Captain Americas.. a Nazi?

[Hijiri Byakuren]

RWBY is fanbased

RWBY is fucking amazing.

[Hakurei Reimu]

For those of you seeking an update, I've read issue #2.  The "hail hydra" moment wasn't like it appears.  The Cap we know and love hasn't been ruined forever.

[spoiler]Cap is being manipulated by a sentient, humanoid cosmic cube controlled by Red Skull.  Cap is acting the way he is because of false memories.

So those of us who said it was definitely some form of brainwashing (me) are absolutely correct.  And those of you who knee-jerked about this apparent outrage before waiting to see how the story would play out should feel bad.[/spoiler]

Jesus, if you're going to be playing with a character like that, at least be clever about it. This... is not clever. I think I've seen this exact plot maybe four times before, that few because I put a pretty stringent filter on such things.

[Munch]

Jesus, if you're going to be playing with a character like that, at least be clever about it. This... is not clever. I think I've seen this exact plot maybe four times before, that few because I put a pretty stringent filter on such things.

its just the fact that people said it would be one thing, the writer saying 'nah, it isn't, really is isn't', and one issue later, it turns out to be just that. Thats just awful writing and dedication, making fan fiction works look more involved.

[Hydra009]

Technically, he's right it's the real steve and it's not exactly mind control.  But there's little practical difference between taking control of someone's mind, forcing them to do something they wouldn't ordinarily do and giving someone false memories, causing them to do something they wouldn't ordinarily do.

So yes, it was a trick.  Of course was a trick.  Because it's always some kind of trick.  It's not going to be a completely genuine sieg heil because that doesn't match the status quo.  The status quo is god in comics. That's why I came down hard on the people freaking out about this, apparently not realizing it was a trick.  They freaked out over nothing.  And the writer allegedly got death threats over what was ultimately just a hackneyed plot twist.

[Munch]

Well fact of the matter is, since red skull has both charles xaviers brain and the cosmic cube, he can easily plant false memories into peoples minds, which is a form of mind control.

[Hydra009]

"So what I told you was true, from a certain point of view." - Obi Wan  :P

But yeah, it's essentially mind control.  The writer arguing otherwise was just splitting hairs.  He clearly delivered a pretty weak twist, made all the more disappointing because of the outrage the story received at the onset.

But I'm still outraged by the outrage.  It just really bothers me to see the torches and pitchforks come out mid-story and at the drop of a hat.  That's not to say no one can have a critical opinion or give critical feedback, because of course they can.  But from some of the tweets and articles about this, you'd think Nick Spenser flew the nazi flag over Joe Simon and Jack Kirby's graves and pissed on them for good measure.  It's just such a huge overreaction.

I don't want this kind of thing to become a trend - with writers walking on eggshells because of the threat of internet blowback.  Again, this isn't to say they can do no wrong, because clearly they can.  But let's just wait to see how it'll play out and not jump the gun.  Also, we can come up with more measured feedback than this.

[Hakurei Reimu]

We know that Jenny Walters isn't going to permanently lose the power of the She-Hulk, 'cuz the comic she's in is called Sensational She-Hulk â€" the title character is not going to permanently lose their hero status, for whatever reason. Captain America was eventually going to become a hero again, either because Steve Rodgers would be 'retired' and replaced with someone who is not Hydra, or he somehow regains his sanity and returns to being the ass-kicking boy scout we know and love. The status quo is not the problem; it's finding interesting ways to return to that status quo that's the problem.

I say again, Steve Rodgers being a Hydra sleeper agent all along would be an interesting story, if only the writers would find an interesting way to pull it off without cheap tricks. And this is what this is, a cheap trick. It's ham-fisted mind controlled nonsense that we've seen dozens of times before in some form, in Captain America, even. If Nick Spencer found a way to make a Hydra Sleeper Agent Captain America work as an entire story, it could have been a career-defining arc that would have guaranteed lifetime lovers of his future work. As such, he's just going to be one of those mediocre writers we've been getting as late. Disappointing. I still wait for the next Alan Moore.