Death of Captain America leads to Hydra’s Rebirth

Vote Red Skull for a new America.

While digging through boxes of old comics at my local comic shop, I stumbled upon a 2008 Captain America cover that made me pause. The cover did not feature our red, white and blue hero, but the main villain Red Skull posed for a presidential campaign behind the White House. The writing says “Vote 3rd Wing for a new America” in a difficult to read font that almost looks like it could be another language. In the bottom right hand corner there is a silhouette of a group of people holding out their fists in front of them. Avid Cap fans will recognize this as the gesture for “Hail Hydra”, which is strongly based on the Heil Hitler salute.

This caught my eye because it was so different from any other Captain America cover I had ever seen. Most of them feature Cap punching the lights out of a villain while an American flag is waving above him. They are very patriotic and make him appear as heroic as possible. In this particular issue, our hero is nowhere to be seen and it appears as though the Red Skull has won the day.

After purchasing and reading this comic, I discovered it was a part of The Death of Captain America series that lasted for 18 issues published between April 2007 and November 2008. This story line takes place directly after the Civil War story arc where Tony Stark and Captain America fight over the new Superhuman Registration Act that forces supers to be trained and monitored by the U.S. government. In the end, Captain America surrenders and is taken into custody by S.H.I.E.L.D., a special anti-terrorism agency.

The Death of Captain America picks up right in the middle of the aftermath of Civil War at Steve Rogers court trial. Steve is shot and killed on the steps before he can enter the court per the order of the Red Skull.

After Steve’s death, his best friend Bucky Barnes agrees to take on the mantle of Captain America and find out who is behind Steve’s assassination.

We find out later in the series that the Red Skull’s plan is to economically cripple the United States to benefit his puppet politician, Gordon Wright, who quickly becomes a popular third party Presidential candidate. Once elected, Wright will lead the country directly into a police state secretly controlled by the Red Skull.

After reading the issue and doing a little research about the series, the cover for this particular comic makes a lot more sense. The Red Skull is most prominently featured because he is the one in control after the chaos of Steve Rogers death. He is the puppet master in taking down the United States government and turning it into a police state so he can have all the power.

The Soviet Union and communists are popular villains in American culture; therefore when readers see the Red Skull emulating Adolf Hitler in the Captain America comics, they understand that he is considered evil. Even the color scheme for this comic cover expresses the idea of communism with it’s dominantly red palette.

The silhouette of the group of people raising their fists is reflective of Hitler’s salute which suggests to the viewer that Red Skulls intentions are villainous.

This is the only issue of The Death of Captain America series that I have read. The first issue of the series was the highest selling comic in March 2007 and was reported in ABC News as a parallel to the events of 9/11 and Iraq. I would like to find the rest of the series and finish it because I think it would show a lot of the major consequences of the Civil War story line and provide a social commentary on our current political climate.