A New Era of Captain America Begins With a Major Change

The opening arc of the current hit Captain America series from Chip Zdarsky and Valerio Schiti, which has released two issues so far (both of which have gone back for second printings after selling out), is set in the past, during a period where Captain America has only just been discovered by the Avengers in a state of suspended animation following a tragic incident during World War II. The central concept of the series is that it is using Marvel's sliding timescale to now have Captain America's return to modern times occur in the 2010s, and so one of the major characters in the series is ANOTHER Super Soldier who was developed by the U.S. Army following 9/11. So the current series follows a "just out of the ice" Captain America desperate to get back to fighting the good fight, and being sent into Latveria, where Doctor Doom has just taken over the country. Do Captain America's World War II-era views still apply for a modern war?

Marvel has just announced that when that opening five-issue arc set in the past is finished, Captain America's series will be returning to the present day, only Cap will find himself in a strange situation where he has to navigate his place in a world where OTHER countries have also developed THEIR equivalents to Captain America over the years!

Who are the other Captains?

In the wake of One World Under Doom's ending, Latveria will be left without a leader. In steps the "United Captains." You see, Captain America isn't the only patriotic Captain out there. Instead, the four other members of the permanent security council of the United Nations (France, England, Russia, and China), will each be sending its own Captain with Captain America to see what is to be done with Latveria post-Doom.

There is the United Kingdom's Captain Kingdom, France's Captain France, Russia's Red Widow, and China's The Star. If you have ever seen The Third Man (about post-World War II Austria, which was split into four quadrants controlled by the United States, England, France, and the Soviet Union), you know what kind of shenanigans can happen when dealing with a destablized country with competing interests, so that is what Captain America is going to have to deal with in this new storyline.

What do writer Chip Zdarsky and artist/designer Valerio Schiti have to say about the new story?

In a Marvel press release, quoting a ComicBook.com interview with Zdarsky, the Captain America writer noted, “I love the idea of “official” super heroes, ones who work within the system. It felt like there would be some sort of United Nations representatives from the Security Council member countries to deal with situations like Latveria. So, the United Captains came from that idea, a team that isn’t a team, that may have their own agendas.”

Schiti, who won't be doing the art for this arc (Frank Alpizar and Delio Diaz will be filling in on art duties), DID design a new version of Captain America's modern costume (as well as the costumes for the other Captains) for the new arc, which Zdarsky revealed on his personal newsletter.

Schiti added, via Marvel press release, “One of the things I like most about my job is designing new characters. It has always been a great hobby of mine, even before becoming a professional! I tried to incorporate some traditional symbols from the countries of origin of the new Captains into their uniforms, which are also practical and suitable for combat.”

Captain America #6 is due out on December 17th.

Source: Marvel