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Viewpoint: Captain America
By Brian Schott
Many thanks to the Webmaster for participating in this interview focused on Captain America! For more on Captain America click here to visit the
Captain America: Living Legend Web Site.
Super Solider? Human at peak condition? Ordinary Joe? Just what is
Cap's current
strength level these days?
I don't think Cap has ever been an ordinary Joe, though a lot of times he
gives that impression, especially in the Avengers, where's he's been known
to say stuff like "I don't have powers like the rest of you". And while
it's true he's no Iron Man or Thor in terms of the might he brings to the
table, he's definitely better than us normal folks can be. Cap's been
billed as being the "peak of human potential", but does "peak" mean
something us humans can achieve now or something that will take us 100
years to develop? Personally, I don't think the government invested in a
Super-Soldier program so they could create soldiers that regular people
could be if they tried hard enough. Especially if you consider that Cap
is "peak" in every aspect of the human body. If you break down what we
humans can do, such as strength, dexterity, endurance, good looks (heh)
Cap is in top from in all of these areas. So at the lowest level, maybe
humans could achieve one of these aspects. Maybe someone could work out
with weights enough to be as strong as Cap, but if you've ever seen an
Olympic weight lifter, you know that guy isn't going to be near as agile
as Cap. Likewise, a guy conditioned to compete in the 100 yard dash isn't
going to have the body needed to lift record breaking weights. Cap's
does. That's his "power" in my book. His body allows him to win every
gold metal event. Now whether, as stated above, these specific aspects
could be achieved by a normal person, I'm not sure. It's hard to say in
the Marvel Universe, when guys like Daredevil, who have no strength
augmentation, are pushing cars over. I guess the human bar is a bit
higher in the comic world. But (to get to the point of your question), I
think Cap can lift about 2-ish tons. There are plenty examples of his
super strength. He stood casually as two motorcycles tied to his wrists
tried pulling him in opposite directions, in CAP #259. He was bench
pressing weights with a digital readout of "1,100" while chewing the fat
with D-Man. He's snapped guns, ropes, chains and even an anchor chain on
a battle ship. In AVENGERS #170, after the Scarlet Witch tells Cap he's
been screwing up the team, he goes on a workout spree, some of which
involved holding himself, arms extended, upside on the rings, only to
follow that by curling 500lbs weights. I'd say he's got super-strength.
It's just not as noticeable when you're on the same team as gods.
Do you like the chainmail tunic or do you think most artists have trouble
rendering it correctly?
In terms of the way it used to be rendered, I don't have a problem with
it. It was just a couple of well placed smiley-faces that usually showed
up around where he was being shaded. The uber-chain mail look came along
when Kevin Maguire drew Cap for an origin mini-series, THE ADVENTURES OF
CAPTAIN AMERICA. I liked Maguire's take on it because he was taking Cap's
Golden Age outfit and making it really retro, very "Republic serial" like.
Especially since he also turned Cap's mask into more of a helmet slapped
a pistol on his hip. Then Cassaday came along and decided to use the same
concept for modern-day Cap, I suppose because he too wanted to give Cap a
"Saturday Evening Post" feel. Visually it looks great but seems sort of
backwards for the character. He went from streamlined to clunky. I'm not
sure why anyone would where that into combat if they didn't have to,
especially a guy like Cap, who has a pension for flipping and bouncin'.
But since Cassaday's art is so gorgeous, I was okay with letting him draw
Cap however he wanted. But now that he's gone but his costume design is
still around, it's starting to bug me a bit. Bachelo is no Cassaday. But
it also looks like this costume only exists in the Marvel Knights
"universe" as Cap in the AVENGERS and Cap in the upcoming CAPTAIN AMERICA
& THE FALCON (plug!) is sporting his streamlined look. Personally I think
Cap ought to abandon the chainmail look altogether and get himself one of
those vibranium outfits like Black Panther.
What is up with Captain America's shield? How many has the guy had over
the years
and what makes it so special in the first place?
By my count he's had a total of 12 shields in his career, but I may be
missing a few. He's had 4 discus shields, 2 energy shields and 4 triangle
shields. Of course, of all these shields, there's only one any Cap fanboy
really cares about and that's his traditional shield. It's special
because it's as unique as Cap himself. It was created by Dr. Myron McLean
by accident and, like Cap, has yet to be duplicated. (The closest McLean
came to it resulted in him inventing adamantium.) It's the strongest
metal known to man (barring maybe magic metals like Thor's hammer) and in
the hands of Cap, can be both a deadly defensive and offensive weapon.
It's completely and total indestructible by every kind of attack except
molecular and magical. Plus it was presented to Cap by his favorite
president, FDR, which makes it that much cooler.
Speaking of his shield, why do you think artists keep drawing the
shield all
cracked and missing sections and whatnot?
I've only seen the cracked look by Bachelo, and I would imagine he'd
drawing it that way because, like the shield he renders, he too is on
crack? I have no idea. I guess it's just a visual thing that makes the
artist happy, but it makes no sense whatsoever to me.
More and more Cap is being depicted wearing a utility belt (ala Bat
Man) . . .
what in the world does he carry around in that thing?
