Marvel’s most hated (and controversial) Captain America could have been much better received by implementing one simple change.
Secret Empire (by Nick Spencer, Rod Reis, Daniel Acuña, Steve McNiven, Andrea Sorrentino, and VC’s Travis Lanham) was a 2017 Marvel crossover that had a lot of potential. Briefly restructuring the Marvel Universe into a setting controlled by a villainous take on Captain America, the story had some theoretically great concepts and thematic elements worth exploring. But the story’s focus failed to delve truly into these elements, getting lost in the more bombastic aspects of the story.
The problem is, this left Secret Empire feeling less compelling than it should have. In fact, two of the comics that heavily tied into the event focusing on Captain America: Sam Wilson and Deadpool featured character-driven explorations of the premise that worked well. Secret Empire as a whole would have been improved if it had actually focused primarily on those two characters.
Secret Empire‘s Corruption of Captain America Was Not Well-Received
At the heart of Secret Empire is an inherently explosive concept: with the help of a living Cosmic Cube named Kobik, Hydra has been able to retroactively transform Captain America into its most effective sleeper agent. After sowing the seeds of discord among the hero community, the villainous Steve Rogers leads a regime change in the United States that emboldens Hydra. It’s a wild swing, and one that from the on-set wasn’t likely meant to be permanent. There was potential for something fascinating there in an exploration of tainted legacies and the struggle of elevating anything good from something that had been corrupted.
The problem is, those themes weren’t nearly as important in the actual Secret Empire storyline. The core-Secret Empire series was quickly lost in the overarching effects of the event, and kept focus largely on the Avengers and the corrupted Steve Rogers. These parts of the story indulged in the sheer absurdity of the concept, highlighting what a villainous Hydra-style Avengers would be like without properly wrestling with the effect it would have on the characters. The internal conflicts between the heroes are largely predicated on previous events like Civil War and Civil War II instead of the story happening around it. Instead, the more complex character work involved in the story was driving both Sam Wilson and Wade Wilson’s tie-ins — which should have been the central plot-line.
Deadpool and the Falcon Could Have Saved Secret Empire
Captain America: Sam Wilson #22-25 (by Nick Spencer, Sean Izaakse, Nolan Woodard, Joe Bennett, Joe Pimentel, Matt Yackey, Jesus Saiz, Rachelle Rosenberg, and VC’s Joe Caramagna) built off of Sam’s decision to step back from the role of Captain America and his attempts to wrestle with the power the identity could still hold. Working underground with other heroes like Misty Knight and Patriot, it was a compelling exploration of someone who wants to fight what the system has become, but has to come to grips with the legacy he’s embodying in the process. It’s an interesting exploration of the character’s internal exploration of the legacy of the Captain America identity, and what it could mean.
Deadpool #31–35 (by Gerry Duggan, Matteo Lolli, Mike Hawthorne, Christian Dalla Vecchia, Terry Pallot, Ruth Redmond, and Joe Sabino) explored the conflict from the other side, focusing on Deadpool’s initial acceptance of this new world order. Having been increasingly accepted by Captain America and the Avengers, Wade Wilson struggles to continue justifying his role in this dark new world. It’s a fascinating exploration of the banal evil that can propel good people to accept wanton cruelty, and the story’s dark ending refuses to let a complex arc close out on a happy ending.
Both Sam Wilson and Wade Wilson provide unique and complex perspectives in Secret Empire, challenging the people they’ve become and forcing them to step up in unique ways. These two perspectives on a villainous Captain America — and their eventual decisions to stand up against him, could have easily been the strong character-driven heart of Secret Empire. It could have made the story more of a thriller, juxtaposing their changing views of what the world is and what it should be. There’s a great story in the DNA of Secret Empire, the problem is that the main series wasn’t necessarily focused on it.
