Captain America And Winter Soldier Killed Japanese Soldiers:
Captain America has always been seen as the pillar of hope and liberty in the Comic Book World. Even in popular pop culture, Captain America is known for his iron-clad ideas that will never waver down in the face of insurmountable odds. He is a warrior of the right that challenges the might for a fight. That is how the modern incarnation of Captain America has been portrayed in the eyes of the public.
Did you know that Steve Rogers was not always like this? That he was once a mass-murdering bigot that would do anything, which also includes killing millions of people who are just doing their job if that is what it means to protect the “American Dream”?
Captain America was created to be a stalwart of the free world. His original role was to entice the young readers with the notion of democracy and freedom and to rally the future generation against the Axis powers. Joe Simon and Jack Kirby wanted Captain America to be the voice of the people. But the creators seldom have any creative control over a character once they are shifted to do some other project.
Once Kirby was reassigned to pen and create another story arc, Captain America’s legacy fell to the dogs in the heat of World War Two. He was made to look like a tyrant in blue, white, and red. He would become Marvel’s fictional agent of death and he would kill and maim his enemies, something Kirby and Simon did not want Cap to become.
But it was Captain America’s brush with the Imperial Japanese Army that actually made him even worse, a feat that was not thought to be possible before. The comic books featuring Captain America fighting the Japanese portrayed the Empire’s forces as savages with pointy heads and completely sub-human. The Japanese were made to look like the laughing stock of the whole world.
To put the icing on the cake, Marvel ensured that Captain America had a lot of Japanese blood on his hands. Mass murder and genocide are what sold during that time and Marvel utilized it to the fullest. Take for example this 1944 Captain America comic book which states the story of how Captain America and Bucky Barnes aka the Winter Soldier, took down millions of Japanese soldiers and the readers hailed them for it. The 1944 comic book issue is extremely racist and uses several offensive stereotypes and caricatures. Artist Vince Alascia was one of the few good men in the drawers’ panel in Marvel comics so he ensured that the racist slurs were used judiciously. It still is inexcusable though.
The story begins with a group of Chinese spies discovering secret plans of Japan to launch a full-scale invasion of the United States of America. Captain America and Bucky are the first ones on the scene and they personally request General McArthur to grant them permission to leave for Tokyo, the capital of Japan. The duo is captured soon but then the Japanese reveal their plans to them – One million Japanese soldiers are about to land on the United States and launch a land invasion of the West Coast of America.
Captain America and Bucky escape to realize that the Japanese have made huge tunnels with high-speed transport to lead them to American lands. So Captain America and Bucky do what they do best – hijack a plane, load it with explosives up to the teeth, and destroy the tunnel with the million-strong Japanese army still inside.
Captain America and Bucky then decide to return to camp. The thing that worries them is not the fact that they have the blood of hundreds of thousands of people in their hands. It is the fact that their Sergeant might punish them for leaving their post and force them to peel potatoes!! And people say Hitler was heartless. Captain America and Bucky Barnes is no stranger to mass murder either. My god what a strange time to have been a comic book fan!
