Wednesday, June 23, 2010

The First Avenger: Captain America 2.0?


I'm a huge Captain America fan. His title was the only one I consistently bought and collected when I was a kid in the 1980s, and every now and then, as an adult, I still like to check in and see how my favorite superhero is doing. When I heard that marvel was going to do a live action movie for Captain America, I was thrilled beyond words...and a little scared. I wasn't afraid for the quality of the movie, that hasn't been an issue for me at all thanks to Sam Raimi and Tobey MacGuire's awesome work on Spiderman. But please, God, I beg you...do not let them try to "update" Cap for a "new generation!" I've seen the concept art for the movie that has been passed around on the web, and I....well, I hate it. I guess the idea is to make his costume (costume, not uniform) more practical for actual combat, to add things like a web belt, armor plating instead of the chain mail, but people, you have to remember...he's a freaking comic book superhero with superhuman abilities and a bulletproof shield. He doesn't, never needed, and never had anything else. His costume (yes, I said it again) is a symbol, it's not a suit of armor. I've seen in the discussion groups and forums where people are happy with the changes- they never liked the wings, they always thought his costume was cheesy, they're hoping for more changes...and they all sound to me like people who flat-out don't like the character, they don't even like Captain America! So who are they getting to put the movie together? From what I've read, it's people who have never read a Captain America comic book, don't know who Steve Rogers is, let alone Jack Kirby, and don't plan on reading the source material. Yeah, I'm scared. You see, Captain America, to me, isn't cheesy or outdated. Neither is what he stands for. The things Steve Rogers believed in, the things he fought for, and against, as Captain America, are all still relevant. Patriotism is not some old-fashioned concept forgotten in the 1940s. Liberty and love of country are not hokey or passe' ideas. You cannot update Captain America anymore than you can update Frank Sinatra, or apple pie, or baseball. Sure, there are things Cap will bring with him from the 40s when he's revived in the modern age, but that's another one of those things that makes him interesting...and what we discover is that, no matter what decade, some things just are. Messing with these things is as wrong as putting Brussels sprouts in your apple pie, adding a fifth base to baseball, or singing "Farmington Farmington" instead of "New York New York. " Please, no Cap 2.0.

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