In December of 1940, America still hadnât entered the war.
There were a lot of Americans – such as the 800,000 paying members of the America First Committee – who looked at fascists massacring their way through Europe and declared âthatâs not our problem.â
Captain America was created by two poor Jewish Americans, Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, with the specific intent of trying to convince Americans that entering the war was the right thing to do. It wasnât easy – Kirby went far beyond what was expected of artists at the time, penciling the entire issue with a deadline that would have been difficult for a two-man crew to pull off. Â
Captain America punched Hitler right on the cover, at a time when a majority of Americans just didnât feel like doing anything decisive against the Nazis.
Kirby and Simon faced considerable resistance for their creation, including steady hate mail and outright death threats. Â
Once, while Jack was in the Timely office, a call came from someone in the lobby. When Kirby answered, the caller threatened Jack with bodily harm if he showed his face. Kirby told the caller he would be right down, but by the time Jack reached street level, there was no one to be found.
Both creators enlisted after America entered the war. Â Kirby, as an artist, was called upon to do the extremely dangerous work of scouting ahead to draw maps. Â He also went on to co-create Black Panther in 1966.
They didnât create Captain America to be an accurate depiction of America-As-It-Is. The character was meant to inspire and embolden, to show America-As-It-Should-Be.
The subject of where the Vibranium for the shield came from actually never came up for decades of comics, until it was finally addressed by Black Pantherâs writer, Christopher Priest, in 2001. Priest never shied away from acknowledging Americaâs racism, but he also understood that Captain America represented an ideal, intended to inspire Americans to be better.Â
The story mixed together a âpresent dayâ discussion between Cap and TâChalla with flashbacks to when Cap met the Black Panther ruling Wakanda during World War II.
FLASHBACK:
PRESENT:
PRESENT -> FLASHBACK
PRESENT:
The Vibranium was given, freely, by one good man to another good man.
It is right to rage against the injustices done by our governments. We must call them out, and we must fight for whatâs right.
But if you canât even stand to see the symbols created to inspire people to be better, and rail against those, then youâre just confusing cynicism for realism.
i think my absolute favourite thing about tâchalla is how soft he is. heâs a king of a nation and a superhero and a warrior so you might expect him to conform to traditional stereotypes of masculinity and male power which so many other comic book characters doâŠbut he doesnât at all! heâs not arrogant or rude or self-absorbed at all! he 100% is someone who accepts constructive criticism, learns from his mistakes, and tries to make amends for his wrongs. his adaptability, even in the face of life-changing revelations that occur in the span of a few hours or days, is remarkable, and something all men can and should learn from.
and this 100% carries over from his characterisation in civil war, in which he realised he was acting brashly, became introspective, and moved away from vengeance and violence, and towards compassion and justice. to do that in the face of grief and loss is no easy thing but he did it! he went from actively trying to kill the person who (he thought) had killed his father to somehow finding the compassion to stop the right culprit from taking his own life. not only that, he had the humility to apologise for jumping to conclusions, and even made amends by providing bucky with protection.
and then in black panther – this really does shine through! he goes from idolising his father as a paragon of perfection to finding out that his own father, murdered his own uncle, acting as judge, jury and executioner. this is no easy thing to deal with, especially when it is so personal and changes your entire worldview about your family, your father, your future. but not only does he deal with it, he adapts. he confronts his father, he tells him he was wrong, he steps away from his fatherâs shadow, he finds the wisdom is being his own king and not trying to do what others are doing/tried to do in the past. he goes from wearing terrible traditional sandals (what are those???) and trying to follow his fatherâs footsteps to carving his own space as a king and ruler.
more than that, he sees erik for who he is despite the many wrong things erik has done (the murder mostly but otherwise #KillmongerWasRight). he still has compassion for erik! even when erik is dying, he offers to save his life. he takes him to see the wakandan sunset so that he can fulfill his late uncleâs promise, and let erik feel closer to nâjobu. he posthumously makes erikâs wishes of wakandan intervention in america come true, albeit in a different way that more aligns with his vision for wakandan international relations. he tries to right the wrongs of his father, and to set a better example of what a black panther should be like.
and he is so soft with the women in his life! so kind, so gentle, so understanding. one relationship that really stood out to me was his love for nakia. he adores her, he melts around her, he feels totally open to cry and feel vulnerable around her, to share his innermost thoughts and fears, to joke around and be free with her. all of this was so wonderful to see?? but on top of his obvious love, he was so understanding and respectful of nakiaâs agency and career goals. he could see that there was a fundamental difference in opinion between the two of them but not once did he try to dissuade nakia from doing what she thought was right. he gave her the space to be her best, most authentic self, even if her decisions werenât something he personally wanted for their relationship and future. he let her make her own decisions and he was so supportive! her dreams were never deprioritised for his and that was so important.
and same with his relationship with shuri! sheâs his little sister and of course sheâs gonna tease him but heâs so soft and gentle with her too?? and he teases her right back?? heâd fight the world for her because he loves her that much. he never underestimates her courage or intelligence, but he still remains fiercely protective in a way that never undermines her agency or belittles her. he knows heâs not as smart as her but he doesnât feel threatened by that at all. thereâs no ego or entitlement there. heâs such a good big brother!!!
in fact heâs surrounded by strong, powerful, intelligent, fierce women including his mother, his general, and the entirety of the dora milaje but not once does he feel uncomfortable by that. and i think this is partially a result of wakanda not being colonised and never having patriarchal gender roles and binaries being imposed upon the populace. as a result, women are allowed to be multi-dimensional and live their best lives. women are allowed to be âcontradictoryâ and no two female characters in the film are alike – some are very feminine while others are definitely gender non-conforming (bc i defs think some of the doras are butch lesbians *ayo*). some are far more nurturing and maternal (ramonda), some are more traditional (okoye), some are stubborn and idealistic (nakia), and some are cerebral as hell but also extremely witty (shuri). and at no point in the film does tâchalla treat these women with anything but love and respect and it is so refreshing.
basically, i love tâchalla and i would die for him
i'll apple your turnover 