Captian America; A hero and a movie, but not a country?

In 2007 I talked about the death of a hero, the death of an icon in both the comic book world and American culture; I talked about the death of Captain America. Back then Marvel decided (in what ended up being a stroke of marketing genius because the issues flew off the shelves) to kill Captain America as part of the Civil War storyline, Marvel’s take on terrorism, the Patriot Act, and the Global War on Terror during the Bush Administration. This event was so huge it actually made national news in 2007.

In 2010 Captain America is making news again because a new movie is slated to hit theatres next summer. Anyone who knows me knows how excited I get when a new comic book movie is getting ready to release. Batman, Iron Man, Incredible Hulk, Thor, Green Lantern; I love it all, and I love what Marvel is doing in trying to build a consistent and cohesive movie universe. I’ve looked forward to this one particular story because it’s a story about a man who embodies all that is good about America - in a phrase “America’s exceptionalism”. The idea of America being ‘the Last Best Hope of Earth” as Lincoln said or that “city on a hill” made famous by President Regan’s quoting Christ from the Gospel of Matthew. The idea America is a force for good in the world (it’s even part of the marketing for the United States Navy now).

Unfortunately at San Diego Comic-Con last week, it was reported that Joe Johnston (the director of the upcoming Captain America: The First Avenger using a script written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely - the same talent that did Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe and appreciated that source material) has been sure to tell the world that “Captain America isn’t about America”. I find this hard to believe considering that much of it is a period piece set during World War II. Honestly, how can you have a movie about an American superhero (with America in the title AND set during World War II – when the comic book itself at that time had covers of “Cap” punching out Hitler) and it not be about America? Then I remind myself what happened to the Man of Steel in 2006 (so much for Truth, Justice, and the American Way right?) Instead, Johnston wants to create an aura of equivalency by saying that America is no better than anyone else, because the rest of the world is just as great.

In order for this to make sense, consider the source material that is being drawn from. I’d bet money that the source material for this film isn’t the old Captain America comics insomuch as it is from the newer Marvel Universe known as the Ultimate’s universe. In this universe the Fantastic Four, Spiderman, the X-Men, and the Avengers have all updated, modernized, and re-imagined for the 21^st Century and all that entails (in full disclosure I was an avid reader of this universe up until a few years ago). One of the markers that points to this is Nick Fury, head of S.H.I.E.L.D. In this universe, Nick Fury is an African-American who looks a lot like Samuel L. Jackson. It’s no mistake because if this particular iteration of Marvel characters ever made it to the silver screen it was fully understood that Sam Jackson would play that role. What I find disappointing about this is the gentlemen who wrote an excellent screen treatment of the first Narnia story and stayed true to the material are going to stray from the origins of Captain America and not make this an opportunity to showcase American exceptionalism and still make it a World War II period piece.

I hope I’m wrong about this, and I hope John Nolte at Big Hollywood Blog is wrong too; next summer, we’ll find out.