warning: contains spoilers for Captain America #29
As Peggy Carter’s resurrection has had on his morals and conduct. Cap has proven he will never give up, but he has had to compromise, in disappointing ways, to clear his name and protect the innocent.
After Hydra used Captain America’s face in Secret Empire, Steve the Red Skull re-emerged as well, in league with the Power Elite. The highly complex situation has had Captain America and his allies on their heels at every turn, and while Cap wants to restore peace throughout the world, his choices to achieve those ends have grown questionable.
As Cap has fought hard to restore faith in what he represents but spending so much time operating in the shadows with Peggy and the Daughters of Liberty may have skewed his perspective in ways that will make that journey more difficult.
Captain America putting America’s interest over another nation’s is troubling on its own, but also shines a light on similar issues of sovereignty in the Marvel Universe. Black Panther and the Avengers have recently negotiated a deal with Dracula to allow vampires to have their own sovereign nation, in Avengers #45. Blade was appointed as the sheriff of the vampire nation, but it remains to be seen how that volatile dynamic will play out. Vampires gaining sovereignty takes a page out of the mutants’ playbook in regard to Krakoa. How can vampires, or even mutants, be assured their nation will be treated with deference by the Avengers if Steve Rogers acts on his own in such ways?
Steve Rogers has acknowledged to himself that America is not the same nation he once knew, so it’s natural that efforts as Captain America would evolve. While fighting alongside Peggy Carter, that evolution risks corruption, but it’s foolish to count Steve Rogers out, and Cap still has a chance to be the symbol the world believes in.
