Not Your Father's Captain America

Superheroes battle over civil liberties and the meaning of patriotism

by Jeremy Adam Smith

Hundreds are killed. The president asks for, and gets, expanded powers. Preemptive war is waged in the name of national security. More people die. Only a few voice their dissent. 'War is just a diversion,' writes embedded journalist Sally Floyd. 'We're so busy watching ugly pictures on TV that we lose sight of what's really going on. The hurt doesn't seem real . . . which suits the warmongers just fine.'

Who is this perceptive and opinionated journalist? She's a fictional reporter for the imaginary New York Alternative-and the war she's covering is between two groups of superheroes in the Marvel Comics Civil War mini-series, launched in May. One group embraces a 'Superhuman Registration Act' that forces costumed heroes to reveal their secret identities and register with the government; another, led by Captain America, goes underground and resists the expanding power of the state. Later, Sally is arrested for refusing to reveal a confidential source.

Comic books have always reflected the social and political environment in which they are created, but only recently have superheroes started to address the issues raised by the war on terrorism and the war in Iraq. Though writer Mark Millar, a Scotsman, is well known for his leftist sympathies (his 'dream project' is a 21st-century comic book version of Karl Marx's Das Kapital), Civil War consistently refuses to advocate for one side or the other. Its approach is to create an event, the Registration Act, that no superheroes can control and then allow them to respond in ways that are consistent with their characters-and illuminate contemporary political dilemmas.

For example, some readers might assume that Captain America, a superpatriot who already works for the government, would support the Registration Act. Yet it makes perfect, if surprising, sense for Captain America to lead the rebellion. Through many political zigs and zags in the real world, Cap has always represented core American ideals-freedom of conscience, fair play, and commitment to the general welfare-that are today in conflict with the imperatives of the war on terrorism. If Captain America really existed in George W. Bush's America, whose side would he be on? Cap probably would be punching out Abu Ghraib torturers and exposing secret detentions as un-American.

Marvel is the corporate behemoth of comic book publishing. Indie publishers like Image and semi-indies like Vertigo and WildStorm-both imprints of Marvel's nearest competitor, DC Comics-have tackled post-9/11 war and civil liberties issues in series that have been even more politically thoughtful and artistically satisfying than Civil War. In WildStorm's Ex Machina, written by Brian K. Vaughan, a superhero named the Great Machine stops an airplane from crashing into the World Trade Center. In the aftermath he reveals his secret identity and runs for mayor of New York. He wins, but fantasy clashes with the rough-and-tumble reality of New York City politics as the former civil engineer struggles to manage a city split by September 11 and the United States' 21st-century culture wars.