Captain America Is a Hypocrite (But That’s Why His Stories Work)

Captain America is one of Marvel’s most important heroes, if not the most important. Captain America wasn’t Marvel’s first superhero, but he was easily the most popular of Marvel’s Golden Age heroes. His return in the Silver Age was a huge deal, because it changed the balance of power in the Marvel Universe. His status as a legend meant that he was automatically made into the leader of the superhero community and the Avengers. Since then, Cap has gone down as the greatest leader in comics, and has been instrumental in saving the Marvel Universe multiple times over the decades. Captain America is a living legend. He’s also a hypocrite.

There have been numerous Captains America over the years, all of them trying their best to be as great as Steve Rogers. However, Steve is one of the more complicated characters in the Marvel Universe. He does his best to stand for justice and freedom, but by being a superhero breaks his own ideals many times. Captain America can be outdated at times, and he often falls short of who he tries to be. However, it’s this hypocrisy, this failure, that makes Captain America stories work. Cap is a complicated character, and that part’s of his charm.

Captain America Not Living Up to His Ideals Is the Key to the Character

Cap’s hypocrisy is one of those things that not everyone sees, but is definitely a huge part of who the character. Cap is a soldier, and he fights to uphold the status quo of the United States. However, let’s take a look at that status quo, vis-a-vis mutants. Cap’s relationship with the X-Men and mutants has always been complicated. On the one hand, Cap respects everyone and wants them to have the same freedoms. However, most of the time, Cap kind of just allows the United States to victimize people like mutants. If Captain America was truly about freedom and justice, he would be hand in hand with the X-Men every time they have a problem with the government. Instead, Captain America has often fought against mutants, and was even on Scarlet Witch’s side when the mutants of the Avengers Unity Squad would try to take her to task for depowering the mutant race. Cap made his legend fighting against racist authoritarians, but he’s often let those same types of people order him around and define who his enemy is. Cap talks about a big game about equality, but when it comes to actually enforcing it and equity, he’s pretty silent. Cap is basically an arm of the United States military industrial complex, despite his high-minded ideals, and has been a tool of oppression in the same way anyone involved with the US Armed Forces is.

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However, the thing that makes Cap’s stories so interesting to read is the way he continually tries to fight against the worst impulses of the United States. Look at the latest volume of Uncanny Avengers; Cap spoke out for mutants and actually worked to help mutants while they were targeted by Orchis, an arm of the worldwide intelligence community. He took his ideals of freedom and equality and actually enforced them. This is the Captain America we all know and love, and this is why we read Captain America stories. I think all of us know that Cap takes orders from people who aren’t exactly the best people in the world, and has definitely done some things that he regrets. However, the best parts of Cap’s stories are when he looks past his orders, and sees the human beings who will be harmed. Cap is indubitably an agent of the status quo, which is quite frustrating at times, but he’s also one of the few people in the superhero community who can openly point out the sins of the status quo. He may fight on the side of authoritarianism as often as he fights against it, especially when it’s wrapped in red, white, and blue, but what makes his stories work so well is when he realizes and decides to rebel against the powers that be.

Captain America’s Biggest Weakness Is What Makes Him Such an Amazing Character

The United States of America is one of the most complicated countries in the history of the world. The US talks about representing freedom, and yet has worked with dictators all over the world to fight other dictators we like less. The Constitution said that all men are created equal, yet some of its signatories were unrepentant slave owners. Right now, there are laws being made that take away the freedoms of people in the country. That’s the reality of the US, and it’s as much a part of the legacy of Captain America as it is the legacy of all Americans. Cap fights for the ideals of the country, but often fights for the type of people that he’s should be fighting against.

Captain America fights for the ideals of the nation, and the conflict between the realities of the US is part of what makes his stories so great. It’s great to see Cap realize just how bad things are and hold everyone to task. There’s a reason Cap’s speech from the last volume of Uncanny Avengers made such a big splash on social media. Cap realized that he was fighting for the wrong people, and changed sides. Seeing Cap do things like this is why we love him. He’s not always on the right side, but he gets there eventually and shows that his ideals are more than just wind and ink, but can be made reality if people are willing to fight for them.

What do you think about the ideals of Captain America? Sound off in the comments below.