Captain America is Secretly Marvel’s Worst Mentor
While Captain America has garnered the reputation of being the pinnacle of what a hero should be and has thereby acted as a source of inspiration for younger heroes, he is secretly Marvel’s worst mentor–and two of his former proteges prove exactly why that is true.
The first and most well-known hero Captain America mentored was Bucky Barnes who acted as Cap’s sidekick during World War II. Captain America went on countless missions with Bucky, all the while ensuring his safety and training him in the ways of combat and heroism. However, their last mission together proved to be Captain America’s greatest failure as he became responsible for Bucky’s death. Before Captain America was frozen in ice, before being thawed out and joining the Avengers, he and Bucky were working to bring down a Nazi aircraft that was carrying catastrophic bombs aimed at Allied countries. Both Captain America and Bucky were on the outside of the plane, but it was Bucky who caused it to explode mid-flight thereby destroying the bombs it carried. This resulted in Captain America being frozen for years, and Bucky was believed to be dead. In reality he was actually undergoing a fate worse than death as he became twisted into the villainous Winter Soldier through years of endless torture and reprogramming.
Related: Captain America's Original Training Regimen Shows He Used to be a Jerk
In Avengers #7 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, Captain America has been unfrozen and is getting used to modern society by continuing his super soldier training and becoming more involved in the heroics of the Avengers. Cap also takes on a new ward who he has decided to train just as he did with Bucky. That person was Rick Jones, who is a known ally of the Hulk but at this time
Read more on screenrant.com
