The Super Soldier is no more. Captain America just died in the most heart wrenching and emotional comic book deaths ever. And he did that to save the future of the Marvel Universe.
Spoiler Alert: The following Paragraphs contain Major Spoilers for Captain America #700. Proceed with caution….
Captain America #700 brings us some extremely saddening news. The Death of Steve Rogers is here. Comic book deaths have lost all meaning in the comic books but trust us when we say this, this death will most likely stay permanent. Steve Rogers has traveled to the future where he sees a bleak future with no hope. And he decides to sacrifice his life for the betterment of others, hoping that his death would inspire others to change the currently dark world into a new, brighter one.
Captain America’s death doesn’t mean he died in the mainstream continuity. His death would pave way for his current self to keep doing the superhero work. But what it ensured is that Captain America’s fate has been written in stone. In the future (which the comics are based on), Cap will die in the most heroic and noble way possible.
This is one of those times when Marvel finally decides to finally have the comic reader and fandom the permanency they deserve, the entire rampart arc seems to be about the permanency of actions. It can be seen in the art and the style of the story. The tone of this new America that Steve wakes up is of desperation and monotony. People who took certain actions in the present and never fully understood the consequences of these actions understand what they did and must live with their actions.
This is one of those rare times when the writers use the concept of time travels to actually have an intelligent conversation with the reader. When Steve is presented with the idea of going back in time by Bruce Banner, he initially rejects it because Captain America believes that time travel might not be the solution to their problem. That if he does choose to go back in time he might not save lives here and now and just create an alternate timeline.
The thought horrifies Captain America, he contends that hypotheticals lose to realities. This is something that is considered rather meta. Steve’s monologue comments on the treatment if time travels throughout the entirety of media. This is perhaps the only instance where a character recognizes the shortcomings of his science fiction-y actions, although it does not matter as the Captain does end up time traveling.
Let us see how the story of his death unravels….
Cap travels to the Future USA
Captain America battles a new evil organization called Rampart in the Marvel Comic books. Rampart is a neo capitalist organization that wants to reverse the American dream. Rampart aims to give more power to the powerful and make the weak weaker, the polar opposite of everything Captain America stands and fights for. Rampart has managed to freeze Captain America, triggered a nuclear civil war and replaced most of America’s leadership with evil villains. Cap wakes up and leads the mutated survivors who have just crowned him the king of the Free World.
Bruce Banner’s Master Plan to save America
Captain America leads an army deadlocked from all sides with enemies that aim to conquer their land. Rampart is gone but there now exist a power vacuum that the invaders want to exploit. Captain America aims to free the free world once and for all but he meets extreme resistance, both from new players and the existing Rampart remnant forces.
The fall of Babbington has prompted the common folk to crown Steve Rogers as their king. Who better to lead the most powerful nation in the world than the man who fought to free it. The captain vehemently fights off Invaders and informs them that America is under his protection. But the entire situation is way worse than is readily apparent.
The power vacuum created by the fall of King Babbington has tempted every nation in the world to seize control of the United States. This fact is amplified by the fact that Steve would never honor any back-channel deals that his corrupt and overtly selfish predecessor made. Every nation in the world is after America and she cowers behind Steve Rogers. The mascot has become the protector but he outgunned and out-maneuvered. Steven knows how to lead armies but he does not know how to ask men to fight on empty stomachs.
He fights at a disadvantage in a country recovering from a civil war that almost wiped half of its population, not to mention the looming threat of nuclear destruction. Bruce Banner has rebuilt Reed Richards’ Time Machine and proposes to send Cap back to the modern timeline before Cap was too broken to be saved and Rampart launched its nuclear offensive on the USA.
Cap refuses at first, believing him changing history will still leave this future timeline as an alternate one but when days turn to months and later years, Cap agrees, realizing that there is no other option.
It’s a futile fight, one that he is destined to lose. The comrades he fights with, die every day. Every day their numbers dwindle. And yet the captain fights the good fight. He prioritizes the safety and contentment of the citizens and he tries his best to keep on fighting in any way he can. But everything is not well, the captain stretches himself too thin. Even Steve Rogers can’t do everything.
And then the unthinkable happens. The man who America chose to keep her safe watches in horror as New York goes up in flames right in front of his eyes. Captain heads back to his war base to convene with the banner. He has lost and he’s tired. It can’t be done. He’s tried for years but it can’t be done. The problem must be ripped from its source, root, and stem.
The Captain must take Banner’s hail Mary and choose to rely on hypotheticals if he must. There shall be no more death. No more loss of life because of one man’s inability to take the necessary action. This is what drives Captain America as he leaped through time to the past where he must sacrifice himself to save the future.
Captain America travels back in time to his own death. Quite ironical considering the story’s stand on ontological time paradoxes and their consequences on timelines and how in hindsight it makes the writers look like bigots. Be that as it may, this is still the Death of Captain America.
Captain America makes a faulty time jump
The original plan was to let Cap travel back in time to one week before the events he intends to stop begin. Bruce Banner mistakenly sent him to just ten minutes before those events began. Fortunately, he manages to defeat the off-guard soldiers right after they freeze that timeline’s Captain America and even manages to make it to King Maximillian Babbington, the leader of Rampart. He fails to stop Babbington from stopping the nuke so he decides to take it upon himself to stop Rampart from destroying the world.
The Death of Captain America
Captain America literally leaps to his death. Superman stopping a nuke that has already been launched might sound like daily news but this is Captain America, with all his abilities he is still human and hence, killable. Captain jumps to the missile after it has been set to launch.
He aims to fry or rip out altogether the guidance chip of the missile without which it will explode then and there. The artwork from Samnee and Wilson is on point. He dies while trying to stop the nuke, engulfed in the heat and flame of the resulting explosion and taking Babbington along with him.
The current frozen Captain America thaws out sometime later to wake up in a future without Rampart (since its leadership is dead, Rampart is no more). The Present Captain America continues his adventure in a future free of evil, unbeknownst to everyone including himself of the fact that it was his own sacrifice that saved it. Steve Rogers, the Unsung Hero.
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