Capt. America's Command Termintated with Extreme Prejudice
March 7, 2007 9:18 AM   Subscribe

Captain America, RIP. Marvel kills off Captain America. Obviously this is Civil War (previous post) fallout, but how long can they honestly expect this to last?
posted by sbrollins (89 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Damn it, first post and I misspell the title. But seriously, with this and Spider-Man revealing his secret identity, Tony Stark turning into a fascist, etc. how long before we should expect some huge new Marvel crossover that basically undoes everything that just happened?
posted by sbrollins at 9:20 AM on March 7, 2007


Spoiler on the front page. Long discussion to follow regarding whether or not discussing the primary event in a comic book that hit newsstands today is a spoiler.

Spoiler: The answer is yes.
posted by Plutor at 9:21 AM on March 7, 2007


Dirty snitches lie in ditches.
posted by ColdChef at 9:24 AM on March 7, 2007


You know who else wanted to kill off Captain America? That's right, Hitler.
posted by amro at 9:29 AM on March 7, 2007 [15 favorites]


It's always darkest before the dawn.
posted by nervousfritz at 9:29 AM on March 7, 2007


Yes, I'm sure Cap's death will be a final and immutable event that will stand forever with no dicking around. Just like Superman's.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 9:31 AM on March 7, 2007 [2 favorites]


.
posted by brundlefly at 9:32 AM on March 7, 2007


You think that A on his head stood for good writing and interesting, non-cliched exploitative 'events' that do nothing for the genre or the medium?

Even when Morrison ghosted for him, Millar's stories still sucked, just by having his name in the credits.
What a fucking hack.

sbrollins: It's all a dream Squirrel Girl had after eating an expired can of cashews.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 9:34 AM on March 7, 2007


He will stay dead. Just like Bucky did.
posted by dig_duggler at 9:34 AM on March 7, 2007


Also: Forshadowing?

Stay tuned, True Believers!

Wood Shavings!
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 9:35 AM on March 7, 2007


Damn. Just when the Captain America comic was downright excellent, too.
posted by graymouser at 9:35 AM on March 7, 2007


I wonder if they have the sitting president murder him? That would be ironically appropriate.

Dead in comic land is a transitory thing. He'll be back or someone will be back and calling themselves Captain America.
posted by fenriq at 9:38 AM on March 7, 2007


Enter: Captain UN. The end times. They's a-comin'.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 9:38 AM on March 7, 2007 [2 favorites]


Remember a few weeks ago when someone posted links to that guy that had rewritten the words to go with the Civil War art? Did he do any more? Because his version was, you know, compelling.
posted by DU at 9:38 AM on March 7, 2007


Oh, man. I had dinner plans with the Red Skull, and now I'm thinking about cancelling. You know he's going to be totally insufferable about it. "Ja, und can you imagine hiss face venn he died? Oh, mein Gott, how I visssh I vasss dere to see zat!". Then he'll eat all of the bread without offering anyone else any and not tip the waiter because he's hispanic.
posted by boo_radley at 9:39 AM on March 7, 2007 [14 favorites]


Huh. And all that time I thought that big A on his chest just meant he was a big ol' horndog or something. Whaddayaknow.
posted by miss lynnster at 9:43 AM on March 7, 2007


If I wasn't done with Marvel by the end of Civil War 2 weeks ago, I sure am now. I'm all for suspension of disbelief but to believe a) general rampant destruction would make make him see the light all of a sudden after years of causing general rampant destruction and b) that after X years someone (villain or not) can just shoot Captain America as he comes out of a courthouse goes beyond the pale. Plus, I hate Iron Man. Always have and to have him at the forefront leaves me cold.
posted by DonnieSticks at 9:44 AM on March 7, 2007


What a post. In your rush to ruin the surprise for any readers of Civil War (and those readers have come a long way to have such a major event spoiled), you provide a link to a useless MSNBC article and a previous MetaFilter thread. Nice work. I'm sure this thread will contain as much depth and insight as you apparently put into the post.
posted by Banky_Edwards at 9:46 AM on March 7, 2007 [1 favorite]


why shouldn't captain america die now? america itself is being sustained only by the rest of the world's willingness to buy treasury securities.
posted by bruce at 9:48 AM on March 7, 2007 [1 favorite]


