Marvel Officially Canonizes Draft-Dodger Captain America
Warning: contains spoilers for Avengers Forever #7!
Marvel's latest Captain America is a draft-dodging hippie — but does that prevent him from becoming America's most patriotic superhero? The Star-Spangled Man is famously an icon of American might in the face of adversity, from World War 2 onward to the present day. But Avengers Forever #7 asks the question rarely asked in Marvel Comics (or comics in general): can a man still become Captain America if he resents the very country for which he fights?
From 1941 to the present day, Captain America is both a soldier and a symbol for the Marvel Universe (and the world at large). Created as part of a propaganda effort against Hitler, Steve Rogers became the face of the war effort on the home front, alongside DC's Superman and Wonder Woman — but the postwar era saw a decline in superhero popularity. By the time Stan Lee revived the character in 1963, America had changed — and so had Captain America himself. While he never officially fought in the Vietnam War, Marvel has flirted with the idea of showing Steve Rogers joining the counter-culture movement before.
Related: Captain America Has Been Replaced by Doctor Strange in World War II
In Avengers Forever #7, written by Jason Aaron with art by Aaron Kuder, a man named Steve Rogers wakes up in a nondescript jail cell. He quickly realizes that the other five people in the complex are also named Steve Rogers — including a Wolverine variant of Captain America, a dog, and an older man with an unkempt beard and a rugged demeanor. He charges through the one open door in the cell with a cry of «Death to the military industrial complex!» — and though whatever awaits him beyond the door drags him back to the cell, he is no worse for wear.
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