As far as I know, nothing. It's just that "retro" thing brought back into
popularity by Cassaday. I haven't seen Cap use anything from them. Just
more "clunky" to bog Cap down.
Which is considered the stronger friendship and why: Captain American
and Hawkeye
or Captain America and the Falcon?
Ouch. That's hard to say! There are very few characters who aren't
afraid to tell Cap what he needs to hear, and Hawkeye and Falcon
definitely fall into that cateogry. As for whose is a stronger
friendship, I guess I'd say Falcon, though it's pretty close. But Cap and
Hawkeye have a more mentor/student relationship, while Falcon, who was
also trained by Cap, has never considered Cap a superior, really. When
they shared a title, they'd sooner fight with on another than get along,
so I suppose that makes them more on equal terms than Cap and Hawkeye
(who's always trying to prove himself when Cap's around), and equality
probably makes a better friendship. Or maybe I'm just screwy that I think
people who fight make good friends. Hmm...
Just how many of members of the Avengers roster did Captain America
train to be
better combatant in the field?
Well, from a generic standpoint, I would say any member of the Avengers
that has served alongside Cap has probably been trained by him in some
degree or another. Cap's into training and you've got to bet that if he's
on the roster, and they're all in the training room, Cap's coordinating
their efforts and freely offering his advice. There were also some early
Avengers issues where the goal was to "dog pile on Captain America", which
they always ended up finding difficult to do. Specifically however?
Obviously Falcon and Hawkeye. In CAP #310 it's revealed that Cap is
holding regular Tuesday training sessions with Black Knight and Starfox,
because Black Knight wanted to learn how to defend himself should he lose
his sword, and Starfox found it fun. Those are the only four I can think
of, specifically.
Captain America is a Marvel Knights title but with what is a seemingly
retro feel
to it - at least by the looks of the covers - what the heck is this all
about and
why the move for the title in the first place?
I don't recall what the exact reason for the move was. Probably volume 3
sales of Cap weren't doing great under the pen of Dan Jurgens, so Marvel
decided that "Marvel Knights equals major profits" and made a judgment to
move Cap over. Once they got everyone on board to do it, 9/11 strikes and
everyone decides to do a re-write, 'cause now Cap can be "really
relevant". So I suppose Cassaday was feeling the "we are at war" or
"American Pride" mentality at the time and decided retro was the way to go
with his covers. Cap and American striking out against its enemies, just
like back in the day. "Fight Terror", "Are You Doing Your Part?", "Never
Give Up", "Honor Them" were the types of pro-America propaganda featured
on the first 6 covers of the MK title, all as a reaction to what was going
on at the time. Since then, that kind of stuff has been faded out. The
Cassaday retro feel has gone with Cassaday. As for the MK title itself,
it's sort of split Cap fans down the middle. Old school fans hate it,
while new fans are popping up all the time, having never found Cap more
interesting. Personally, I don't think Marvel knows what to do with Cap
sometimes. Every time he slips in sales, the first thing they try and do
is make him hip and relevant. MK has him walking around like Johnny Cool
or tossing generals around 'cause they disagree with his opinion. He can
be relevant and still stay true to the character. Cap's MK title was
summed up perfectly by a friend of mine, who I'm going to steal from now:
Poor (arguably contrived) plots, inconsistent storytelling, inconsistent
creative teams, contradictory continuity, "bold new directions" that turn
out to be "new directions" alright. Good though? and higher costs for such
"quality". Of course, like I said above, some people love it and more Cap
fans is better than less, I suppose. And I don't hate the MK line
altogether. I just read some trade paperbacks of Bendis's DAREDEVIL, and
really enjoyed it. But with MK Cap, the "inconsistent" thing really puts
a damper on things. Here's hoping Priest can give me my Cap fix with the
upcoming CAPTAIN AMERICA & THE FALCON (plug!) title.
At one point in (Marvel) time, Tony (Iron Man) and Steve (Captain
America) were
shown to be very close friends. Do you think we will ever see that again?
Well, they'll always die for one another (AVENGERS #70 proves that), but I
think at their core, Steve and Tony have different approaches to solving
problems. Tony makes his own rules and Steve generally tries to follow
the rules already established. So while those two mentalities work
together most of the time, every once in a while they go in different
direction, and that's when the two clash. The more they hang out
together, the more likely they'll clash, so I'm not sure they'll ever be
bosom buddies. They're both too strong willed to bow to the other.
Plus, the Armor Wars and Galactic Storm were real scars in their
friendship. Cap probably can't blindly trust Tony anymore, after what he
did during those two arcs. Actually, the two get along pretty well,
considering those events. I probably wouldn't be so quickly to forgive a
friend who literally stabs (shocks) me in the back. Their clashes make
for good reading, though!
So, what are you thoughts on "Ultimate" version of Captain America?
I love him. He's a great read. I'm glad he's not the definitive version
of Captain America, mind you, but his over-the-top, soldier's soldier,
man's man mentality is definitely entertaining. I just hope writers of MU
Cap aren't influenced by him. |
