I wasn’t especially into comic books as a kid, but I’ve been a voracious consumer of Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) movies and television. In 2011, I was struck by a piece of dialogue from Captain America: The First Avenger that seemed to reveal the regressive state-focused politics at the heart of the film. In fact, I even posted about it on Facebook, which probably explains while I still remember it to this day. MCU’s version of Captain America represents the lofty idealism of the potential of an American-dominated world.
In the film, Captain America is fighting the primary villain, Red Skull who says, “You could have the power of the gods! Yet you wear a flag on your chest and think you fight a battle of nations! I have seen the future Captain! There are no flags!” In response, Captain America predictably responds: “Not in my future.” For Captain America, it is self-evident that America represents good, and thus it must stand the test of time.
Yet, America is not all good. Certainly, the values and ideals Captain America stands for – freedom, justice, courage, etc. – have value, but America also has its sins (original and otherwise). A future that requires the existence of America is a regressive one, particularly in a historical moment when humans are realizing more than ever that global issues must be confronted globally and collaboratively rather than by an aging American empire with visible cracks and a lion’s share of responsibility for a global issue like climate change.
A while back I was listening to Ezra Klein’s interview with Ted Chiang, a luminary in the world of science fiction. Their conversation turned to superheroes, and Chaing argued that superheroes uphold the status quo:
Superheroes pretty much never do anything about injustices perpetrated by the state. And in the developed world, certainly, you can, I think, make a good case that injustices committed by the state are far more serious than those caused by crime, by conventional criminality. The existing status quo involves things like vast wealth inequality and systemic racism and police brutality. And if you are really committed to justice, those are probably not things that you want to reinforce. Those are not things you want to preserve.
A Captain America comic book or movie committed to ending wealth inequality would certainly be interesting, but would definitely be out of the mold for the MCU. So, it was with no great surprise that I watched the apparently progressive Falcon and the Winter Soldier’s take on a villainous group called the Flag-Smashers led by the character Karli Morgenthau who wants “One world, one people.”
In the aftermath of “the blip” (a five-year period of time where half the world’s population disappeared), a Global Repatriation Council (GRC) is set up to help reintegrate the people who disappeared. The show treats these folks as a sort of refugee population and the Falcon (the hero) describes the period before they returned as follows:
For five years, people have been welcomed into countries that have kept them out using barbwire. There were houses and jobs. Folks were happy to have people around to help them rebuild. It wasn’t just one community coming together, it was the entire world coming together.”
Interestingly, this depiction of “the blip” world is a globally connected one, but the reappearance is such a global issue that the GRC is created to address it. Although Falcon and the Winter Soldier is full of nuance that includes a power-hungry and violent version of Captain America smashing a Flag-Smasher’s head in with his shield (he is later let go by the US government as a result), ultimately it suggests a return to a politics of global cooperation is impossible.
At the end of the series, after Karli’s death, The Falcon (who at this point has taken up the responsibility of being Captain America), makes an impassioned speech to the GRC to do something and to have more empathy for people impacted by the blip:
I’m a Black man carrying the stars and stripes. What don’t I understand? Every time I pick this thing up, I know there are millions of people out there who are gonna hate me for it. Even now, here, I feel it. The stares, the judgment. And there’s nothing I can do to change it. Yet, I’m still here. No super serum, no blond hair, or blue eyes. The only power I have is that I believe we can do better. We can’t demand that people step up if we don’t meet them halfway. Look, you control the banks. Shit, you can move borders! You can knock down a forest with an email; you can feed a million people with a phone call. But the question is, who’s in the room with you when you’re making those decisions? Hmm? Is it the people you’re gonna impact? Or is it just more people like you? I mean, this girl died trying to stop you, and no one has stopped for one second to ask why. You’ve gotta do better, Senator. You’ve gotta step up. Because if you don’t, the next Karli will. And you don’t wanna see 2.0. People believed in her cause so much that they helped her defy the strongest governments in the world. Why do you think that is? Look, you people have just as much power as an insane god or a misguided teenager. The question you have to ask yourself is, how are you going to use it?
Although this is a beautiful speech, it reveals some of the same limitations identified by Chiang. Captain America has no power to recreate the status quo or reimagine the state: that is left to the politicians. All Captain America can do is take down villains challenging the supremacy of the state. In that, the limitations of the superhero are revealed.