Meet The 'Anti-Captain America' of Marvel's Universe

When Captain America was created, he was thought to be the first in an army of super soldiers, but when his creator Dr. Erskine died, Steve Rogers became one in a million. Although Steve Rogers was only one of Marvel's many experimental super soldiers, this did not stop various government organizations from attempting to create their own "Captain America."

A majority of them ended in disaster, resulting in death, dismemberment, and the occasional creation of a future superhero or supervillain. The government agent called 'Anti-Cap' was one such creature--a failed super soldier whose powers, as well as alarming mental, state proved him to be a threat to anybody who got in his way.

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Created by Christopher Priest and Bart Sears, the soldier later called Anti-Cap debuted in Captain America and the Falcon #1 (2004), with his limited origin story revealed in scattered flashbacks through the following four issues. Although readers never learned his true name, the man who would become Anti-Cap was once a scrawny Oklahoma boy in love. Unfortunately, his girlfriend and her father were killed in the infamous Oklahoma City bombings, setting the grieving youngster on a path toward fighting those who could commit such horrible acts. Years later he completes his BUD/S training to become a SEAL, but he is denied team assignment due to red flags in his psychological profile (a scene that brings to mind Steve Rogers' failed attempts to enlist). Back to being a citizen, the young man is approached by suit-and-tie government agents who have a... different idea of how he can serve his country.

Tired of failed experiments, the Navy decides to go a different direction with their super soldier by using the experimental drug AVX (Acetovaxidol), loosely based on the same drugs that give Luke Cage his powers. Using a neural net processor that was grafted to the young man's spine, the organization determines controlled dosages of the drug will enhance his muscles, pain tolerance, healing, and reflexes. Unfortunately, early trials of the drug show no side effects, leading them to determine the experiment is a failure, until his transformation is triggered by a deliberate near-death experience. Within minutes, he transforms into a muscle bound soldier committed to protecting America from all those he perceives as threats, both domestic and international. America is at war, and he is ready to fight.

Unfortunately, the repeated dosages of AVX only further his mental issues and his commitment to fighting the current war against America. After killing the admiral in charge of the project, the soldier goes rogue, alerting the attention of S.H.I.E.L.D. (who orchestrated events that sent Captain America and Falcon on his trail). Dressing up in a Captain America costume complete with shield, Anti-Cap kills members of the Cuban drug organization known as the Rivas, as well as U.S. soldiers in his pursuit of a dangerous new bio-weapon. He saves the Falcon from the Rivas only to kidnap and attempt to uncover information about the members of the U.S. government that were working and protecting them. When Steve Rogers arrives to locate his missing partner and recover the weapon, this puts him on a collision course with Anti-Cap, whom he stops from pummeling Sam Wilson to death.

Despite his lack of training and mediocre weapons, Anti-Cap's strength, speed and reflexes enable him to stand toe-to-toe with Captain America, as he raves about becoming addicted to the symbolism of Steve's uniform, the necessity of his existence, and how he could continue to fight his war, with or without Steve's approval. This "Captain America of Fear" is undone when Sam and Steve discover the AVX patch on his body (needed to constantly reapply after he sweats out each dosage). Once removed, he would lose his powers and revert to a somewhat normal status, but his body would go through an intense withdrawal with the likely chance of death. Realizing the rogue soldier's existence would be removed and silenced to protect those who approved of the project, Sam and Steve keep Anti-Cap hidden as an unwilling prisoner, as they conduct an investigation of their own.

As Captain America and Falcon became targets due to their refusal to hand over Anti-Cap to the government, they also had to deal with Anti-Cap's withdrawal from AVX which required Steve to call in a favor or two to synthesize a replacement that would keep Anti-Cap alive. The AVX substitute failed and Anti-Cap died although his death would prove to be a ruse as he was revived and re-powered by Sam Wilson (whose strange behavior had been noticed and questioned by his allies) in hopes of clearing Sam's name and exposing a bigger conspiracy between the government and organized crime syndicates. When the Falcon went missing, a previously hospitalized Captain America search for his missing partner ended with another brutal battle with Anti-Cap that started on rooftops and ended underground. When Steve crushed his AVX patch and his superpowers diminished, Anti-Cap chose to commit suicide by allowing himself to be hit by an incoming subway train before Captain America's eyes.

Although he wasn't the first, Anti-Cap remains one of the darkest examples of the quest to develop some of the Marvel universe's ultimate weapons (and the lives wasted in the pursuit). Despite his powers, Anti-Cap's mental issues and dependency on AVX make him nothing more than an unstable super-monster, who doesn't actually care about the rules broken, or the lives lost at his hands in his commitment to fighting a grand war.

Although he admits to admiring Steve Rogers, Anti-Cap considers himself to be the modern day Captain America: unafraid to do what's needed to win. His obsession with winning the war, plus the small yet tragic details of his backstory make him a dark and dangerous re-interpretation of patriotism, and how easily national pride can lead to fascism under the wrong circumstances. All that mattered to Anti-Cap was winning the war... if he had to kill Captain America or the Falcon to do that, he would. Not exactly the kind of legacy Steve Rogers had intended to leave behind, and certainly not the last imitation Captain America to misunderstand the Marvel icon.

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July 20, 2020 at 04:23AM