the underlying problem and it burns out the frog a little every time you do it.

Look, if you want people to buy Captain America comics, maybe you should go look at the Captain America movies and try to figure out why they’re making ridiculous amounts of money. Hint: it’s because people like to see good guys do good while punching out bad guys. Or, if you want something more complex: having two sets of good guys be forced to come into conflict with each other over their ideals.  That’s apparently some potent box office mojo, right there…

Moe Lane

PS: Seriously, that ‘plot twist’ doesn’t even make sense. Even by the flexible standards of comic books. Is it really that distasteful to write a character who kicks ass and loves America?

16 thoughts on “No, Captain America is not going to stay a deep-cover HYDRA agent.”

  2. Moe, what you are suggesting is far too simplistic. And really; having a love for country is so regressive and is colonialcisgenderheteronormative for today’s discerning reader.

  3. What kills me is the thought that some young kid (maybe 15) who sees the movies and thinks, “Hey man, I should check these out.” He goes through the process of finding a comic shop near him and even pays for it, then he gets this drek.

    Heck of a business model.

  5. Evidently.
    I get a very strong sense that some comic book writers don’t like the genre very much.
    I’d say that Marvel is slightly worse than DC in this respect, but DC has its offenders as well. (Batwoman, anyone?)

  6. 10-year-old friend of a friend: “WAIT! If he was with Hydra all along how was he able to lift Thor’s hammer!? *sound of disgust* Continuity error!”
    .
    There was plenty of Double-triple agent stuff just in the first few seasons of Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. I expect some similar ploy here in the comic.

    1. Am I the only one who did not like Age of Ultron because Cap could not fully pick up the Hammer? I saw that and was “Dammit! Cap can lift Thor’s Hammer!”

      I’ll just be over here with my “Han Shot First!” support group.

      1. I always thought of that as Mjolnir mildly teasing Thor. Because you know Thor still has that perhaps too-healthy sense of his own self-regard.

        1. I can see that, but it was a bit too cutesy. It has to do with characterization of these guys. Just like Superman, Captain America is a guy who truly does live his ideals. It is important to the characters and the big reason they are appealing.
          –
          The Han shot First thing, while silly on it’s face was VERY important for setting up that character and seeing where he was philosophically at that moment, without even any dialogue, which made it more powerful.
          –
          When writers miss these little tells, it shows they miss the point of these characters and why they are appealing. Cap cannot be a double agent. He is not a spy. Superman is not a killer. He saves people not because he can, but because it is right. He would be the same man without the powers.
          –
          This was one of the things that they did so right with the first Captain America movie. They showed that the Steve Rogers before his powers being pretty much the same guy he was with the powers.
          –

          1. Point taken on the perhaps-too-cutesy thing, although I still think that Thor’s reaction was exactly the one that the Hammer was aiming for.

      2. This twist and Han’s wussification come from the same place: a media largely bereft of conservative viewpoints. Is there a Sad Puppies for comics yet?
        .
        Also: Robert Conquest, please call your office. Line Two, please. Robert Conquest, Line two.

      3. That’s a much better reason to not like it than the people that got all bent out of shape about Tony’s “reinstituting prima nocta” line. Apparently a number of leftist types really didn’t like that line. My view? It is such a Tony Stark line, it fits the character perfectly. If Tony Stark doesn’t offend you, you’re not paying attention.

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