On May 25, the original Cap returns to Marvel comics in Nick Spencer’s Captain America: Steve Rogers. Here’s everything you need to know in order to jump straight into issue #1.
Comics are a daunting medium for those not used to following them — the sprawling universes of Marvel and DC make it very difficult to keep up with every scrap of canon about your favorite characters, and for new readers, or for obsessive completists who get anxious about not knowing everything, the idea of just picking an arc and starting somewhere can be really tough to adjust to. However, if you love Captain America and want to spend more time with him outside the MCU, now is the perfect moment to pick up the comics, even if you’ve been hesitant before.
Steve Rogers is back in the red, white and blue in a brand-new solo title Captain America: Steve Rogers, published in the wake of a special event that brought together the three major figures who’ve served as Cap in celebration of the character’s 75th anniversary. Given the recent relaunch of the entire Marvel universe and the fact we’re now counting down to the huge Civil War II crossover event this summer, there could not be a better time for you to pledge your loyalty to #TeamCap on the page as well as the screen.
From one crazy completist to another, let me help you out — it’s a new era in the world of Marvel comics, but once you read this article, I hope you’ll feel totally ready to jump in.
For starters, here’s a summary of the past ten years of Cap’s comic history. I’ll try to keep it relatively concise. In 2005, the heroic Ed Brubaker gave us a real game-changer for Steve Rogers with Captain America Volume 5, which re-introduced Bucky Barnes — until now, a long-dead phantom who still haunted Steve’s dreams — as the Winter Soldier. If you’ve seen the movies you know roughly how this goes, except that in the comics Steve and Bucky never truly get to reunite.
The events of the original Civil War (the Superhero Registration Act, not involving Bucky but involving much more widespread and public unrest than what went down in the current film) lead to Steve’s assassination on the steps of the courthouse as he goes to trial for his alleged crimes. Tony Stark makes peace with a furious and heartbroken Bucky, and after punching him in the crotch (an image I’m devastated didn’t make it into the new movie) he accepts Steve’s shield and begins serving as the new Captain America.
In Captain America: Reborn, it’s revealed that Steve didn’t actually die, because this is comics. Instead, the gun used on him by a brainwashed Sharon Carter merely froze him within space and time… because this is comics. Anyway, they figure out a way to bring him back, and he asks that Bucky continues serving as Captain America. Steve becomes the head of S.H.I.E.L.D., reassembles the Avengers after the long fall-out from Civil War, repeals the Superhero Registration Act, and becomes leader of the Secret Avengers, a black-ops team. Meanwhile, Bucky stands trial for his crimes as the Winter Soldier, is found innocent by America but guilty by Russia, gets shipped off to a gulag where he fights a bear and is ultimately rescued by Sharon and Natasha.
During Fear Itself, another major Marvel crossover event, Bucky is “killed” by Sin, the Red Skull’s daughter, but he’s secretly revived with the Infinity Formula. Steve becomes Cap again, with only a handful of people — Steve, Nat and Nick Fury — knowing Bucky is alive. The aftermath of Fear Itself, culminating in the 19-issue Winter Soldier solo title completed in 2013, marked the end of Brubaker’s time wielding the shield. Steve was also present in other Avengers titles during this period, with the Avengers vs X-Men conflict being one of the most prominent. Bucky leaves Earth altogether to take Fury’s place as “The Man on the Wall,” a position which protects our world from intergalactic threats. You can read about Bucky’s outer space adventures with Daisy Johnson (yes, the one Skye is based on) in the 2014 title Bucky Barnes: Winter Soldier, by Ales Kot.
During Rick Remender’s Cap run for the short-lived Marvel Now! relaunch, Steve Rogers loses his powers when an enemy called the Iron Nail neutralizes the Super-Soldier serum in his body. His body takes on the characteristics of his actual age — so he’s for real a 90-something old man — and he appoints his long-time partner, Sam Wilson, as the new Captain America. Sam’s been around as the Falcon for this entire time, by the way, as an incredibly loyal ally to both Steve and Bucky as Captain America over the years. So we’re basically at the present-day situation: Steve’s old, Sam’s Cap, and Bucky’s in space.
Oh, I should probably mention that last year this other crossover event called Secret Wars happened in which the main universe (known as the 616) collided with an alternate Marvel universe (Ultimates) and both of them got destroyed, but don’t worry, they totally put it back, kind of, and now we get Miles Morales in the same universe as Kamala Khan and stuff. Basically Marvel decided that they wanted to combine the best of both worlds so they smashed them together so all of the cool kids could play in the same sandbox. The post-Secret Wars situation has been dubbed All-New, All-Different Marvel and involves brand-new titles, commencing from issue #1, for dozens of characters and teams. And that’s what we’re actually here to talk about today.
Under the All-New All-Different banner, the current Captain America solo title written by Nick Spencer follows the struggles Sam Wilson faces as he serves as a Cap not everyone is altogether happy with — taking a stand about political and social issues that some (right-leaning) people feel he’s got no place to take. Spencer’s handling of Sam’s predicament is cutting commentary on the strange real-world opinion that’s evolved over time — that Cap should be a patriotic symbol with no actual personal stances, despite the first-ever issue featuring Cap socking Hitler in the jaw in the period before the USA had entered WWII.
