The movie adaptation of The Winter Soldier isn't the first time Cap has snuck a sly look at the contemporary political landscape into one of his superheroic adventures. During Ed Brubaker and Luke Ross's Two Americas arc, where Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson (better known as The Falcon) track down a far-right anti-government group, the pair stumble across a protest march. They're a fairly unmistakable bunch, too, with placards lambasting rising taxes and socialism. Just in case you didn't quite get it, though, the comic handily includes a sign reading "TEA BAG THE LIBERALS BEFORE THEY TEA BAG YOU!" amongst the crowd. That caused a fair bit of outcry from the real-life Tea Party group, a political movement centred around...well, protesting rising taxes and the perceived rise of socialism in the US. A conservative blogger complained that Marvel were "making patriotic Americans into your newest super villains", the remarkably even-handed Fox News picked the story up, it was a whole thing. Writer Brubaker claimed that the sign's message was not his doing, and had been added in during either the lettering or editing process. Regardless of who did the deed, the placard was changed in all future reprints of the issue, and the trade paperback collection. Not that the scene was particularly sympathetic to Tea Party-types anyway, with Cap snorting derisively at their "anti-tax march" and The Falcon implying they were racist. Typical liberal media.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