DU, if you follow the Civil War link to robocop is bleeding's original post, Civil War #4 and #7 are on that guy's site now.
posted by sbrollins at 9:50 AM on March 7, 2007


Y'know, I breezed past outrage or even irritation with Stunt Writing from the Big Two a couple of years ago. The sad truth is that, while there are good writer and editors and artists working on individual people, Marvel and DC are largely staffed with the same sort of short-sighted boneheads who fuck up other industries in pursuit of near-term gain. They do dumb things, perceive the market to be rewarding them for their dumb things, and then get fired up to do more of them.

I dunno. I don't even really feel like kvetching at length about this shit on the internet anymore. I just buy the good things-- preferably in paperback at this point-- and ignore the river of shit.
posted by COBRA! at 9:51 AM on March 7, 2007 [3 favorites]


It’s a swerve. Tony (Iron Man) Stark’s now in charge of SHIELD. What was “killed” was a Life Model Decoy of Cap, arranged by Stark to save Cap the ignominy of a trial and to bring closure. Cap will continue to fight evil in secret with Stark’s covert blessing. Five’ll get you ten that he’s the latest guy in the Ronin suit.
posted by solid-one-love at 9:56 AM on March 7, 2007


I just buy the good things-- preferably in paperback at this point-- and ignore the river of shit.

Seconded. None of this would have ever happened if you people hadn't killed Mark Gruenwald.
posted by yerfatma at 10:04 AM on March 7, 2007 [2 favorites]


Capt. America is now slapping the shit out of Iraqi women and children in heaven.

RIP.
posted by Mister_A at 10:06 AM on March 7, 2007 [1 favorite]


Daniel Johnston's gonna be bummed.
posted by hydrophonic at 10:07 AM on March 7, 2007


Well, as Warren Ellis Ellis has said, everybody in 616 are Skrulls except Nextwave.

And for all you haters of Millar, let me remind you that he wrote the Wolverine issue where Logan kills a thousand ninjas.

ONE THOUSAND NINJAS

IN ONE ISSUE.
posted by Faux Real at 10:09 AM on March 7, 2007 [1 favorite]


IT WAS AWESOME GUYS.

(Also sorry for doubling Ellis' last name, htm-R-new-to-me)
posted by Faux Real at 10:11 AM on March 7, 2007


I don't even really feel like kvetching at length about this shit on the internet anymore. I just buy the good things-- preferably in paperback at this point-- and ignore the river of shit.

Double ditto. I quit buying comic books (as opposed to reprints) around the time of the Evolutionary War -- Everything they do at Marvel and DC is epilogue at this point. The characters are set in stone in the public mind, and all the fiddling and games (which we all know are just temporary anyway) don't matter at all.

When exactly did it get like this? What was the first awful retcon?
posted by Bookhouse at 10:14 AM on March 7, 2007 [1 favorite]


I think they should bring him back.

*throws mighty sheild, so that all those who oppose might yeild*
posted by jonmc at 10:15 AM on March 7, 2007


Captain America's been torn apart/
now he's just a court jester with a broken heart/
he said, "turn me around and take me back to the start/
I must be losing my mind- are you blind??/
I've seen it all a million times!"

posted by drjimmy11 at 10:18 AM on March 7, 2007


After years of dodging bullets on a variety of battlefields, having nearly superhuman reflexes and keen sense of ambush, scores of extremely resourceful villains constantly trying to kill him (but gee, never thought of using a sniper), not to mention sporting an impenetrable shield and body armor, a guy just shoots him.
Oh, and he's dead now forever. Not like the other times he's been dead. And it's not a cliche'

That there's good writin'

"But even if Captain America turns out to have met his end in print, he may not disappear entirely: Marvel has said it is developing a Captain America movie."

