In comic book history, the Avengers came together by way of the manipulative machinations of Loki, the trickster of Asgard. Captain America didnt join the team until Issue #4. In cinematic history, Steve Rogers is discovered by SHIELD and groomed for him to become the leader of a super-hero team they were assembling. He becomes the leader of the team by default. However, in either version, Captain America is the indisputable leader of The Avengers. If you want to defeat an organization, you take out its leader. Thats why you dont take Captain America out of the MCU. Captain Americas leadership is an essential and historical feature of the Marvel comic universe and has the exact same value as it does in the cinematic one. The MCU positioned this hero to lead an untested group of metahumans. Captain America is a genuine war hero from the greatest conflict in world history World War Two. He also is possessed of an immutable conscience and sense of what is right, which also makes him the moral lynchpin of the team. Not only is he a natural tactician and battle-hardened warrior, he is also the one that the other characters will look to for guidance and validation. Why? Because this is the only way this character can be written. Steve Rogers is the natural heart of this team, but he is also its head. He doesnt possess overwhelming strength like the Hulk, persuasive influence like Tony Stark; in fact, he doesnt have dramatically visible powers the like the rest of the other heroes. Heck, he doesnt even have the Black Widows sex appeal. But what he does have is judgement and leadership. These are Captain Americas super powers and what the team or the MCU, for that matter, cannot do without. Captain America is an ideal made into ink. In the films, he is made flesh. He represents the best of America what America can live up to and what an American audience wants to see in its heroes. He also represents what the world wants to see in America: someone who is able to use his gifts unselfishly and in service of the world, neither gaining personal reward nor expecting any. This is why Captain America can never be taken out of the MCU. We love to read about heroes but its another thing to see heroes come to life. These characters exist because people read about them and loved them. Some characters though, stand head and shoulders above the others, and these become our favourites for a reason. Maybe you have your own list of essential film characters what are they and why can the Marvel Cinematic Universe not do without them?
John Kirk is a Teacher-Librarian and currently a History/English Teacher with the Toronto District School Board.
But mostly, John teaches Geek.
Comics, Sci-Fi (Notably Star Trek), Fantasy and Role-Playing and table-top games all make up part of John’s repertoire, There is a whole generation of nerds-in-embryo who rely on him to make sense of it all, to teach that with great power comes great responsibility, that the force will be with us always and that a towel IS the most useful thing to have in one’s possession.
When John isn’t in the classroom, he can be found in his basement writing comic reviews for www.popmythology.com and features for Roddenberry Entertainment's www.1701news.com.
