Captain America Speculation Over

[goldenfist]

Spoilers ahead for Captain America #600 and Reborn

Marvel promised news about Captain America would be breaking today, and that news broke in the New York Daily News.

According to the story by Ethan Sacks, what many fans speculated would be happening in the upcoming Captain America: Reborn miniseries by Ed Brubaker and Bryan Hitch will be happening – that is, the original Captain America will be coming back to life.

The story of the return of Steve Rogers begins in Captain America #600, on sale today in many comic shops.

"The original Captain America is finally coming back," Marvel Comics editor in chief Joe Quesada told the Daily News. "We've been patiently planning for this moment for 2 1/2 years."

The news of course, brings to an end speculation of both what was coming up in Captain America #600 as well as why Marvel would take the unprecidented step of making issue #600 available for retailers to sell today, two days ahead of the book's normal on-sale date. The publisher advised retailers that Reborn (and its lead-in seen in Captain America #600, presumably) would be receiveing national press, on par with what was seen for Civil War.

Rogers of course, was killed in Captain America #25 in March of 2007, with the resultant media coverage of the issue and event catching Marvel off guard. Bumping the on-sale date of issue #600, as well as the Final Order Cut-Off date for Reborn #1 to tomorrow was seen by many as Marvel taking steps to mediate retailer frustration that sprouted up with Captain America #25. With that issue, most retailers had little idea of what was happening or the potential media coverage, and had to place their orders prior to the news breaking. It should be noted that, amid all this attention, the Daily News article does not mention that the Reborn story's seed is planted in Captain America #600, and that the issue can be found in omic shops today.

Nine issues after Captain America's death, writer Ed Brubaker and artist Steve Epiting put Captain America's World War II era sidekick, Bucky, into a revised version of the costume, and he has been the "Captain America" in the series and in the Marvel Universe since.

Other paths of speculation had Marvel announcingthe actor who will play Captain America in the upcoming 2010 film, along with thoughts that perhaps Isiah Bradley, the "black Captain America" would be stepping in to fill the role for a period of time.

In April, the majority of respondants to a Newsarama poll indicated that they felt that, while they were okay with Rogers returning - someday, they were enjoying the current series and Bucky as Captain America now, and could wait a year or more until the return of Steve Rogers.

As the Daily News article points out, Rogers will now join Superman (Green Lantern, Barry Allen, Jason Todd, and many others) in coming back from the apparent dead.

Update: Marvel has issued a press release on the news:

It was the shot heard ‘round the world. Following the most shocking and controversial event in comic book history – the assassination of Captain America in the pages of Captain America #25 – neither the heroes of the Marvel Universe nor the rest of the world have quite come to grips with this most traumatic of losses. From the moment he was taken from us until today, one fact has proven to be true: the world still needs Captain America. And now, the time has come! At long last, the legend, the hero, is back. Steve Rogers makes his triumphant return from the grave in the publishing event of the year: Captain America Reborn, a five part series from Marvel Comics beginning this July.

Long seen as the world’s greatest hero, Captain America made his first appearance in March, 1941, boldly fighting the Nazis in World War II. As a symbol of true patriotism, his popularity soared during the war as he became a nationally revered icon of US efforts to spread freedom around the globe. Serving as the Sentinel of Liberty for nearly 70 years, Cap embodied the spirit of the American people and became one of the world’s most beloved and recognizable characters. His death rocked the entire world, real and fictional, and his return from the grave promises to be a landmark event as well.

The recipient of two Eisner Awards for his tale about the life and death of Captain America, Ed Brubaker joins forces with acclaimed Ultimates artist Bryan Hitch for the landmark Captain America Reborn series. This partnership promises to produce the visually arresting, action packed story that fans around the world have been eagerly anticipating.

A story that captured international attention, Captain America #25 polarized shocked audiences by starkly depicting the murder the cultural icon. On that fateful day when shots rang out on the courthouse steps, Cap’s greatest enemy—the Red Skull-- achieved his greatest ambition—or so it seemed. Since that time, the Marvel Universe has been in chaos, as as the Red Skull has worked towards his true endgame. But now there is a ray of hope in the form of Steve Rogers!

How can Steve Rogers return from the dead, and will his rebirth be enough to stop the global threat of his sworn enemy? Hitting shelves on July 1st, the special five part series Captain America Reborn finally reveals the true scope of the Red Skull’s nefarious plan, and begins Captain America’s triumphant return.

[scottharris]

CNN also has a front page story about this on their website:

www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/06/15/captain.america/index.html



Curious to see what happens. I didn't expect them to bring him back quite this soon; I thought they would wait until the Cap movie was ready. I'm hoping that this is the beginning of a company-wide shift in focus. It would make sense for Cap's return to begin a long-term, large scale movement that would end with the overthrow of Norman Osborn and HAMMER and a return to heroes as heroes instead of villains running everything. I suspect and hope that this is the direction Cap's return will ultimately take, but we'll see. I'm also curious how they handle Bucky. I've grown to like his character and I hope they keep him around in some form or another.

Lastly, it will be interesting to see how they bring him back. Someone pointed out that there have been subtle hints that Red Skull has him; subtle enough that I didn't notice. Specifically, in the issue leading up to the return of the 1950's Cap they show Cap in a stasis tube -- except, the Cap shown in this setup issue has a crew cut like the real Cap had at the time, and the 50's Cap who shows up in the next issue has old school wavy hair, suggesting they are two different Cap's.

I don't know if this will prove to be true, but I hope they go with another, genius suggestion someone put forth, which is that this storyline ties into the Cap from 1602. In that story, we learn that the Cap in this alternate past is actually our Cap. He can't remember what happened to him very well, but he thinks there was a government crackdown on superheroes that resulted in his execution -- he remembers being held down and a gun put to his head. Then he appeared in this alternate past and at the end of 1602 he is sent back to his own timeline. I doubt they will go this route, but it would be fantastic if this turned out to be what's been going on with Cap during the time he was gone.

[Shiryu]

I'm curious to see how they will tie all the loose ends. For example, a few months ago in his own magazine Thor calls forth Cap's soul from the netherworld and speaks with him, so he was definitely dead at the time. Namor also promised that no-one would have ever touched his body, I would be a bit disappointed if he only meant "it's too cold and deep here to fish him back to surface".

We'll see, hopefully his return will start to undermine the Dark Reign.

[Tana Nile]

It's no surprise obviously, but I am wondering what the explanation will be for his return. God, I hope it isn't too lame.

I wouldn't bet on Steve taking back the Cap mantle necessarily though; maybe he will move on to something else -like heading up SHIELD (or whatever they call it) once Osborn and his lackeys are all thrown out.