Unca Cheeks the Toy Wonder's Silver Age Comics Web Site!
ON CAPTAIN
AMERICA
. . . AND THE TRIUMPH OF THE SPIRIT
[5]
I can't even imagine an AVENGERS without Captain America.
Oh, there's been the occasional Avengers roster sans the good Captain over the years, of course. At one time or another, each and every individual elected into the ranks has opted to leave, for a time...
... but: none of the "Cap-less" team rosters have ever really seemed... I dunno... right to me, somehow.
It's like a Justice League without Superman or the Batman; or a FANTASTIC FOUR minus the bashful, blue-eyed Benjamin J. Grimm. Yeah... maybe you could (possibly) make it "work," story-wise. Maybe.
However: some traditions become
traditions in the first bloody place precisely because they've
proven themselves more potent or viable than any conceivable alternative.
And the comforting,
everything's-going-to-be-all-right-now
presence of a red-white-and-blue ramrod at
the forefront of the Avengers' storied ranks is (in my humble opinion,
anyway) one of these.
Present-day AVENGERS scribe Kurt Busiek knows a little something about characterization, and team dynamics. In addition to explicating the ongoing adventures of "Earth's Mightiest Heroes," monthly... he also pens the wildly successful (and deservedly so, I might add) ASTRO CITY comic, as well as Marvel's IRON MAN.
Also: he did this little thing by the name of MARVELS,
a few years back. You might have heard something about that,
as well. Maybe.
CHEEKS: Virtually from the moment he was resuscitated back in AVENGERS #4 [1st series], Captain America has been regarded as the "natural leader" of the Avengers; quickly assuming command over (among others) an immortal warrior-god and a world-renowned multi-national industrialist, in the process.
What is it, in your opinion, which allows Captain America to so effortlessly command (and elicit top-rate results from) diva and deity alike; aliens and androids in equal measure? What is it which he alone possesses, and to which every other Avenger has so readily responded?
KURT BUSIEK: I think the reason he can command so smoothly and -- with rare exception -- so effortlessly, is that before commaanding any of the team, he first commands their respect. They know he's fair, they know he's focused, they know he's good at what he does. They all -- even Hawkeye at his most churlish -- know that what Cap's commanding the team to do is, if not necessarily the best plan available, a workable plan that'll get the job done.
They trust him. And he trusts them. I think it's that simple.
CHEEKS: There has always been a special "bond," of sorts, between Captain America and the former felon known as Hawkeye.
I'm curious as to why (and/or how) you think said "bond" might have developed, in this particular instance. When Cap first assembled his "Kooky Quartet" (Hawkeye; Quicksilver; Scarlet Witch)... all three of his charges were former super-criminals, after all; all three were equally hot-headed and irascible; and all three had endured former lives (much like himself) of privation and want. Why Hawkeye (in other words) over one of the other two, in this instance?
To put it simply: Neither of them have super-powers.
To expand on that: Hawkeye is a super-athlete, a gutsy, committed, trash-talking lout who'll sweat and strain and work to be the best, to the point where his archery skills are so good that he can stand shoulder to shoulder with gods and superhumans and not come off looking like a wimp. And he got there on determination, team spirit and training.
To Wanda, Cap is a friend -- and at one time, a target of her romantic thoughts. He's a guy she finds impressive, but she herself is very, very different. Her power is a distance power, her nature is more introverted -- she values Cap, but she's not like him. And to Pietro, Cap is a puzzle -- an ordinary human without benefit of the kind of gifts Pietro himself has, who can still work physical miracles. He's the antithesis of Pietro's general ideas about humanity, and while Pietro respects Cap, he's not terribly like Cap, either.
But to Hawkeye, Cap is the goal. Cap is everything Hawkeye's ever wanted to be -- skilled, commanding, in perfect shape, and above all, confident. Hawkeye will never be Cap, since it's his deep-seated underconfidence that continually drives him to prove himself, to assert himself, to make promises he can't keep and then work so hard he keeps them anyway. Without that, Hawkeye couldn't have come so far. But he still wants to be Cap, he still wants to have that easy assurance.
Cap and Hawkeye have a lot in common, and they recognize that in each other. They both push themselves to excellence, Cap because it needs to be done and Hawkeye because he needs to prove himself over and over again. But that constant push, that strain to continually outdo your personal best, without super-powers, without anything but heart and determination, is what makes each recognize the other as a kindred spirit. Or so it seems to me.
