In case you hadn’t picked up on the rumors, visited message boards, other blogs or Newsarama (spoilers warning) this morning, or read the New York Daily News (spoilers warning), I’ll save the juicy bits until after the jump.
Final warning: If you don’t want the revelations of this week’s Captain America #25 spoiled, do not read further.
Okay, now that that’s out of the way, you can read the Daily News “exclusive” (the Post got the last one): The promised “shocker” in Captain America #25 is that Steve Rogers is (seemingly) killed by a sniper’s bullet on the courthouse steps.
I’ll leave the hand-wringing and second-guessing to message board posters and other bloggers. What interests me here, as with the previous Civil War surprise, is how the mainstream media cover it.
The Daily News announces, “Captain America killed!,” as if he were a real person, then follows it with a slightly more straightforward, “Marvel comic book hero cut down by sniper.” Hey, it’s the Daily News. I know. The bulk of the article deals with the character’s publication history, and some of the behind-the-scenes goings on.
But the “‘Life’ of an American Hero” sidebar gets a little maudlin; it’s part Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe entry, part obituary.
New York magazine’s Daily Intelligencer picks up on the news, and tries to provide some context: “A prominent, albeit imaginary, Lower East Sider has been viciously murdered today by a sniper’s bullet while exiting a courthouse: Marvel has killed off Captain America, né Steve Rogers. First Libby’s guilty and now this.”
At this point, most of the coverage is simply a reprint of the original article, or the barebones Associated Press story. However, the headlines range from the subdued — “Comic book hero Captain America dies on the page” — to the irreverent — “Ahead of the bell: Captain America KO’d” — to the, um, slightly less subued — “Comic superhero Captain America is assassinated.”
Update: CNN.com checks in with its report, and demonstrates its sensitivity to comic fans in the purposely vague headline (”Shocking event for Captain America”) and this spoiler warning, which tops the article: “The following story reveals information about the Marvel Comics’ Civil War storyline and a key character. If you’d rather not know, stop reading now.”
CNN talks with publisher Dan Buckley and editor-in-chief Joe Quesada, both of whom reinforce the 9-11/Patriot Act/”real-world” parallels to the Civl War storyline.
(You can view CNN’s video report here.)
Update 2: The Cherry Hill, N.J., Courier-Post carries the AP story, but I find the vaguely prophetic-sounding headline really funny, for some reason: “Superhero Captain America dies today.” It’s as if it were written by Edgar Cayce.
Update 3: CBSNews.com wades in, blurring the line between fantasy and reality with the headline “Captain America killed outside courthouse,” and a lead that could’ve been lifted from an obituary page: “Captain America, the stars-and-stripes-wearing crimefighter, was gunned down by a sniper as he left a courthouse today. He was 66.”
The article shifts gears with the second paragraph, making it obvious that we’re dealing with a fictional characters.
However, Variety takes the prize for almost pulling off the joke, such that it is. But for a few mentions of comics, the trade publication’s report could be mistaken for a standard death notice. It even ends with, “Rogers was never married and has no known living relatives.”
Update 4: Uh-oh. The story’s first major discrepancy has arisen: While some outlets, such as Variety, are glibly reporting Steve Rogers’ age at 66 — based on his first appearance in March 1941 — others are going with his fictional birthdate.
In the comics, Rogers was born on July 4, 1917, which makes him 89 years old. Don’t make the same mistake I did and try to overthink the merging of a fictional date of birth with the passage of real time. You’ll only end up with a headache.
Update 5: Reuters gets down to brass tacks, noting “flagging comics sales” of Captain America, which “sells up to 80,000 copies a month in the United States, down from about 150,000 in their heyday.”
Buckley acknowledges that, “This is the end of Steve Rogers, the meat and potatoes guy from 1941. … But Captain America is a costume, and there are other people who could take it over.”
Meanwhile, Washington, DC, gossip blog Wonkette trumpets: “Comic Book Version of America Dies, Too.”
“The stars-and-stripes-clad superhero has been deeply depressed since April 2005,” the blog writes, “when his manager convinced him to take part in a bizarre Pentagon propaganda stunt with since-deposed defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld — who was already widely considered a war criminal at that point.
“The embarrassing press conference featured a glassy-eyed Captain clearly wearing a fake muscle suit to prop up his flabby frame and Rumsfeld staring intently at Spiderman’s penis — it was all so weird that Spiderman’s very public turn to fascism was hardly noted.”
March 7th, 2007 at 9:38 am
I have to admit I was both a bit annoyed and mildly impressed to see the Daily News article on page 3 this morning on my train ride into work. Spoiler, for sure, as I’d given up on the idea that Marvel was killing him off.
Be interesting to see what effect, if any, this has on sales, whether for the issue itself — which will surely see a quick sell-out notice and second printing –or on backlist TPBs of Brubaker’s run and other key stories. Truth would seem a natural one for the mainstream media to revisit.
March 7th, 2007 at 9:39 am
I hope Cap comes back but Steve Rogers stays dead - give the job to Bucky.
(but as with all things Marvel Steve Rogers is destine to become the next jean grey.)
March 7th, 2007 at 9:53 am
Ho hum.
Someone dying in the world of comics is about as final as the same in the world of soap operas. Steve will be back again before we know it, as if he’d just gone out to the store for a loaf of bread, container of milk, and stick of butter.
March 7th, 2007 at 10:12 am
Fuck that noise.
March 7th, 2007 at 10:13 am
Maybe Marvel can now give Cap back to it’s rightful owners?
March 7th, 2007 at 10:16 am
So, umm…wait.
1) Cap witnesses collateral damage, forfeits Civil War. (Civil War #7).
2) Cap gets punk’d by Sally Floyd, who has the gall to tell him that he’s out of touch with “America” because he doesn’t know about Paris Hilton and Myspace. (Civil War: Frontline #11).
3) Cap gets mega-punk’d by a random sniper, dies. (Captain America #25).
Thank you for taking a dump on my favorite character, Marvel. Quesada’s comment that, “He hasn’t been living in the modern world and the world does move,” just shows how much they’ve lost perspective on this character. If I didn’t have absolute faith in Ed Brubaker about how this will be handled, I’d be livid. All of that being said, the Winter Soldier best be the next man in the uniform.
ps: Patriot is Ronin.
March 7th, 2007 at 10:20 am
“Maybe Marvel can now give Cap back to it’s rightful owners?”
Who are the rightful owners? Marvel settled with Joe Simon in 2003.
March 7th, 2007 at 10:20 am
I have to dig it up when I get home, but, um, Captain America #351. It’s all been done before, not with Steve, but even so.
March 7th, 2007 at 10:23 am
I haven’t read the issue, but two words came to mind: Faked death.
Four scenarios: Tony Stark & Co. faked his death so they could use him as their patsy (all those rumors of Steve being in the Iron Man suit, since Tony’s running S.H.I.E.L.D.) without anyone knowing. Tony will probably justify this by saying it lets Steve still be an effective hero, and someday when all this settles down, he can pull off the helmet and reclaim his good name.
Or, the Secret/New Avengers, Cap’s ‘radicalized underground,’ are busting him out. By faking his death, no one will suspect that he’s missing. He’s not happy with their methods, and conflict ensues.
Or, the Punisher is the sniper. Either Frank is actually killing Cap so he can take his place/because he thinks he’s a fake/because he’s annoyed with the surrender, or he’s faking Cap’s death in order to help him escape/make him a martyr.
Or, Nick Fury. He’s been in hiding, he has access to Life Model Decoy technology, he has a position in S.H.I.E.L.D. to reclaim, and he’s been helping Cap all along. He’s no stranger to the faked death, and he and Cap are going to stage a coup on S.H.I.E.L.D. Eventually.
And even if QuimbyMarvel hasn’t planned for this, how long do we actually think it’ll take before some writer with a Cosmic Cube or an Infinity Gauntlet or Chaos Magic or an LMD brings Steve back? Last I remember hearing, there’s still going to be an issue #26.
March 7th, 2007 at 10:36 am
You know, it’s a cheap stunt, but I’ll take “Captain America Killed” as a mainstream news headline over “Pow! Bam! Comics aren’t for kids anymore!” any day of the week.
March 7th, 2007 at 10:37 am
The dumbass should have been wearing body armor.
March 7th, 2007 at 10:53 am
After how they pissed all over him during Civil War it’s almost a relief, but we all know he’s not dead and if he is it won’t be for very long.
March 7th, 2007 at 10:57 am
Well this just proves a miseriable fucking company Marvel has become under Quesada. This “Do anything and fuck continuity, fuck the characters and fuck the fans mentality” is going to cost Marvel big.
March 7th, 2007 at 11:00 am
I’ll take “Captain America Killed” as a mainstream news headline over “Pow! Bam! Comics aren’t for kids anymore!” any day of the week.
Why? The former, while it sounds asinine, speaks to the broadening scope of the medium, the depth of the material available, and the truth that, finally, there are comics for (and by?) almost everyone.
The latter, however, represents the worst kind of short-term media-baiting gimmickry that probably should have died out ten years ago.
//\Oo/\\
March 7th, 2007 at 11:04 am
There’s enough Marvel Zombies out there who’ll keep buying that the only sales blip is likely to be up. Cries of “I’m never buying another Marvel book” will never be followed through by enough people to actually affect Marvels plans.
March 7th, 2007 at 11:11 am
Perhaps it’s fitting that Bru has Steve Rogers meet his irrevocable end the same way that the Red Skull did.
March 7th, 2007 at 11:22 am
I see two possibilties.
This will be Marvel’s version of “Death and Return of Superman”. Unfortunately, the buzz from that title led to the big industry crash in the ninties.
Or Marvel is SERIOUS about killing off Steve Rogers, in which case the massive retcon I will perform on Marvel will be all the more sweeter.
March 7th, 2007 at 11:56 am
This weekend I was reading Operation: Rebirth and vol 1. of Geoff Johns’ run on Avengers. World Trust. Where in the absence of all the capitol cities of the world the UN appoints the Avengers under Captain America to lead the planet through the crisis. Wow has Marvel changed in such a short period of time. You know who’s out of touch? The company. The snipers after Aunt May and Cap may as well be shooting Stan and Jack.
March 7th, 2007 at 11:58 am
Let me see if I can word for word tomorrow’s Marvel press release:
“Marvel comics announces that Captain America #25 CW is sold out and will be going back to press for 2nd print with a brand new cover by Micheal Turner. Although it is sold out at the distributor level, there may still be copies available at the retail level. Check with your local comic retailer.”
Blah.
March 7th, 2007 at 12:01 pm
Jake : you do know that the Skull has been back for at least a year, right ?
So, “irrevocable”…
And as soon as I saw “sniper”, I thought “Winter Soldier”. And thus, fake killing orchestrated by Nick Fury (with the probable reveal that Cap is the new Ronin in NA #30).
March 7th, 2007 at 12:24 pm
Civil War: The Initiative -
Page 28
Spider-Woman: “Captain America is dead. Now tell me again what you’re doing.”
Ms. Marvel: “He’s not. He’s tucked away safe on the raft. No one knows. No one. They’re trying to save his life even as we speak.”
Wow, I’m glad that lasted 5 minutes!
March 7th, 2007 at 12:39 pm
Well this just proves a miseriable fucking company Marvel has become under Quesada. This “Do anything and fuck continuity, fuck the characters and fuck the fans mentality” is going to cost Marvel big.
There’s nothing wrong about fucking continuity. Some times continuity works great towards enhancing stories’ resonance for long-time readers, but most of the time it serves only as a hindering constraint.
What’s REALLY wrong about the Quesada regime is this “shocking event” push that is giving us so, so many meaningless stories.
March 7th, 2007 at 1:34 pm
Are book sales really sagging that badly? What ever happened to writing good shit? Doesn’t anyone remember what a super-duper very bright move it was for DC to kill off superman for a year? Does the industry really need this now?
March 7th, 2007 at 3:00 pm
This is just another stunt by Marvel. I’m diappointed that Marvel didn’t learns the lessons of the 90’s…
March 7th, 2007 at 9:04 pm
Super. Lame. Stunt.
This really isn’t going to work like the Superman hype did as I’m not sure that mainstream America knows who Captain America is.
I wonder if Peter Fonda is getting phone calls from concerned friends.
March 7th, 2007 at 9:25 pm
I don’t care if Cap lives or dies now that Marvel has transformed into something so different than what I fell in love with years ago.
What I care about is this: I heard about this on the radio news instead of getting to read it in the comic. This was, in the truest sense, a spoiler… the comic has been spoiled for me. We have so much crap going on in our world that is very serious, and the media thinks a comic book is worth including in the news. What a lip-curling annoyance. To Hell with Marvel and to Hell with all major media news outlets.
March 9th, 2007 at 2:45 pm
“This really isn’t going to work like the Superman hype did as I’m not sure that mainstream America knows who Captain America is.”
Yes they do, that is why this story has made it into mainstream media. It’s actually a big deal as far as comics getting press go.
April 3rd, 2007 at 7:43 am
ok so this is now 2007. Remember the first sentence…….. because now in Marvel ALL heroes/super heroes have a regenerative power of some sort. So yes we WILL see Cap back.
July 4th, 2007 at 3:46 pm
Well, all I can say is that if Steve Rogers doesn’t return, then Marvel is doing a huge disservice to the character of “Captain America”.
I know people will say that “Cap” was a costume, not a person, but that’s just not true. Captain America was an ideal… A belief in what was right and wrong and that ideal can never be changed… The ideals that Captain America stood for were ideals that only ONE person could have provided, and that was Steve Rogers.
Others have triied, and it didn’t work… They WERE not Captain America… period. They may have looked and fought well enough to pretend to be him, but they were not Cap.
That said, I’m cool with the whole thing as long as they bring Steve back eventually and give me some really good stories about the rest of the characters in the process.
July 4th, 2007 at 3:49 pm
Yes, I left this on July 4th for a reason.