Captain America #17: The Decline of Western Civilization

First, Coates took Steve Rogers down to the studs. Stripped him of his mantle and position in order to re-examine his place in the modern world. Now, with “The Legend of Steve”, Coates is taking a hard look at what that world really looks like, beneath the 21^st century sheen and digital camouflage. Toni talks about living in the world of the Web 3.0 as being a world of “when, not if”. The unfettered access to information (and misinformation) is staggering in this world. There are no secret missions behind enemy lines. Need to know is often trumped by desire to know, by any means necessary.

As we pour through the headlines, we are inundated by cases of human trafficking, child abductions, mass shootings, and yes, police brutality. As Cap sees the infiltration of the Watchdogs into the New York City police force, the magnifying glass falls on the proliferation of news articles outlining police aggression. When confronted with the rising statistics of such cases, some respond that “these things have always happened but now we hear about it more often”. Perhaps. It isn’t unprecedented by a long shot in the country’s history for extremists to infiltrate law enforcement.

What emerges in this narrative is an interesting polemic between “what we have been” and “what we are”—perhaps a false dichotomy, even, to assume that those are truly two different states. Perhaps not. But the question that will presumably be resolved at the completion of this story/run is whether or not Captain America has a place in this new, modern nation, and if the resurrection of classic Captain America villains from other eras is any indication, perhaps we’re seeing that the world hasn’t quite changed as much as we have been led to believe?