Captain America’s Greatest Weakness Has Always Been His Greatest Strength, and Marvel Just Proved Why

Captain America is, in every way that counts, the leader of the Marvel Universe. Or at least the parts of it on Earth. Steve Rogers burned to fight against the Nazi menace, with his frail body being the only thing to hold him back. The super soldier serum (and Vita-Rays; no one ever remembers the Vita-Rays) allowed him to become the person he always was on the inside, transforming from 4-F to Captain America. As the Sentinel of Liberty, Cap has been on the forefront of battle against evil for decades. In a world of gods, monsters, and mutants, he’s the most human of them all, a soldier who has made his life about fighting for the beliefs that drive the United States. That life is over, but his fight goes on.

“Doom’s Shadow” saw Nick Fury recruit Cap to help secure Doom’s arsenal after his “death” in One World Under Doom. This led to a battle with the Red Hulk himself, General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross and some gamma-powered soldiers, which saw Cap get beaten nearly to death. However, this is the Marvel Universe and death is just the beginning. Steve’s soul was pulled to Mephisto’s infernal realm in the story “Hell’s Angel”, as the Sentinel of Liberty joined Doctor Doom and a group of demons and the damned in a battle for freedom from the dark lord. Cap’s purity makes him a power in Hell, so Mephisto has pulled out all the stops to stop the rebellion, sending Valeria Franzen, Doom’s first love who he murdered for power, and the Red Skull against the revolutionaries. The battle has taken the relationship between Doom and Steve to a new level. Captain America (Vol. 14) #14 shines on a spotlight on both characters, with Rogers making a rather interesting claim – Cap’s greatest strength is also his worst weakness.

Captain America’s Stubbornness Has Made Him a Huge Success While Costing Him Everything

“Hell’s Angel” has put Captain America into what is basically a hopeless situation. He’s been consigned to Mephisto’s realm and is leading a rebellion against him. While his purity allows him a certain measure of power in the Hell and he has Doom, this is still a battle against the odds that could cost Steve Rogers his eternal soul. As bad as all of this may seem, these are the times when Cap shines. He has always found himself in the most hopeless situations and has always found a way to win. There’s a simple reason for this and it’s one that cuts right to the core of who Steve Rogers is and how that has molded his time as the Star-Spangled Avenger.

Steve Rogers, since the beginning of his life, has always stubborn. He was the kid who didn’t stop fighting, even though he was smaller than the other guys. Captain America (Vol. 13) wasn’t super popular, but it kicked off with a story that showed just how stubborn Steve could be. It flashed back to the days before he became a superhuman, when he helped take down a Nazi plot using the German-American Bund, risking his life to stop a supernatural force of death from striking New York City. He didn’t give up and that was before he got the muscles, the flag, and the shield. Being stubborn is at the core of everything he does.

Being stubborn can be a boon but it can also be a problem, something that Captain America understands acutely. Cap won’t give up when it seems like all is lost, which is laudable, but that also means he’s going to keep losing. There are numerous examples of this from his career. In fact, his situation in “Hell’s Angel” is because of his stubbornness. Cap threw himself into battle with not just Red Hulk, but also with a squad of gamma-powered soldiers, fighting a delaying action for his allies in SHIELD and the Latverian resistance. There’s no way he could have won that fight, but that didn’t stop him from trying and it’s put him in a situation where he’s on the verge of death, fighting a rebellion in Hell.

Cap knows that being stubborn hurts him. He’s lost everything you can imagine, but he doesn’t let those losses stop him. He keeps fighting, putting everything he has at risk, all because he just doesn’t stop. This has helped him survive everything thrown at him, granted, but it’s also put him into these kinds of situations. It’s an interesting way to think about the history of character. Cap being stubborn has been the key to his greatest victories, all while costing him everything.

Captain America Always Wins… but He Always Loses as Well

Marvel has revealed the future of the Avengers and it’s honestly not very good. The fall-out from Avengers: Armageddon is going to ravage their lives and they will be completely without Captain America to help them, as the events of “Hell’s Angel” leave him fighting a hopeless war against Mephisto. He’s only in this situation, though, because he’s stubborn enough to throw himself into battle against the most dangerous enemies. This stubbornness has defined Captain America over the years, allowing him to defeat the worst enemies out there, but it’s been a Sword of Damocles hanging over his head.

On the one hand, it will lead him to victory, but the road getting there will be one defined by pain. Sure, he never gives up, but that means that it doesn’t matter what he loses along the way. Steve Rogers wins his fights not because he’s strong and fast, not because he’s skilled, and not because he makes the best plans. He wins because he’s willing to lose everything in the battle, striking at his enemies when they assume that he’s long since beaten. This is laudable; he’s willing to take every chance imaginable to beat the odds and win the day. However, it’s also tragic; he’s willing to lose anything to win. It’s this little contradiction at the center of the character that makes him so compelling.

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