May 26--Who's more patriotic than Steve Rogers?
Since his debut, Captain America has embodied American values. His superhero origin story itself is rooted in a specific moment of patriotism -- with young Steve Rogers gaining his powers because of an experiment that transforms the frail military recruit reject into a super soldier to battle Nazis.
Rogers has put his life and reputation on the line for his ideals (in both comics and the movies), which had even resulted in him being assassinated (which, like many comic book deaths, was temporary).
But all that was a ruse.
As revealed in "Captain America: Steve Rogers" No. 1, out today, Steve Rogers has been an undercover Hydra operative this whole time. And both writer Nick Spencer and Marvel editor Tom Brevoort have been making the rounds promoting the new series.
"We knew it would be like slapping people in the face," Brevoort told USA Today of the reveal. "The idea of Captain America means something very primal and very strong to the people of this nation."
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Spencer affirmed that the Cap whom readers see is, indeed, the real Steve Rogers.
"This is not a clone, not an imposter, not mind control, not someone else acting through Steve. This really is Steve Rogers, Captain America himself," said Spencer.
"You should feel uneasy about the fact that everything you know and love about Steve Rogers can be upended," Brevoort told Time.
In the same interview he explained that this reveal was "not a gimmick" and that "it means on the most fundamental level that the most trusted hero in the Marvel universe is now secretly a deep-cover Hydra operative ... That makes every interaction he has with anyone take on a second layer, a second meaning."
So there you have it.
Granted, in his 75-year history, Rogers has been through his share of major events that have been later undone, including death and aging. So fans will have to wait and see whether Cap's true allegiance is just a guise for an even more secret mission.
As expected, fans took to Twitter to express their ire about the Captain America reveal. But it didn't end there the rest of the Internet responded to these upset fans by creating memes altering the offending comic panel itself (which in the original has Cap uttering the words "Hail Hydra").
Take a look:
