Marvel’s current run of Captain America has caught my eye for a number of reasons. One is that I really like the character: a scrawny kid from Brooklyn whose scruples and loyalty follow him into adulthood and end up being the reason he’s chosen to become a super soldier. There’s something to say for that, that the ideal of male perfection isn’t about physicality, but personality, and that the physical can be manipulated, anyway; and more importantly, Steve Rogers learns his value before he becomes the piece of physical perfection that is Captain America.
Captain America’s Shield
What defines Steve’s masculinity is not his physical appearance, but rather the events of his childhood which shaped him. Namely, Steve spent his formative years in a household filled with domestic violence, and he learned how to “be a man” from his mother, who told him to “always stand up,” and not from his father, who spent a majority of his time inebriated and abusive. We get glimpses of Steve’s childhood throughout the comics and see a boy who never ran from a fight and always stood up for his friends, even when he knew the odds were completely against him. He steals money and medicine from a pharmacy in order to help his dying mother and, when his mother gently tells him never to let his circumstances change him into a bad man, admits his crime to the owner and works off the debt he’s accrued.
From what I understand of the mythos behind Captain America, the super soldier serum was supposed to enhance all of Steve’s traits, not just the physical and not just the good. The fact that Steve Rogers is essentially a buff version of a bullied kid after the serum is kind of amazing; he could now have literally any woman he wants, he could beat the daylights out of practically anyone, and he could really be a complete jerk if he wanted to with little ramifications.
But he doesn’t do that. That isn’t what we see. Instead, we see a man who is frustrated with the fact that evil continues to exist. He refuses to back down and does what is right. He always stands up, no matter the cost.
Is Steve Rogers supposed to be the comic book version of prince charming? Furthermore, could any man actually be Captain America, theoretically speaking? It would be very interesting to see a study done on women’s views of comic book heroes. Are more women drawn to Captain America or Wolverine? Do they go for the good guy or the bad guy (or at least morally ambiguous guy)? Do more women want to be like Kitty Pryde or Harley Quinn? And what do the answers to these questions tell us about the definition of masculinity in modern culture?
What’s more masculine: the good man who does good deeds, the morally ambiguous man who sometimes does what’s right and sometimes doesn’t, or the bad man who does mostly bad deeds with no concern for his fellow humanity?
What do you think?
