Warning: contains spoilers for United States of Captain America #4!
The new Captain America series has a classic MCU problem that has plagued the previous two Captain America films. The patriotic hero has frequently fought against the enemies of America, and over the years those enemies have been increasingly difficult to identity, causing Captain America to face shades of grey in the United States. However, in United States of Captain America #4, written by Christopher Cantwell with art by Ron Lim, a promising story about the division within America falls by the wayside to make room for the real (and perhaps inevitable) villain: the disembodied spirit of Adolf Hitler.
In United States of Captain America, Steve Rogers’ shield has been stolen and an unknown imposter (later revealed to be Speed Demon) is committing crimes while wearing Captain America’s old costume. To solve the mystery and retrieve his shield, Steve teams up with Sam Wilson and discovers the Captains Network: a group of likeminded Americans who take up the Captain America name to defend their own communities. Eventually Steve, Sam, and the Captains discover that Sin (the Red Skull’s daughter) and Warrior Woman are behind the plot; not only do they plan to kill the members of the Captains Network, they also seek to turn America against itself.
Deep inside NORAD, Sin, Warrior Woman and Speed Demon come across the imprisoned Hate-Monger: the psychic energy of Hitler. They seek to free him so he may preside over a defeated America. “I can easy turn these citizens against their very symbols of liberty,” Warrior Woman reports to Hate-Monger. “I have already made great strides because this nation is sick to its core.” This spanner-in-the-works approach to villains has been tried before in the MCU – and even with the same type of threat – meaning Marvel Comics and the MCU officially have the same villain problem.
In 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Steve Rogers faces a moral dilemma: several of his allies have turned on him and he no longer knows who to trust. Suddenly, uniforms no longer determine allegiance, and Steve is thrust into a world of grey morality – until the film reveals that Hydra had infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. and thus every enemy of Captain America is actually a secret Nazi. The introduction of Hate-Monger means Steve no longer has to wrestle with the complicated legacy and symbolism of Captain America; instead, simply defeating Hitler will end the conflict (0r at least the main threat poised by the villains).
Alexander Pierce and Hate-Monger are two sides of the same coin: a villain introduced two-thirds of the way through the story who is easy to hate and once dispatched, the battle is over. Furthermore, introducing Hate-Monger as the grander-scope villain means Captain America is once again fighting World War II. Captain America is good at fighting Nazis, which is why he should no longer fight them; facing a more morally-nebulous foe is the best way to challenge him as a character.
