Mask & Masquerade: Who is Captain America?
Comic books have always been a large part of pop culture, but with the emergence of the superhero genre in film, fans are now feeling validated and more vocal about their love of heroes in capes and masks. Popular culture has been defined as a web of representations, holistically encompassing the deep-set values, beliefs, and symbolic systems of a natural collectivity. Comics for a long time have been sorely lacking in heroes coming from diverse backgrounds. Over the last couple of years, more and more women and people of color have been given origin stories and masks, but is that enough?
Sam Wilson had a stint as Captain America but was not received greatly by the fandom. Steve Rogers is the only Cap for fans because the fandom is mostly made of white men and women. The comments
made denying Sam of his deserved change in title were made by people who subconsciously wanted to keep seeing themselves mirrored in the most popular superhero of this time. If pop culture mirrors the mindset of a group of people, then it is obvious why fans were upset. Sam Wilson as Captain America took away white fans’ power. There are countless white heroes, but Captain America is one of the most adored. He has almost always been Steve Rogers, and when he wasn’t he was Bucky Barnes, AKA white man number two. Fans even tried to explain why Barnes, an assassin who was brainwashed by a Nazi organization for over seventy years, was more qualified than Wilson.
Steve Rogers is a superhero beloved by all. He is easy to consume because of his boyscout image and attractive looks. No one bats an eye at him fighting the government; they in fact support him. A character with his country’s name in his title is bound to take part in politics, and from the first time he punched Hitler in the comics to Steve Rogers going against the United Nations in Captain America: Civil War, Rogers has delivered. He has fans that believe that he is good wholeheartedly and are in favor of the sometimes very morally grey decisions he makes. Time and time again Rogers’ actions are mansplained or whitesplained and he is defended by fans with a scary fervor. When he does something wrong they just say he’s sticking it to the man and move on. In 2015 Steve Rogers had to give up being Cap for a while and fans were outraged at his replacement: the very qualified Sam Wilson.
For sixteen issues Wilson, more widely known as Falcon, took on the mantle of Captain America. Rogers’ serum was messed with and his body aged to catch up to how old he really was. He gave the shield to Wilson and there began a new age of Captain America. Wilson as Cap believed in