But that’s not all Sam has to juggle right now — he’s in a fight with Steve and with S.H.I.E.L.D., he becomes a werewolf (don’t ask, it’s actually happened before) and he’s got a brand-new Falcon sidekick of his own – a human/bird hybrid teenager called Joaquin Torres whom he rescued from the white supremacist hate group Sons of the Serpent. He’s also been in contact with a hacker called The Whisperer, who slips him some information about the actions of S.H.I.E.L.D director Maria Hill, and this reveal sets up the plot of the recent crossover comic Avengers: Standoff.
The three-issue Avengers: Standoff, also penned by Spencer, may be an Avengers event in name — other characters do show up at the end, and have tie-in issues from their own titles – but at its heart the actual Standoff story is about the three Captains America: Steve, Bucky and Sam. Through various bits of intel, all of the Caps end up at Pleasant Hill, an idyllic Stepford-ish town that Maria Hill is mysteriously the mayor of, and uncover the truth of the community – it’s a supervillain prison, where costumed criminals have been brainwashed by S.H.I.E.L.D. into believing they’re someone else, living happy, unwitting lives.
S.H.I.E.L.D. achieved this with the Kobik project, involving fragments of cosmic cubes which had the power to alter reality, a proposal Hill swore had been dismissed and destroyed but went ahead with anyway. Just when you thought S.H.I.E.L.D. couldn’t get more morally questionable, it turns out that Kobik wasn’t mere technology — the cube fragments had the power to become sentient, and fused together, their confused and fractured consciousness taking the form of a four year old girl. Hill’s arrogant overconfidence in the Pleasant Hill prison backfires when some of the villains, including Baron Zemo, figure out what’s been done to them, and stage a violent coup.
Across the three issues of Avengers Standoff and two of Captain America: Sam Wilson, Sam, Steve and Bucky work together to contain the situation and figure out how to co-exist in some of the most empathetic, funny, heartbreaking and exciting scenes I’ve ever personally seen these characters in. Ultimately, the entire Avengers roster swoops in to save the day in the final showdown, Hill is tripped up by her own hubris and is now under investigation from the World Security Council,and Kobik does Steve a solid and restores his youth. However, all is not solved, because in comics it never is. Unbeknownst to even Baron Zemo, the Red Skull also walked among the Pleasant Hill residents, and is set to wreak havoc once again, so it looks like Steve will come face to face with his oldest enemy very soon.
Issues #1 – #6 of Captain America: Sam Wilson, leading up to Pleasant Hill, are a breeze to read and definitely worth checking out (Werewolves! Immigration issues! Misty Knight!) but if you want to jump into the All New, All Different Steve Rogers story, here’s all I deem near-necessary to read first — if you get these individual issues on Comixology you can knock them out in an afternoon and be ready to go.
Avengers Standoff: Welcome to Pleasant Hill #1
In which we catch up with Bucky Barnes; just arrived back on Earth, and discover the truth about Pleasant Hill through the eyes of one of its newest residents.
Avengers Standoff: Assault on Pleasant Hill Alpha #1
In which Sam learns the identity of the Whisperer and Steve gets very angry at Maria, learns the truth about Kobik, and eats a hot breakfast cooked by Bucky – who’s wearing his hair in a bun — but not in that order. Also, the supervillains reveal their true identities.
Captain America: Sam Wilson #7
In which Sam and Bucky are as ridiculous together as you now expect them to be, and old man Rogers has a fight with Crossbones in a bowling alley and delivers a tear-jerking brink of death monologue about the meaning of his entire life before miraculously getting de-aged again by Kobik. This is the official 75th anniversary issue, so it also contains three special unrelated one-shots about Cap to celebrate the occasion.
Captain America: Sam Wilson #8
In which Steve gets hot again, some creepy men plan to kidnap a little girl at her own birthday party, and all the Caps talk about their feelings. Sam and Bucky discuss carrying the shield in Steve’s shadow, Steve promises that Sam is still going to be Captain America, and apologizes to Bucky for letting him drift into the darkness so often, swearing they’ll work side by side from now on.
Avengers Standoff: Assault on Pleasant Hill Omega #1
In which a lot of Avengers show up to help save the day, the bad guys scatter after their leader disappears, Steve and Sam decide that they can both be Captain America, and Bucky finds a kindred spirit of the whole “they made me a weapon and I’m sad about it” variety. Also, the Red Skull has given up on using his powers and decides to recruit followers through straight-up good old fashioned racism.
So that’s what you need to know before getting a hold of Captain America: Steve Rogers. The fact that Spencer is now writing both of the ongoing Cap comics and that Standoff was also his crafting is an very appealing factor. Aside from the surefire continuity of the interlocked stories — jumping from writer to writer, all with different agendas, can be stressful as a reader — his interpretation of these characters captures their depth, humor, pathos and humanity in a way that some writers in this medium haven’t, necessarily, in the past. It’s a tone that should land incredibly well with new readers who might be fans of the movies and are looking to weep over sad, strong boys with feelings some more.
Sidenote: If you’re a sucker for Bucky Barnes, which, let’s be real, you definitely are, you can also check out Thunderbolts, in which Bucky begrudgingly leads the new Thunderbolts, a team of not-terribly-bad bad guys who escaped Pleasant Hill and who have decided to give being good guys the old college try. Oh, and Kobik’s living with them, jsyk. If you’ve ever wanted to see the Winter Soldier playing dad to the most powerful little girl in the universe, this is the comic for you. Issue #1 is out now. Bucky is set to feature in Captain America: Steve Rogers as well, and Spencer is co-ordinating with Thunderbolts writer Jim Zub in order to have Bucky appear in both runs concurrently.
Captain America: Steve Rogers #1 will be released on Wednesday, May 25.