Seriously,
how much does Cap rule? The greatest
strength of The Avengers franchise is its richly varied cast of characters –
there’s so much to love about all of them, and the highest Avengers in my
estimation are often the ones who I watched most recently. But despite all that excellence, I think Cap
might be my favorite of them all (some Cap-related spoilers.)
Steve
Rogers, the asthmatic weakling who lied on enlistment form after enlistment
form, desperate to do whatever it took to join the fight against the
Nazis. One military scientist looked at
him and saw, not a shrimp, but a brave man with a good heart – a man who would
always understand the value of strength because he knew how it felt to be
weak. One super-soldier serum later, he
was Captain America.
I
really love the idea that it had to
be Steve, because more so than being strong, Captain America had to be good.
The serum amplifies everything about a person – physically, of course,
but more than that. If that person is
cruel or self-serving or reckless, the serum makes them more of that than they were, and Dr. Erskine gets that so much
power has to be in the hands of someone who won’t abuse it. That’s why, even as Steve struggles in his
initial training, he continually proves why he’s the one for the job. Whether he’s risking his life for others or
using his smarts to make up for his physical shortcomings, everything he does
shows that he’s the right choice. Tony,
shortly after meeting Cap, calls him a “lab rat” and declares that “everything
special about [him] came out of a bottle,” but he completely misses the
point. It’s not until he really gets to
know him that Tony understands why the world needs Cap.
Some
find this to be dull, feel that Cap is a boy scout who’s always right and never
forgets to floss. Next to “grittier”
heroes like Tony or Black Widow, Cap might come across as flatter, less
complicated. Not to me, though. I see Cap struggle plenty – even though his
moral compass is in good working order and he doesn’t generally hesitate to do
the right thing, it’s still tough to do it.
Frequently, what Cap feels is his responsibility doesn’t mesh with the
orders he’s given, and for a soldier, that can be a problem. Both of his solo films feature him veering
off and doing his own thing, with varying levels of pushback (and Civil War obviously looks like it’s
going to continue that trend.) Besides,
good doesn’t have to equal
boring. Not that I don’t enjoy grayer
characters, because I do (all my love to Black Widow,) but “good” characters
can be just as engaging. Sadly, in the
midst of the current antihero craze, it seems there’s not much interest in
putting forth the effort to make them so.
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