Oh gosh! We'd better all go rush to see the movie then! I'm sure it won't be some goofs in suits screwing with the archetype. But ya know you have to punch it up for the kids today. It's all different now. Maybe give 'em a skateboard instead of a shield. That would be so rad! To the max! And some kind of monkey sidekick. He could represent politicians - get it!? Huh? Get it? A monkey! Like the politicians are monkeys! And the monkey could ride a skateboard - to the EXTREME!
posted by Smedleyman at 10:18 AM on March 7, 2007 [1 favorite]


After what Liefeld did to him, who would want to live?
posted by stavrogin at 10:21 AM on March 7, 2007 [1 favorite]


Thanks for the spoiler, numbnuts.
posted by Optamystic at 10:25 AM on March 7, 2007


im in ur metaphilter, spoilin ur comix.
posted by tittergrrl at 10:26 AM on March 7, 2007


Someone needs to rewrite Carroll's "People Who Died" for the comics.
posted by klangklangston at 10:33 AM on March 7, 2007 [1 favorite]


Thanks for the spoiler, numbnuts.

Can shit be spoiled?
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 10:35 AM on March 7, 2007


Note to self, even though a story is posted on the front page of pretty much every news site I read, I should still include a spoiler warning on Metafilter.
posted by sbrollins at 10:38 AM on March 7, 2007


riffing off of Smedlyman:

ASSISTANT VICE PRESIDENT OF AMERICA: Captian America, I'm glad you've decided to come back
CAP: grunts. You took my wife hostage. Not much of a decision.
ASSISTANT VICE PRESIDENT OF AMERICA: Well, we had to ensure your cooperation. And to help with that in the field, I'd like to introduce your new partner.
ASSISTANT VICE PRESIDENT OF AMERICA gestures towards DOOR. A monkey in a red, white and blue outfit leaps through, doing misc. acrobatics
CAP: Eyes narrowing Partner? I don't need no partners, except for my guns...
camera closeup on two desert eagles, one labelled JUSTICE, having a small GRENADE LAUNCHER under the barrel and the other PEACE, having a FLAMETHROWER under the barrel.
.. and my nanomachine Hover-Shield.
points to hovershield, which is HUMMING and FLOATING.
ASSISTANT VICE PRESIDENT OF AMERICA: Don't be rude to Captain Chimpmerica. I'm sure you wouldn't want to ... disappoint... your wife...
CAPTAIN CHIMPMERICA: chitters, does backflip
CAP: Dammit! I'm too short for this shit! Drinks heiniken beer
posted by boo_radley at 10:40 AM on March 7, 2007 [3 favorites]


I wish I had the time to translate from Spanish, but it is a lot of typing. Archetypal hermaphrodite mother/father Captain America
posted by Dataphage at 10:49 AM on March 7, 2007


Sbrollins: I hate you. You ruined a perfectly good day by spoiling my trip to the comic book store. Seriously, think, then act.

solid-one-love: You hit the nail on the head, I haven't seen the issue yet, but I can guess there was some art somewhere in the book to suggest it, or in any of the other titles as well.
posted by Derek at 10:54 AM on March 7, 2007 [1 favorite]


.
posted by davros42 at 10:56 AM on March 7, 2007


Faux Real: If he does it with a Sentinel, is that cheating? But yeah, the Agent/Enemy of Shield was alot of fun.

Sbrollins: Seriously? You ruin the twist on MeFi's front page? I haven't gotten to the store yet. WTF? Why would you do that? Very very mean. While you are at it, why not link to this. (spoiler alert for everything)

And yes, MSNBC is just as much to blame as you are.
posted by Dantien at 11:04 AM on March 7, 2007


And seriously, to all the folks decrying spoilers...

This is like the FIFTH place I've seen this "story" this morning. And it's for a comic that came out today. It was on CNN, it was in major newspapers. If you want to get pissed at anyone, get pissed at Marvel for issuing a press release.

