The End of An American Symbol

Captain America is DEAD - assassinated while in handcuffs. Those responsible? Either a brainwashed government agent or publisher Marvel Comics depending on how you look at it.

Today the latest issue (#25) of the comic book "Captain America" hit the stands, following on the heels of Marvel's own Civil War in which heroes fought against each other as a result of new registration laws; laws requiring all meta-humans to register with the U.S. Government and thus reveal their secret civilian identities to the authorities.

Steve Rogers, otherwise known as the leader Captain America didn't like the idea of forced registration and led an opposition against those heroes in support of the registration laws. Rogers believed he was fighting for the personal freedoms of all heroes. But then he saw the devastion his little war was causing on the American public and immediately surrendered, broken by what he had done.

While being escorted to his hearing, an assassin put a round of lead into his chest.

Speculation already has been raised across the net that Steve Rogers will most certainly be back, as the publisher surely wouldn't put an end to one of their most recognizable icons. It would be like killing Superman.

Wait, they did that already.

But Superman also returned the next year. So on that regard, Marvel Comics today released this statement:

"Captain America, Steve Rogers, is dead."

Well, that more or less settles the "is dead truly dead" debate. Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada responds to numerous questions from mainstream media news coverage. He first explains a fundamental flaw in such an iconic character who was raised during the Great Depression:

"He hasn't been living in the modern world and the world does move."

Concerning the meaning of the Captain's demise:

"There is a lot to be read in there. But I'm not one who is going to tell people, this is what you should read into it, because I could look into it and read several different types of messages."

And finally, concerning the permanent nature of his death:

"There was a period in comics where characters would just die and then be resurrected. And the death had very little meaning and the resurrection had very little meaning. All I ask of my writers is if you're going to kill a character off, please let that death have some meaning in the overall scope of things."

For this blogger, it's an interesting and uncertain time for the identity of the American hero to be reevaluated. If there was a real Captain America today, what and who would that person be? Would he support the Patriot Acts and the War in Iraq - or would he fight against these agendas? Where would he stand on the understanding of Freedom? Would he be of the people, or of the government?

Perhaps, fiction will continue to be used to illustrate these significant changes.