Captain America 1940-2007

A couple of years ago, Marvel Comics began publishing a title called "Young Avengers." A group of teens claiming ties to the Avengers began operating in New York. Captain America and Iron Man rushed to stop them, claiming that these young heroes needed to be trained before they started fighting crime. And who better to argue that? Captain America was born in the 40s when a young Steve Rogers volunteered for a secret experiment to create a Super Soldier. He spent several months being trained by the government before appearing to fight German-American Bund operatives on the Eastern seaboard.

Last year, Marvel began publishing "Civil War" and Cap's opinion on training changed completely. A man who spent his entire career under the often loose supervision of the government, turned against the Superhero Registration Act (passed when a group of young heroes fighting super villains caused a small town to be destroyed), saying that the government had no right to know his identity (which he'd revealed for the second time (the first in the ate 60s or early 70s when Stan Lee was writing the title) in the aftermath of 9/11) and tell him what to do. "Civil War" once again demonstrated that Brian Michael Bendis is a plot driven author, who doesn't mind having his characters act against type. Anyway, Cap went underground, recruiting a cadre of heroes who didn't want to regisiter to join his fight. Last month, the opposing sides squared off in New York, devastating the city. Seeing the destruction, Cap realized that he should have opposed the registration act through the courts, and surrendered. This month, after being released from jail, Cap was assassinated.

All I can say is, Yes, I know Cap will return. The only person who has stayed dead in the Marvel Universe is Spider-man's Uncle Ben. The only other long dead character, Cap's WWII sidekick, Bucky, was revived last year as a Soviet assassin. So I know Steve Rogers will return.

I can also say that this makes a perfect place to stop reading Cap. His title has been boring for the last couple of years. And I've grown tired of 6-10 part arcs that lose me in a couple of months. And Marvel Comics in general have followed this trend. I've stopped reading a couple of Ultimate titles, Fantastic Four, and New Avengers. Cap's death will allow me to make a clean break with the universe I used to love.