Cap might sometimes change into fatigues to blend in, perhaps visit the troops incognito. I had this scene in my head where Bucky finds out his identity. Of course, they could have trained together or something instead but, it was a thought...
Also, I think we talked about Cap rallying the troops before D-Day. What if command pulled him out before the assault? He'd be pretty torn up.
Or, what if they didn't even tell him about D-Day and is really mad when he finds out? Of course, he'd feel like he could have saved lives.
RICK: HE WILL BE FIRST. He will be in that first boat. The importance of D-Day to Cap is that there is tremendous loss of life. It wasn't his planning but he was there. "I was looking at old newsreel footage of D-Day and I could swear that Captain America was there in the background..."
Hmm, perhaps Cap's speech fails to rally troops, but he leads by example running to the beach and the men follow.
On Steve Rogers' Background
Cap has a religious background. I was thinking that there needed to be...
- A strong moral force in his early life
- There needs to be a strong constitutional democracy component in his background
- He needs to be sick, sickly, and sickest to the point of being mainly sidelined during childhood.
Common folks. Common upbringing.
I was thinking of someone unexpected. Even a school teacher. Ah. Cap/Steve Rogers might go to a catholic school.
"No Steve. That is not how it happened...Maybe it is the one legged uncle or corner druggist, a bitter alcoholic and morphine addict who came back from The Great War (WWI) a twisted, broken shell of a man. Yeah.
"I'll tell you like it is Steve. Another war is going to come. We as a nation are not going to be ready..."Perhaps even though Stevie is disabled, he feels drawn to help those even less fortunate. I picked up a friend at a VA hospital and the scene was so stereotypical-- complete with the gaggle of haggard men hanging outside smoking. Like something after Vietnam even though it was the late nineties. It strikes me though, Stevie runs into a scary vet in an alley and even though fear grips his heart and the guy spits vitriol at him, Stevie endeavors to help. Perhaps it's too "Lt. Dan," but I like the idea.
"Why won't we be ready?"
“Hard times have made everyone selfish. They are only thinking of themselves and their empty bellies. People are frightened now. They just want to take care of themselves. Mark my words, when the war comes, folks will want to stay out of it. But that is not the right thing to do now is it boy? When evil rears its ugly head, you got to stand straight and fight to the finish.”
"What are you doing?"
"I had my fill of war Steve. I see the faces and hear the screams every night. Someday you'll understand. Someday you'll thank me..."
Perhaps an ex-Chaplin is his Uncle or someone at the school...?
This idea is still pretty malformed. Steve needs an early introduction into the horror of war and the necessity of fighting. A priest who says never fight but condemns evil. A vet who has been crippled but demands that we don't back down from evil. I would use the first War to tie into the horror of the second. This message, this lesson learned by a young Steve Rogers will be crucial to his upbringing. Naturally, since it is so crucial, I don't have a handle on it yet.
I hear ya, no worries. I do totally agree though. Something very impacting and influential has to happen to him. Reviewing my life, it was my role models supported by myths and legends and stories of (super and not) heroes that formed my beliefs. Being the fourth of four children lead to an over-developed sense of fairness. My grandparents had an impact on me since my grandfathers were in the wars preceding Vietnam. The thing we probably have to learn is what was it like between WWI and II? Isolationist policy. There was a long wait until Pearl Harbor. WWI was like a collision between old world and new. Policies and technology were from another age not much different from the Civil War. Huge leaps in technology were quickly hacked together making for a long, bloody conflict. Chemical warfare. Biplanes. Machine gun tanks. Warships. Metal was the new wood. But the war was shaded in the Medieval with kingdoms still in existence and holding power and armies still run by the sword. The film Paths of Glory is an excellent illustration of the clash between old intractable imperialist ways and modern law. There was also a lot of trauma especially from the trenches and chemical warfare. It was probably the horror of this war that put us into isolation, but I don't know if it was real or just public opinion. Nobody killed Hitler. Like Bin Laden, did people blame the administration for letting him live and then coming back and killing millions? WWI was the first conflict to have news reels, albeit silent ones. But there was actual footage of war. Between the wars came talkies, speakeasies, a time that seems to me to be celebration. Fast music, cars, short skirts, washing machines, refrigerators, Sears catalogs. Industry really getting going. Was it a happy time? Or were we all in denial? Was this when Hitler started the super soldier project? Is this when The Red Skulls were created? To be ready when Germany would have her revenge...?
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