I do like the LMD idea though.
posted by davros42 at 11:06 AM on March 7, 2007


Google shows two hundred and thirty seven different news stories covering this, and y'all are bitching that sbrollins spoiled it for you?
posted by tkolar at 11:08 AM on March 7, 2007


He can't stay dead for long. Can you imagine how much emotional impact there will be when he emerges as the deus ex machina to save the world from Aliens or Mutant Helicopters or whatever a couple of years from now? Wolverine will be tied up or stuck to a giant magnet or something, Cyclops will be weeping like a pansy because his visor got damaged and Spider-Man will be too busy working a second job to help out. It will be hopeful and symbolic of the fact that you just can't crush the American Dream.
posted by rks404 at 12:02 PM on March 7, 2007


Eh, in my long experience of comic book readin', I can only think of two folks who have got themselves killed and managed to stay dead: Bucky and the Scott Lang version of Ant-Man. I'm sure there are a few more, but in the worst case, Steve Rogers will come back from the alternate possible future of a parallel dimension. And boy will he be pissed.

Probably, though, he's just taking some time off to find America.
posted by Midnight Creeper at 12:21 PM on March 7, 2007


When I think newsfilter, I head for the blue.
posted by djeo at 12:23 PM on March 7, 2007


Midnight Creeper: I've got some bad news for you.
posted by keswick at 12:59 PM on March 7, 2007


captain america said, "you gotta be like me, or you're gonna wind up"
posted by quarter waters and a bag of chips at 1:14 PM on March 7, 2007


Bad news for America today: Captain America dies and the U.S. mint forgets to put 'In God We Trust' on some of the new dollar coins.

America is now Godless and without its protector.
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 1:19 PM on March 7, 2007


Midnight Creeper: I was all set to say "how 'bout Captain Marvel"-- not only one of the few superheroes to actually die but he died from cancer! I remember how much that shook me up as a kid: cancer is so powerful that it can even kill superheroes. But then I read the wikipedia entry and saw this:

In Civil War: The Return, Mar-Vell is plucked out of space/time after his battle with Nitro but before he starts to show signs of his illness.

Boooo!
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 1:32 PM on March 7, 2007


On the other side of the spoiler war, I thought it was pretty fucked up that Reuters spilled the shocking plot twist of HARRY POTTER, of all things, last time one of those books came out. I really don't understand the mindset of the journalist who says "HOO DAMN! Can you believe X Happened? It just came out today, yeah!"

Give it a week or something. Geez.

Back on topic!
posted by cavalier at 2:27 PM on March 7, 2007


Xavier was dead two years, but not really
The times they were a changeling.
Jean Grey's bit the big one at least three times
And shagged Cyclops in each incarnation
Captain Mar-vell got the Big C
But was saved by Civil War
When super science couldn't help


Those are people who died, slightly
Those are people who died, slightly
Those are people who died, slightly
Those are people who died, slightly
They were in the comics, and they died
but they got better.

Superman died of Kryptonian something or other
His adopted dad had to wait for a recon
Dan Dare died back in the sixties
To be resurrected by the Mekon
And Bucky Barnes - ah Bucky, Bucky
Never, ever to return - but he got lucky.
And now Captain America's dead

Those are people who died, slightly
Those are people who died, slightly
Those are people who died, slightly
Those are people who died, slightly
They were in the comics, and they died
bet they get better.

could do that for hours - never heard the song so apologies if it doesn't quite scan.
posted by Sparx at 2:31 PM on March 7, 2007 [5 favorites]


He had to be killed so he could stand guard in the tomb of Jean Baudrillard.
posted by Abiezer at 2:37 PM on March 7, 2007


It wasn't a sniper's bullet that killed him. It was too many Hostess Twinkies.
posted by evilcolonel at 2:58 PM on March 7, 2007


Let's bring some realism to this.
posted by ardgedee at 3:00 PM on March 7, 2007


Abiezer, the timing is ironic, no? Of course, that's assuming Baudrillard really died...
posted by voltairemodern at 3:01 PM on March 7, 2007


NERDS!
posted by ColdChef at 3:19 PM on March 7, 2007


Somewhere in the Hollow Earth, the dull twap! of a leather gloved hand against a hairless head can be heard. "Ach! A Zniper! All zis time, and I just needed einen ZNIPER!" shouts the Red Skull, his face purplish from the blue glow emanating from his computer screen, "Zo many wasted nachts!"
posted by robocop is bleeding at 3:24 PM on March 7, 2007


Okay, so...Bucky is alive and well? Dang, what's next? Did Bruce Wayne's parents actually survive the robbery? Has Sue Dibny been resurrected? (Well, 52 has already given me the answer to the latter.) Well, at least Earth-616 Thunderbird is still in the grave.

