Ahead of the 2022 midterms, conservatives are stoking the culture wars with hysteria on everything from Dr. Seuss to Critical Race Theory to so-called cancel culture.
Now, a Fox News segment is making waves on the internet for railing against the "politicization" of Captain America, one of Marvel Comics' most iconic heroes.
The cover of Captain America Comics #1, released in 1941, showed the hero punching Adolf Hitler. This seemingly uncontroversial image of an American flag-draped superhero beating up the leader of the Nazi Party still prompted some to send "threatening letters and hate mail," according to co-creator Joe Simon.
The framing of Captain America as a conscience for the United States has been a Marvel Comics tradition for decades.
In the first issue of United States of Captain America, to be released in full later this year, the Captain reflects on the American Dream, or dreams, as he believes, and the mythology surrounding them.
He muses that
"…The first American dream is the one that isn't real. It's one some people expect to just be handed to them… When the truth is, it never really existed in the first place… other cultures. Immigrants… We're at our best when we keep no one out. A good dream is shared. Shared radically. Shared with everyone. When something isn't shared, it can become the American lie."
One Fox commentator was livid at the suggestion that the American Dream isn't real, and he lamented the passage in a segment on the matter.
Fox News guest, having a completely normal one: "It's so sad when Captain America is like Captain Woke or Captain Propaganda... I'm done with Captain America. He's dead!" pic.twitter.com/g4p3qE2oxI
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) July 6, 2021
Comedian Michael Loftus told Fox:
"It's so sad when Captain America is like Captain Woke or Captain Propaganda. Did I miss an issue where he was kidnapped by liberal arts professors and forced to move to Portland? It's the absolute worst, and it's just more proof that the left is gonna come after everything that real Americans hold dear. They're after baseball, they tried to cancel apple pie, and now Captain America."
He concluded:
"Marvel Comics is the embodiment of the American Dream, and now they wanna convince children it's not real. It's horrible. I'm done with Captain America. He's dead."
People couldn't help but point out that Captain America has always been political.
Captain America was made by Jewish authors to convince an ambivalent America to enter WWII against the Germans. https://twitter.com/justinbaragona/status/1412487101648719886\u00a0\u2026pic.twitter.com/cBrmUMn179— Chowder (@Chowder) 1625605460
1988: Cap fights Ronald Reagan, who has been turned into a lizard pic.twitter.com/bSBAjTsnUi
— Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) July 6, 2021
I am begging you to read at least a small amount about a thing before spewing nonsense to a large audience. https://twitter.com/justinbaragona/status/1412488384774344714\u00a0\u2026pic.twitter.com/ikqbMdGvtv— Watchtower Database (@Watchtower Database) 1625609862
Yeah such a odd thing for Captain America..... https://twitter.com/justinbaragona/status/1412488384774344714\u00a0\u2026pic.twitter.com/JhR9AGfXgB— \ud83c\ude50Kristo\ud83c\ude50 (@\ud83c\ude50Kristo\ud83c\ude50) 1625606280
Like these chuckleheads have actually ever read a Captain America comic... https://twitter.com/justinbaragona/status/1412488384774344714\u00a0\u2026pic.twitter.com/EDhg3CQexJ— Stu Taylor (@Stu Taylor) 1625609713
It's funny this moron brings up Stan Lee as a part of this debate, who famously has this published https://twitter.com/justinbaragona/status/1412488384774344714\u00a0\u2026pic.twitter.com/GQB67bIrV6— Comicbook Commentaries (@Comicbook Commentaries) 1625601135
People were exasperated at the segment.
"Politicizing Captain America." Holy crap, read almost literally any Captain America comic book from the last 75 years.https://twitter.com/justinbaragona/status/1412488384774344714\u00a0\u2026— Gary Legum (@Gary Legum) 1625599804
Imagine thinking that a character with the word \u201cAmerica\u201d in his name could somehow be a-political.https://twitter.com/justinbaragona/status/1412488384774344714\u00a0\u2026— Justin Avery Smith (@Justin Avery Smith) 1625606955
Like really does he even know the origins?https://twitter.com/justinbaragona/status/1412488384774344714\u00a0\u2026— Bukunmi Abiodun (@Bukunmi Abiodun) 1625601513
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