June 25, 2002

5:47 PM

Captain America - Black Man.Marvel has had its share of classics and stinkers this year - but this historical look how Captain America might have come to be sounds really smart.
posted by clango (5 comments total)

Interesting.
posted by delmoi at 6:16 PM on June 25, 2002

Of course I am naturally cynical, but that is offset by the fact that I don't think Kyle Baker would be involved if it wasnt a worthy project.

As said in the BB, while african-americans were the guinea pigs and cannon fodder of the era, it would have been highly unlikely for a black man to be chosen as THE Super Soldier symbol of America at the time. Looks to be an interesting story.
posted by elphTeq at 6:17 PM on June 25, 2002

Terrific link. Unfortunately, it makes a project a friend and I are pitching look like a total ripoff. Awesome.
posted by yerfatma at 7:36 PM on June 25, 2002

The article questions whether the US military in the thirties would test on blond-haired, blue-eyed men. Well, I think that's a lot more likely than the US military in the thirties making a black man into the living symbol of America. I'm really interested in seeing how/if they pull this off. I hope it doesn't end up like Origin (the Wolverine origin story), which started strong and fell apart at the end.
posted by dogwelder at 8:28 PM on June 25, 2002

well, at least this is a more original idea than the so-called reinvention of luke cage earlier this year. i'm sorry, but giving the man a gold tooth, hanging bling bling chains around his neck, making him swear like a pimp and shortening his name to just "cage" -- it just doesn't cut it. it's too easy. it just makes the character, which has never gotten a fair rendition in the first place, into a caricature of john shaft.
posted by grabbingsand at 8:08 AM on June 26, 2002