When it comes to the world of comic books, Marvel has always been ahead of the curve in terms of diversity. Now, Marvel is pushing for even more diversity in its comics and has recently announced that the mantle of Captain America will now be taken over by a black man.
Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada made the announcement earlier this week during a segment of “The Colbert Report,” revealing to the host, who is noted fan of Captain America, that Sam Wilson, better known as Cap’s superhero BFF, The Falcon, will be taking over as Captain America at the request of 90-year-old Steve Rogers, the current Captain America.
For those unfamiliar with the current Captain America storyline, Rogers recently fought his most powerful enemy, Iron Nail, in Captain America No. 21 and he was drained of the super-soldier serum that has kept him young and powerful for all of these years. Now, Rogers has lost all of his super powers and his body has aged to match his 90 years of life.
Thankfully, Wilson, who became Marvel’s first black hero in 1969, saved Rogers’ life by the end of the issue and he will take on the role of Captain America for good when All-New Captain America No. 1 by Rick Remender and Stuart Immonen debuts in October.
Although Wilson will be the first black person to officially hold the moniker, this isn’t the first time Marvel has addressed the idea of a black Captain America. Back in 2003, Marvel told Captain America’s history in the limited series “Truth: Red, White and Black,” which mirrored the Tuskegee syphilis experiments by having World War II scientists try to recreate the original super-soldier serum in black soldiers. Unfortunately, only one soldier, Isaiah Bradley, survived the experiments and he came to be regarded as the Black Captain America.
Remender recently spoke about Wilson’s new role as Captain America and explained that, although Rogers will still serve as Wilson’s tactician, Wilson will be a completely different Cap from Rogers.
“While Sam shares many of Steve’s beliefs in a general sense, he’s also a very different person with a very different background,” adds editor Tom Brevoort, “He didn’t grow up in the 1930s, he’s a modern-day man in touch with the problems of the 21st Century. For most of his professional life, Sam has worked as a social worker, so he’s seen the worst of urban society up close, and how crime, poverty, lack of social structure and opportunity can affect the community. So he’s got perhaps a greater focus on the plight of the common man, and perhaps a greater empathy for the underprivileged than maybe even Steve himself. He’s also not a military man, so he’s more apt to be instinctively skeptical of any situation that calls for just following orders. Sam, like Steve, will be led by his personal morality and beliefs as to what is right and what is wrong — and where his beliefs may differ in their shading from those of the previous Cap are where the interesting stories will be found,” said Remender.
Well, we’re excited for this new change and we hope that more minority characters take on prominent roles in comic books because of this. –nicholas robinson