And another thing that puzzles me...all superheroes routinely come vaulting back from the grave. But Barbara Gordon has yet to get out of her wheelchair?
posted by Midnight Creeper at 3:27 PM on March 7, 2007


There was a great issue of The Incredible Hulk, where, after his girlfriend dies, Rick Jones is demanding to know why Dr. Strange can't bring her back to life. He goes around the room (which is filled with heros) and asks how many times they've been dead. At the end they all admit they've come back from the dead at least once. But not Rick's girlfriend, 'cause she's, y'know, just a girl.
posted by lekvar at 3:27 PM on March 7, 2007 [1 favorite]


When major news organizations run by people who don't care about comics are shouting plot developments at the top of their lungs, traditional spoiler politics are right out the window.
posted by cortex at 4:31 PM on March 7, 2007


Isn't this supposed to be symbolic? I mean, everything in comics is a sales ploy; it's a business. But the whole civil war thing is investigating the collapse of democracy in America (or of apparent democracy), so it's fitting Marvel's symbol of America, freedom, apple pie and kittens should be shot down. Hopefully, the gunman is someone driven to the act by circumstances created by the Superhero Registration Act or whatever it's actually called.

Still not sure how I feel about a Republican Reed Richards. This is the man who said to man, law, and government, "Fuck you, I'm going to the MOON*, bitches!" I would think Richards would be apolitical, or if pressed, probably a Heinlein libertarian.

* Mars, earth orbit, etc. depending on what version you grew up with.
posted by Eideteker at 5:08 PM on March 7, 2007 [1 favorite]


Still not sure how I feel about a Republican Reed Richards.

Always seemed like kind of a stretch to me.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 5:17 PM on March 7, 2007 [4 favorites]


It is an age of unprecedented political flexibility, Flo.
posted by cortex at 5:19 PM on March 7, 2007


Still not sure how I feel about a Republican Reed Richards.

Always seemed like kind of a stretch to me.


Okay I laughed a good bit at that.
posted by dig_duggler at 5:23 PM on March 7, 2007


For the record, I have no official affiliation with The Red Skull.

Sure, we went to the same school, and I dated his sister for a while, but we were never close, especially with his open admiration of National Socialism at about the same time as I began to move towards Anarcho-Syndicalism.

Poor guy was never the same after 1945. I try to throw him a couple of bucks now and then when I see him.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 6:17 PM on March 7, 2007 [2 favorites]


It's not so much a matter of this 'lasting' -they can bring him back tomorrow... the problem is that this now changes the canon of the character -and not in a good way.

Captain America brought comic book readers out of World War II.
posted by squidfartz at 6:46 PM on March 7, 2007


Back when I was a teenager, Marvel resurrected Jean Grey for X-Factor (ugh), so my brother and I sat down and tried to figure what characters Marvel wouldn't sink low enough to bring back from the dead. We finally concluded that the only 2 people in the Marvel Universe who must stay dead for plot reasons were Bucky Barnes and Peter Parker's Uncle Ben.

Teenage boys can be so naive, can't they? If this was a DC comic, I'd put money on Bucky becoming the "new" Captain America, because sidekicks get to step up at DC. Marvel, unfortunately, isn't even that focused in philosophy, so who knows what crap they'll come up with before the inevitable crappy resurrection.

