WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Captain America #30, by Ta-Nehisi Coates, Leonard Kirk, Matt Milla and VC’s Joe Caramagna, on sale now.
Almost three years to the day it started, acclaimed author Ta-Nehisi Coates’ run on Captain America has come to an end, culminating in a confrontation between the Sentinel of Liberty and his lifelong nemesis the Red Skull for the fate of the United States’ soul. Flecked with unflinching political commentary that was unafraid to include real-life parallels while keeping sight of the requisite superhero action, Coates and his artistic collaborators like Leinil Yu, Adam Kubert, Jaosn MAsters, Bob Quinn and Leonard Kirk approached the Captain America mythos in a way that firmly reestablished Steve Rogers as the moral compass of the Marvel Universe while restoring and updating certain elements of the mythos to match modern sensibilities.
One of the most important distinctions about Coates’ run is that it began in the shadow of the 2017 crossover event Secret Empire. The controversial storyline saw Hydra use a Cosmic Cube to manipulate and subjugate Steve’s history and personality to their own will, transforming him into a villainous sleeper agent that led Hydra to conquer the United States and begin to reshape the country. While the true Steve Rogers would surface and overthrow his evil doppelgänger and undo much of the overarching damage caused, the reputation of Captain America remained tarnished and Steve was more conflicted than ever about what was carried out in his image.
While Coates certainly brings his own voice to Captain America, it’s clear that he is also a big fan of the creators that came before him, with Ed Brubaker perhaps serving as the most prominent influence on the run. Elements of Brubaker’s celebrated run, from Aleksander Lukin and the Red Skull’s twisted daughter Sin, appear throughout Coates’ story, albeit dialed up to become even more deadly and tie in more directly with the themes that Coates is weaving into his tale. And while Coates continues Brubaker’s political thriller sensibilities, he also draws in established Marvel characters that Steve hasn’t interacted with in years, providing a fresh perspective on the character and a country at an existential crisis.
And then there’s the sociopolitical commentary. Captain America was a character created to combat fascism and unchecked nationalism months before the United States entered World War II. He has confronted analogues to the Nixon and Reagan Administrations, leading to Steve temporarily leaving the mantle of Captain America behind. The 2006 crossover event Civil War sprung from Steve’s concerns over a violation of civil liberties in the face of a terrorist attack.
Captain America has a steady, evident track record of reflecting contemporary sociopolitical issues facing the country and Coates’ run is a firm reminder of this. Coates’ story opens with a peaceful protest brutally attacked by riot police while Captain America finds himself on the wrong side of law enforcement and the criminal justice system as the villainous Power Elite frames him for a heinous crime. And the Red Skull himself decides to go public, becoming an online personality stoking fears and building an army of domestic terrorists inspired by his hateful rhetoric, threatening America’s very soul as Steve Rogers stands as a man of the people opposing him.
Blending superhero action, international intrigue and contemporary sociopolitical commentary, Coates’ run should go down as one of the best prolonged takes on the superhero that Captain America has had for years. There is something especially timely about the story but also while completely staying true to who the character has been all along, with Coates’ Captain America standing as a man defending America from the threat of tyranny that often festers from the shadows poised to fuel the country’s unresolved issues and bitter truths against itself.
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