A couple days ago, seeing the internet was losing its mind over the Captain America/Hydra reveal, I sought to clear the air for some people by pointing out the motivations of Marvel weren’t what they thought. After seeing so many people claiming that it was a deliberate choice of Anti-Semitism and/or “Jewish Erasure”, I felt like pointing out the business reasons for doing such a thing. It seemed like a good way to talk some rational people down from the ledges. Marvel’s not trying to erase Jewish people, they’re run by an Israeli immigrant named Ike and behind the scenes info says he’s not someone you want to cross. And for the most part I’ve heard it did clear some things up for people who only knew about the situation third-hand.
But along the way I made the not so controversial statement that making the world at large think Captain America was a Nazi was a bad idea. While not angry about it (really more apathetic), most people I know have agreed to the same because… well look at the response. However, some disagreed with this sentiment, saying that this was far from being the first time a superhero has switched sides, and that seeing it as a big deal was silly. And you know what? They’re right, making Cap a villain isn’t a bad idea in itself – and that was part of the point of the blog post in the first place. A good “heel turn” can make a property all the better.
However, hearing one of the points raised by those disagreeing with me, I realize it’s time for some clarification…