CHEEKS: Assuming that Captain America could "cherry-pick" his own team of six (and only six) Avengers, from any of those claiming membership in that august body in the past... whom would he select, afforded the opportunity to do so? Those with whom he's always felt the most simpatico? (Hawkeye; the Falcon; etc.) Those whom he'd nominated and/or sponsored for membership in the past? (Hawkeye, again; Quicksilver; Scarlet Witch; Black Panther; etc.) Those whom would add the most brute power to the ranks? (Thor; Iron Man; etc.)
KURT BUSIEK: He'd pick those who he thinks would be the most committed to the team, most ready to put it above their lives, most ready to be Avengers first and private citizens second. He wouldn't choose for simpatico, because he'd feel that any committed enough group could come together (and he knows that Falc has never wanted to be an Avenger anyway), or for people he'd inducted, because just because the Wasp invited someone in doesn't make them less worthy, or for brute power, because as he knows well, power itself isn't enough. He'd choose for devotion and determination.
As such, limited to six, I think he'd choose himself, Hawkeye, Iron Man, the Vision, the Wasp and maybe Quasar.
CHEEKS: Which would you say Captain America regarded (rightly or wrongly) as his single greatest failure, re: his leadership of the Avengers? The death of any one of its members? (Swordsman; etc.) The inability to foresee and/or prevent any/all of Henry Pym's recurring bouts of dementia? The U.S. government's assumption of total control over the team, back in the days of Henry Peter Gyrich? The "darkening" of his team, during the period when it was being led by the Black Knight and the Black Widow? Or something else entirely?
KURT BUSIEK: The attempted murder of the Supreme Intelligence. [AVENGERS #347]
CHEEKS: A two-part question:
a.) What is the one thing that anyone writing CAPTAIN AMERICA has to KNOW about the character, in your opinion, in order for the character to ring "true"...?"
KURT BUSIEK: AVENGERS #4, p. 22 panel 3. Namor's effortlessly tossing him around with one hand, and where most people would be thinking, "Yaaaah!", Cap is calmly assessing, "He's stronger than me -- but I'll find a way to outmaneuver him!"
Cap's determination to find a way to win, his confidence that there is a way, and his refusal to accept defeat as long as there's any hope whatsoever are all rolled up in that one panel.
CHEEKS: b.) What (again; in your opinion) is the one thing Captain America would never, ever do... under ANY circumstances?
KURT BUSIEK: Abandon his child.
Of course, he doesn't have one, but it's a hypothetical question, so I'm positing a hypothetical child. It's not really a question I can answer under usual circumstances -- I don't really write in such a way that I can intellectually articulate where a character's given limits are. I try to get a sense of their essence, so that I can drop them into any situation and imagine what they'd do -- but I don't always know beforehand.
I don't think Cap has many unbreakable rules -- Gruenwald wrote an effective story about Cap finding himself in a position where he had to kill, and how he reacted to what he'd done, for instance -- so for most rules, I think it's possible to put Cap into a place where he's forced to break those rules for a greater good, and it's often interesting to see what such a moment would do to him as a character.
But I can't imagine him abandoning his own child, under any circumstances. Maybe I just can't imagine the circumstances.
CHEEKS: Final query:
Would Captain America allow the Batman to join the Avengers? And --
if so -- which one's will would (ultimately) dominate the team?
KURT BUSIEK: I can't see why Cap wouldn't let Batman onto the team. And I think Batman would come to respect Cap like everyone does -- Batman's not an asshole, despite how he's sometimes written. But I don't think Batman would last long; he'd realize that with Cap around, his own forcefulness and drive were better used elsewhere; the Avengers simply didn't need him.
Batman wouldn't quite fit in to the gung-ho, Kirbyesque Avengers, but he's smart enough and analytical enough to realize that it wouldn't be due to a lack on the Avengers' part, that they make a very good team in a way that he simply doesn't fit into. So he'd go back to Gotham City to do good in his own way, content that the world was in good hands with the Avengers so long as Cap -- or people with a similar spirit -- was around.
"PANNING FOR SILVER: Captain America"
(Page 1)
"PANNING FOR SILVER: Captain America"(MARK EVANIER) (Page 2)
"PANNING FOR SILVER: Captain America" (STEVE ENGLEHART) (Page 3)
"PANNING FOR SILVER: Captain America" (TONY ISABELLA) (Page 4)
"MORE COMIC BOOKS," YOU SAY...?
The DC Comics Sub-Directory
The Marvel Comics Sub-Directory
The Miscellaneous Comics Sub-Directory
The "Gotta Find That DC Character" Menu
The "Gotta Find That Marvel/Miscellaneous
Character" Menu