Whatever Happened To The Captain America Of Tomorrow?

O Captain! My captain! Rise up and hear the bells. Rise up, for you the flag is flung, for you the bugle trills. For you bouquets and ribboned wreaths, for you, the shores are crowding. For you they call, the swaying masses, their eager faces turning.

My captain does not answer.

Butchered parsing of poetry aside, it’s been many cold long months since the final issue of Captain America: Symbol Of Truth hit stands. Since Sam Wilson’s time as a title-holding Captain America seemingly ended. Sure, he’s still over in Avengers currently (an island of a book continuity timeline-wise), but as far as the Marvel Universe seems concerned Steve Rogers is the lone Captain America.

“Oh, but Scott, there could be plans for Sam as Captain America.”

Yes, dear question-asker, whoever you might be, there might be. You do see what the problem there is, though, right? We’ve heard nothing in five months. We heard about Steve Rogers’s new series, the no subhead Captain America, right away, and here it stands three issues deep already. It does feature Steve as a landlord (who thinks landlords can be good) so things aren’t all roses there.

Also, this is not the first time Marvel has done this to Sam.

Way back in 2014, a true lifetime ago, Steve Rogers had his super soldier serum removed turning him into the old man he should have been (give or take some years). Not being able to run around with the shield or do all that superhero stuff, he turned to the most logical replacement: his longtime partner Sam. If any of this seems somewhat familiar, it’s essentially partially what Avengers: Endgame parroted with the ending that got Sam into the Captain America role.

Sam Wilson was Captain America, holding down a mini-series followed by an ongoing series (after the universe-altering Secret Wars) as well as leading a couple of Avengers teams along the way. Then because it had clearly been too long to let a black man be the Captain, a whole event was concocted to have a sentient Cosmic Cube turn Captain America young again and give him his own title alongside Sam’s (both titles featuring their names). If I was feeling fair, I would concede that it was also the 75th anniversary for Rogers, but I’m not feeling fair.

Long story short, Steve had been turned into a Hydra/Nazi version of himself (though it was said to be he was always a sleeper, cause those in charge decided a lie was the way to go) and shit hit the fan. Sam gave up being Cap, then took it up to beat Steve, gave it up again, ran the Avengers as just Falcon for a few issues (and had a mini) then fell off the face of the Marvel Earth for years. From Captain America to Falcon to character limbo in record time really.

So, you can kind of see why I’m very pissed and skeptical as it happens to Sam again. It took till 2022 for us to see Sam retake the shield to stand alongside Steve as dual Captain Americas. Thanks to what Tochi Onyebuchi, Jackson Lanzing, and Collin Kelly did alongside their various artistic comrades, we had Sam being the type of Captain America more representative of modern times.

Now though we’re back to the status quo, with Sam basically nowhere to be found. It’s beyond frustrating. It furthers the sadly all but proven reality that Marvel, DC, and much of the industry use “diversity” and “representation” like a mix-and-match sales tactic. Some characters get the continued boost, but generally, only those that were established long ago, don’t infringe upon the typical white male heroes or hit it so big outside comics they would be dumb to minimize them.

I know what you’re thinking, Sam very much fits into that first qualifier. You would be right, except that he was established long ago as the partner/sidekick/ancillary character and his being Captain America “infringes” upon the established whiter-than-white male hero. Bucky can take Steve’s place for far longer because, well it’s a fellow long-time white male. Sure, he was the original sidekick, but white male character sidekicks and side characters have an instant boost if they want to go right into being the main hero.

A whole “pass Go and collect all the $200, again and again, if you want it” card, if you will.

The fact that Marvel ended Sam’s book and has nothing to say about his future says everything. They let him have the shield again because there happened to be a recent show about him being Captain America on Disney+ and one thing Marvel loves beyond all else is corporate synergy. It’s one-way synergy though because the movies/shows don’t give a flying flip what the comics are doing outside of mining them for ideas and new IP to adapt.

There is a fourth Captain America film on the way, with Sam as the lead. No doubt we’ll get some miniseries or one-shot with him in the role to match up. Hell, they might even give us another ongoing, whatever that means in cancel-happy modern Marvel times, for the hell of it.

None of that changes what they have done and will continue to do to Sam, stripping away a character upgrade that speaks to many fans, both current and future. It’s not just Sam though. He’s just one example of what is done regularly to so many characters who represent real-life marginalized groups.

Look, is America a place as a whole that is great for marginalized people? If you can’t hear it, I’m laughing loudly right now as I also seethe with a bit of rage. Representing America isn’t the greatest thing, but seeing someone more like yourself in looks and origins donning an iconic visage transcends that sometimes. It reminds us that truly anyone can “wear the mask” and, when done right, allows for different voices and viewpoints to be heard. Captain America: Symbol Of Truth was Sam Wilson as Captain America done right.

So, here we are. The calendar moves ever closer to six months. A long six months since Sam Wilson was summarily shoved partially back into character limbo. Essentially stripped of his place and his standing. Not to be mentioned by his supposed best friend and partner, who is too busy playing landlord.

For a brief shining moment, Sam Wilson was Captain America again, and it was good. Comics, they’ll lift you up, before letting you plummet back to Earth face first. Maybe it’s time we gained wings of our own and kept on flying higher, leaving them stuck in the same broken cycle.

Like Sam Wilson, it’s time for us to soar.