CAP! AMERICA! 250!!! A discussion about America using a fictional character to talk about ideals.
Hi, all. This is Rick. I am sneaking a post into the blog series without any input from Director/Writer Ben Alpi. He is currently, as of this writing, working on a new short for Runic Films that is going to blow everyone's sox off. It films soon and he is buried with work in California and London. We have both been busy to a fault. I did not want this event, the country's 250th birthday, to go unnoticed by the Cap blog. It just didn't feel right.
When we started, it was just two creative people staying in touch, goofing around, and trading ideas about the character, Captain America, through email. Each bit of banter about Cap generated a corresponding response until we did this in almost every email exchange we had for a few years. The first movie had not even been announced when we decided to collect the emails into a blog format. I suppose if we did it now, it would have been a video channel. Who knows? Writing was done for about 80 posts which are archived below.
Our premise was simple: with 70+ years of comic background material, how would you adapt Captain America for film?
We started just riffing on the character and poking into different aspects of Captain America's origin and what constituted heroic virtue. Since we did not KNOW we were "making something," Ben and I did not have an overarching structure, just our curiosity and interest. I love film but making movies is entirely Ben's background. He is damn good at and always surprises me when I get scripts to read or we discuss plots, world building, or character development. My own background is comics - visual narrative art and storytelling. I like to solve story problems and explore archetypes. kind of a nerdy "flaw" on my part.
Enough about the beginning of the blog. Let's dive into the 250th Birthday of America and see how Captain America might have interacted with it.
First...
Happy 4th of July - Independence Day!
This country has definitely been through a lot in the last two-and-a-half centuries. There have been many ups and downs and dark episodes in American history including wiping out Native Americans and forcing them onto reservations, slavery, civil war, imperialism, world wars, financial crashes, and every kind of social unrest.
Of those who banded together and joined themselves in a common purpose despite differences, the early states agreed. No freedom could ever be had in the new world while under the boot of a king.
They stood up against the might of an empire. To be left alone to determine their own destiny in a new world. To worship as they wished. Enjoy the profits of their own labor. And they risked everything to make something new against terrible odds. The United States has never been perfect, even from the start. Yet the dream was to keep growing, improving, giving dignity and justice to all as a natural right, regardless of the station of birth. America would have no kings, no princes, no barons, no dukes, no royalty of any kind. No crown. Three separate but equal branches meant to check and balance each other. No kings. No kings.
Cap. Cap would understand this. As Steve Rogers, he would see the growing storm clouds in Europe and know, deep in his belly, that America had to get into the war and not just produce munitions but fight. It was a moral calling, an urgent one. A question of right and wrong, life and death.
Jack Kirby (Fantastic Four and hundreds of Marvel characters) created Captain America with Joe Simon in 1941. It published a few months before Pearl Harbor forced America's entrance into the war. Until that moment, the official policy was isolationist. Keep out of "European" wars. Don't get involved. Germany and its allies were gobbling up territory unchecked. Captain America was a fictional, iconic character designed specifically to evoke a certain kind of patriotism, the kind where America accepted its responsibility to not look away while horrors were being committed in Europe. Russia and China both lost millions of lives in WWII.
How would Captain America react to the events of today? On the 250th Anniversary of the founding of the nation?
Captain America is sometimes described as a "goody-two-shoes." A Boy Scout. His real power, aside from strength and a nifty metal shield he can fling, is moral clarity. Captain America understands the difference between right and wrong. He is not grey or compromised. He is a believer. Cap represents something pure in terms of what the country is supposed to stand for, and he is stuck in a never-ending battle in moral terms. There is imperfection in the Union, corruption, crime, betrayal of trust, and perversion of principles.
Most likely, the current divisive nature of America today would break his heart and crush his spirit to the point of wanting to give up. He might feel isolated, without protection or allies, against a whirring machine of moneyed interests and lawyers. Invisible. Nothing to punch. Smoke. Shadowy, yet loud at the same time. Even if the world was against him and he was about to crack, he would remember how important Freedom, Liberty, and Justice are and how America needs to be the champion for those ideals. Cap would grit his teeth, then forge ahead to do what is right. Cap would lead by undeniable example.
In the Avengers' movie, Cap is able to wield Mjolnir, Thor's hammer. It is not a test of strength but of character. In today's world, Cap would remind us, that character matters. Dignity matters. Freedom matters. Fighting for what is right and good is not about winning every battle but consistently showing up in good times and bad to reaffirm the deep values of the country. He doesn't see those values as "corny" or outdated but vital like breathing oxygen. The slogan on the great state of New Hampshire's license plates reads: Live Free Or Die. This would be Cap's internal motto, his personal core conviction. All his actions would stem from that conviction, every time.
Being a patriot is not about loving your country and ignoring its flaws. Being a patriot is understanding that the flaws, and working tirelessly to improve on them, are the only true measure of a person's character. Captain America is devoted to the ideals of the county. That is how Kirby and Simon design him in 1941, punching a dictator on the cover. Decency, fairness, and compassion are his guiding stars. That is Cap's strength. Cap would remind us, if he were here now, that democracy needs to be constantly renewed, reinvigorated, reinvented and protected.
We either safeguard freedom for ALL or we have nothing.
Our founders understood the terrible costs and spilled blood needed to escape the chains of a tyrant. They carved an expanding frontier for these United States in a world of empires and kings, in a time of endless oppression. This is what has come before us. It is our "shared" past. Our common ground. Standing up to power. People come and go from the stage. The lights burn brightly or flicker. Yet, the desire for peace, justice, and the hope for a better future are flames that can never be allowed to perish. The yearning for freedom must be ignited in each American and passed through many hands in stewardship for future generations.
Cap would want us to Live Free Or Die.
Celebrate 250 years of an ever-changing America, an America that stumbles and falters, but always gets back on its feet to dare great things. July 4th, 1776 to today, July 4th, 2026. What will the next 250 years bring? More change. More unrest. More strife, division, and growing challenges that threaten freedom for one and all. We need not look that far ahead. Our role is merely to play a part, to do our best to move the country ever forward. The problems we face will be solved, in part, by us now and by those still to come. America is always an ongoing, collective enterprise, an aggregate.
Thank you for engaging with the Myth Discussion Series. I reread these Cap posts from time to time with a mix of nostalgia for the past and shining hope for the future. Share and comment. Stay engaged and do not despair. Vote your conscience. Protest abuse of power. Speak out when you see injustice. Do your best. Fail. Pick yourself back up again. Grit your teeth. Wade back in. Always forward.
Let FREEDOM ring,
RICK
Post written on 2026_0704.
Currently in the great state of Georgia, USA.
God Bless America and these United States!
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