You know, I was actually a little depressed when DC killed Superman, because of the cynical senselessness of it all. Now, I just want to punch Joe Quesada in the face for being a trite and cliched son of a bitch.
posted by faster than a speeding bulette at 6:46 PM on March 7, 2007


At least Gwen Stacy is still dead.
posted by Vindaloo at 6:59 PM on March 7, 2007


Meh. Superheroes dies all the time when their publishers need the marketing opportunities, only to be resurrected a short time later in special issues.
posted by bhouston at 7:13 PM on March 7, 2007


I haven't seen the issue in question yet, so I don't want to jump to conclusions: Are we sure that the sniper's target wasn't really a cyborg clone Captain America?

I preferred the mightygodking version of Civil War.
posted by Pronoiac at 7:18 PM on March 7, 2007


They brought Bucky back as the Winter Soldier if I remember correctly.
posted by puke & cry at 8:13 PM on March 7, 2007 [1 favorite]


Marvel has placed all of their eggs in the Brian Michael Bendis basket. It started off quite well with his Daredevil run, Alias (an extraordinary comic) and The Pulse. The Avengers Disassembled stuff didn't suck (though he "killed" Thor) and the resulting New Avengers got off to a great start.

But this Civil War stuff has been muddy and unpleasant (though not without it's highlights - the Hercules/Fake Thor/Quayle/Bentsen scene was awesome) and the latest incarnation of the Avengers looks to be unutterably lame. I suppose when a fellow is responsible for a dozen titles each month he gets burnt out. Who can blame him for phoning it in?

In any case, just because Cap took a bullet through the neck doesn't mean he's dead. Haven't any of you people read comic books before? Sheesh.

Incidentally, comics are for super cool, socially adept and well adjusted individuals.
posted by aladfar at 10:03 PM on March 7, 2007 [1 favorite]


aladfar, I'd revise that list to include Powers and Ultimate Spider-Man for Bendis' influence at Marvel.

But Bendis is not responsible for the clusterfuck that Civil War became. Blame for that can be squarely place on the shoulders of writer Mark Millar and EIC Joe Quesada. For CW, Bendis has only been doing custodial duty, cleaning-up after Quesada and Millar have allowed Tony Stark to take over the Marvel Universe.

Really, if you want to blame someone, blame Millar and his successes with 'extreme JLA' books like The Authority and The Ultimates. The CW cul-de-sac is less about Bendis and more about Millar.
posted by vhsiv at 11:10 PM on March 7, 2007




The rumor is in the upcoming movie they're going to kill off Mary Jane and keep Gwen Stacy


That would be awesome! I stopped reading Ultimate Spiderman when they killed Gwen as it was evident from then that they were never going to do anything more than retell the old Spiderman stories and not go anywhere really original with them. And lo and behold I dodged having to go through another clone saga!
posted by Silentgoldfish at 11:34 PM on March 7, 2007


Sbrollins, I hate you, your children, your children's children, and your children's children's children. I hope you all die alone and unloved. I read comics pretty much as soon as I can get hold of them, waste lots of time on news sites online, and I hadn't seen about this yet.

Well done for spoiling this for me. Seriously, thanks a lot.
posted by MattWPBS at 3:19 AM on March 8, 2007


From Scans Daily.

Not exactly the Death of Nelson is it?
posted by robocop is bleeding at 6:24 AM on March 8, 2007


"Are we sure that the sniper's target wasn't really a cyborg clone Captain America?"

Actually, I'd say "clone" is the easy way out, based on the villains who were shown plotting against Cap in the issue before the assassination. One of the villains is known for his clones.

So, this dead guy might be a clone, and Captain America might be locked in basement somewhere, getting tortured by supervillains (or the government, or maybe even government supervillains), so that he can escape and return all bitter and gritty and stuff. Whatever.
posted by faster than a speeding bulette at 8:06 AM on March 8, 2007


Man, cyborg clone. No one’s thought of THAT one. I can’t wait until Cap says something like “I’m getting too old for this, @#$%&*” - Get it!? Because he’s, like, really old.

(nice riffin’ boo_radley)
posted by Smedleyman at 2:07 PM on March 8, 2007


I've said this before, but:

I wouldn't mind them killing off Captain America. I don't have any problem with that, or how he died.

