Captain America : The Only Superhero Death Worth Following

We’ve seen it happy once every 5-10 years. Comic editors, playing the role of God, decide to shake things up and boost sales by killing off an icon. After all, no one can live forever, right?

Green Lantern Hal Jordan died as Parallax, sacrificing his life to stop the Sun-eater. The Flash, the Barry Allen incarnation, died in the Crisis. Superman was killed by Doomsday. Batman… well he didn’t die. He just got his back broken as Bane. Spider-Man… well he didn’t die either. But, his comic book did go through a figurative death during the Maximum Clonage Saga - the writer’s decided that Peter Parker wasn’t the real Spider-Man (flop!).

When Superman died at the hands of Doomsday the world said, “Whoa, they can’t kill Superman! He’ll be back!” When Bane paralyzed Batman in Knightfall by breaking the Dark Knight’s back, everyone said, “It’s just his spine, he can heal right?” Both events were hyped up by DC Comics marketing as events that wouldn change the history of comics forever. People who had never read either title before, jumped onto the comic bandwagon looking for a quick investment.

In the year that followed, heroes rose up to take their respective icon’s place.

After Batman was paralyzed. Azrael became the new Batman. But, his stay as the Dark Knight was destined to be short lived. We all saw it coming. Azrael booted Robin from the Bat Cave. He felt no remorse in killing and let a criminal named Abattoir fall to his death. Bruce would one day return. And, he did.

Superman’s death resulted in the appearance of four new Supermen: the Man of Steel - John Henry Irons, The Man of Tomorrow - Cyborg Superman Hank Henshaw, The Metropolis Kid - Superboy (clone of Lex Luthor and Superman), and The Last Son of Krypton - the Eradicator a Kryptonian weapon. The “Reign of the Supermen” storyline followed these four pseudo-Superman. But, there lives were short lived. Just like Lois Lane, we knew none of them were the real Man of Steel. The two closest facsimiles were Cyborg Superman and the Eradicator, both of whom had no qualms in killing. They couldn’t replace Superman, and they weren’t worth picking up the Superman comics to follow. Kal-El had to return. And, he did.

And, now Captain America is dead. Arguably Marvel’s greatest hero, Captain America, much like Superman, is the one person every Marvel hero looks up to. He can do no wrong. Or, can he?

In Marvel’s last major multi-comic cross over “Civil War,” Captain America rebels against the same government he once swore to uphold the laws of. When Tony Stark, Iron Man) joins the U.S. government in support of a superhero registration act, Steve Rogers (Captain America) sees no option other than rebellion. But, rebellion comes at a cost. When Rogers sees the carnage the superhero war has resulted in, he surrenders himself to the authorities. That’s right, Captain America got locked up.

Most of the comic world simply said, “What the F$&#?” The next month the unthinkable happened - an event that wasn’t really publicized to the extent of the “Death of Superman” or “Batman : Knightfall.” Captain America was killed on the way to his trial. One issue. That’s all it took. No huge lead in. No great battle. Just one of Steve Rogers’ lovers, under the control of the Red Skull, put three bullets in him center mass thereby killing the American Dream.

Comic lovers everywhere, just said, “Damn.” Many jumped on the Captain America bandwagon. Wait, he’s not really dead? S.H.I.E.L.D. DNA tests and Wolverine’s keen sniffer tested the corpse, and there could be no mistaking it Captain America was dead.

But in the end, comic fans know… no matter how many tests you take at some point one of the editors at Marvel will deem the time right for Captain America to return. The question is how long will they wait?

The answer may not come for a while. Whereas the post Knightfall and Death of Superman days were lukewarm at best, the post Captain America death has been one of the best story arcs to follow this year in comicdom.

The Winter Soldier has taken center stage in the pages of Captain America, and the storyline has been excellent so far.

The problem with the deaths of Superman and Batman was simple. One - at the time DC was still primarily known for its three flagship characters: Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. Two - there was too much hype leading up to the Superman/Batman demise. Three - after the death and paralysis Azrael and the four Supermen just didn’t deserve to run the pages of multiple comic titles. Batman had Batman and Detective - that was two times too much Azrael. Superman had Superman, Adventures and Action… too much random Supermen there as well. Who cares.

The Winter Soldier was steadily built up over the past several years. When he took center stage in the single title of Captain America… the world remarked much like the old Budweiser commercials and said, “True.”

Nobody wants to see a knock off Captain America. That was the flaw in Batman and Superman. Knockoffs, who needs ‘em? But, following a character who wants to continue Captain America’s fight in his own way, but not BE Captain America - is compelling. A character who is still rebelling against Stark and NOT wearing Captain America’s outfit - that is something worth reading.

There was a brief moment when they considered having Hawkeye were the mask of Captain America, to which Hawkeye quickly refused. Good Stuff Marvel. We don’t want a new Captain America. Learn from the past. Nobody cares about fakes or clones. Why? Because you simply can’t beat the Original.

So, here’s to the future exploits of the Winter Soldier. And, here’s to Captain America for giving us a great comic - even in death.