The Death of America Herself...
After 66 years, Marvel has decided to lay to rest one of the most endearing symbols in all of comicdom by taking out Captain America. And I can't help but wonder if, in the end, it isn't just another symbol of the United States' slow descent towards the way of the Roman Empire.
NOTE: All non-comic book fans (closeted or otherwise) take heed: there's a lot of unapologetic geekiness about to be espoused (I think this may leave only Lynne to enjoy the exposition). But I'll get to my point sooner than you know it.
Captain America was unique among the realm of comic book characters not only for his longevity, but the fact that his character stayed exactly the same throughout the entire run of this publication without getting stale. To examine it is to understand why.
Among the Marvel universe, Captain America wasn't particularly special. He had no superhuman powers, he could get sick and injured just like any other man, and wore the single most conspicuous costume this side of Liberace. The Super Soldier Serum he took to become a viable candidate for service in World War II merely increased his size, strength, speed, and agility to the peak of human conditioning, levels he had to train religiously in order to maintain. And that is where his effectiveness always shone through.
Captain America's most valuable asset was as a symbol. He represented the very embodiment of devotion: to himself, God, and his country. He was the Nietzschean ideal of a man all wrapped up in the Stars and Stripes. In all of comicdom, there is no figure that inspires more awe and reverence among their peers. Captain America could inspire any living being with even a smidgen of goodness inside them to do just about anything. He led a strike force of all of Marvel's heroes against Thanos (who had attained power over all the forces of the universe) in the Infinity Gauntlet saga and came within a hairsbreadth of beating him. Thor, the freaking Norse god of thunder, deferred to his every order in the field. Throughout almost seven decades of plot contrivances, megalomaniacal villains, and universe-threatening crises, there was never a situation that was hopeless when Captain America was on your side.
And perhaps that is the exact reason why he had to die. Captain America represented unwavering truth and righteousness and a belief that with enough goodness in the world, everything would work out for the best. These ideals are completely lost on the 21st century and its moral equivalency, jadedness, and acceptance of social ills as a part of life. This was not Captain America, and it was never going to be. If he compromised even one of his values just once, he wouldn't really be Captain America anymore. His belief in defending traditional American values was so strong that he was willing to stand against the entire country when it went against them in the Civil War crossover. Nowadays, no one takes stands like that on principle anymore. All people do is compromise because they think that's how things get done.
So, Captain America became a quaint relic, admired but dismissed as passe. Look how he was killed off: not in some grand epic battle with a supervillain, but quietly, from the shadows, from the distance, by a bullet from a sniper. Almost like the Greatest Generation quietly fading away into obscurity while the Baby Boomers perpare to flop themselves onto the public dole and become the the same loud, cranky, self-centered bunch they are now, but with the added benefit of Social Security cards. And it's a shame, too. If there were ever a time the real world could use someone like Captain America, a shot in the arm of old-fashioned concepts of truth, liberty, and the will to combat evil when it arises to take you on, it most certainly is now.