It’s been announced that Captain America is coming back. For a while, the former sidekick of the original Cap, Bucky Barnes, has been wearing the blue and wielding the shield, carrying on Cap’s legacy the best way he knows how. It’s meant carrying a gun, because that’s how he operates, but he’s still standing up for what’s right, which includes having the Avengers stay at his house during the Dark Reign event.
There’s something wholesome about Steve Rogers. The original Captain America might have been everything the misguided Nazi geneticists wanted – tall, muscular, blonde haired & blue eyes – but he always stood up for what he felt was right. And of course, you can’t argue with the unbridled heroism of a guy armed only with a vibranium-alloy shield wading into automatic gunfire to punch Hitler right in his smug little mustache. Whatever contrived notion the guys at Marvel have for bringing him back from beyond the grave, considering this is mainstream Marvel and not Marvel Zombies, I think it’ll be good to have him among the Avengers again.
The question that comes to my mind, however, is where does Bucky go from here? He’s been feeling quite a bit of pressure in carrying Cap’s legacy, so I’m sure he’ll be relieved to hand the shield back to its rightful owner. But will he return to being the Winter Warrior? Or will he adopt some sort of new persona? And will he remain with the Avengers or strike out on his own once again? I think it will be interesting to see whichever way it goes.
Captain America isn’t one of my regular titles – I keep up with Invincible Iron Man, Guardians of the Galaxy, both regular Avengers titles and Deadpool – but I’m curious to see just how Steve manages to battle his way back from the afterlife. And if he has any stories of beating up Nazis there.
