Jul 01 2007
Captain America Assassinated
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Unlike the infamous The Death of Superman issue that DC released years back this superhero really does bite the dust and stays dead. If that’s not enough to sadden and shock the comic fans then how about we throw in some metaphors and parallels to our present day government:
It’s a funeral fit for a superhero.
In the drizzling rain at Arlington National Cemetery, thousands of grieving patriots solemnly watch as the pallbearers — Iron Man, the Black Panther, Ben Grimm and Ms. Marvel — carry a casket draped with an American flag.
Yes, folks, Captain America is dead and buried in the latest issue of Marvel Comics’ “Fallen Son,” due on newsstands the morning after Independence Day. After 66 years of battling villains from Adolf Hitler to the Red Skull, the red, white and blue leader of the Avengers was felled by an assassin’s bullet on the steps of a New York federal courthouse.
He was headed to court after refusing to sign the government’s Superhero Registration Act, a move that would have revealed his true identity. A sniper who fired from a rooftop was captured as police and Captain America’s military escort were left to cope with chaos in the streets.
But the sniper didn’t act alone, and didn’t even fire the shot that killed the captain.
Writer Jeph Loeb has been busy working through the stages of grief in his most recent titles. A book centered on Wolverine dealt with denial; one with the Avengers covered anger; and Spider-Man battled depression.
With the story line so relevant to present-day politics, and the timing of the latest issue so precise, it’s hard not to think the whole thing is one big slam on the government.
“Part of it grew out of the fact that we are a country that’s at war, we are being perceived differently in the world,” Loeb said. “He wears the flag and he is assassinated — it’s impossible not to have it at least be a metaphor for the complications of present day.”