What pisses me off is that I know that it won't last. He'll miraculously reappear somehow, and all will be back to normal, the status quo restored. It's like a soap opera. Nothing in superhero comics ever really changes.
posted by Target Practice at 3:06 PM on March 8, 2007


I stopped caring about hero comics years ago (unless written by Morrison or Moore) so this is no skin off my nose. But I can't wait to see what the mightygodking's parody (previously) of this issue is going to look like!
posted by lekvar at 3:41 PM on March 8, 2007




The entire Marvel universe took a HUGE right turn with Civil War, and it sucks. Even the X-titles, with writing that's long been the most liberal of Marvel's political subtext, are getting authoritarian and a little bit fascist ... I guess the Editors decided that those Army ads that DC's making money on had to be courted a bit more attentively.

It's really sad how overtly right-wing they've become.


You're totally misreading things. Mark Millar is about as left-wing anti-establishment as mainstream comic writers get (at least in terms of what they shoehorn into their comics). Civil War is obviously written to make Tony Stark seem like the bad guy, and the bad guy wins becaues Mark Millar thinks this is somehow like what's going on in the USA right now and him making whatever politcal point he's trying to make is more important the writing good comic books.
posted by straight at 11:18 PM on March 8, 2007


Yeah, I'm not even into comics, but the impression I've gotten about this whole Civil War thing from Mefi and other blogs is that it's basically a dystopian take on current events, with the right-wing guys winning, not because they're the good guys, but because in a dystopian story, the bad guys win.
posted by Bugbread at 5:18 AM on March 9, 2007


I kept up my hopes until DC brought back Jason Todd. .

Seriously? When did this happen?
posted by Talvalin at 7:02 AM on March 9, 2007


Let me just put my 2 cents down on this for the record.

This is not how Captain America dies. I'm a huge fan of his, and if haters would actually read the comics, they would see he's not some silly flag-waving propagandist, but a true badass and a good person, and kind of a libertarian. He's been through much worse shit than this and come out alive. But that's not why I don't think he's dead.

Marvel didn't give him a proper death - he's been a Marvel icon for 50 years and when he dies (and he can die) they are going to put a lot more effort into it. He's not going to die 25 issues into his new series just when they're wrapping up the Civil War, and having just re-introduced the Red Skull AND Arnim Zola. If he were going to die as a result of Civil War, he would have died in the middle at the hands of Iron Man or that cyber-Thor, and Captain America's death will have been the catalyst for a lot of stuff happening in the Civil War. But no, he gets a little fakey retrospective and is killed by a sniper in just one issue.

Captain America will die in better circumstances (and this isn't sentimentalism on my part, this is IMHO the only way they could make him dying work). He'll die doing what he thinks is right, perhaps fighting against incredible odds like a thousand killer robots or a few super-powered villains he has no chance against. He'll be more or less beaten, and somehow his shield will be broken - that's the key, that's how you know it's over. His uniform has gotten ripped by various stabs, bullets, smashings etc, but his shield has been the same one for a long, long time now. So when it breaks and he dies in the same issue, you know it's over with.

So basically, don't worry... someone mentioned Stark being in charge of SHIELD and life model decoys - that's certainly possible, but it's also possible that Nick Fury is pulling the strings and keeping it secret from everyone but Cap. Anyway, I'm quite sure this isn't over.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 12:09 PM on March 9, 2007 [1 favorite]


I made the cyborg clone comment in jest, but later I realized that a clone Captain America for this situation would actually make more sense than the clone Thor did.

straight: Millar does get up on a soapbox sometimes - see the last two pages of Wanted, which were just out of place with the rest of the comic.

talvalin: Jason Todd came back in the past year or so, as a result of Superboy hitting the walls of time or something. It's in one of the Infinite something Crisis something.

At least Jean Grey's dead right now. I've heard Morrison planned to have her die, to power up, every few issues of his run. This makes me laugh.
posted by Pronoiac at 6:54 PM on March 9, 2007


Apparently, the new Cap is going to be Steven Colbert.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 5:09 PM on March 14, 2007


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