Captain America Kicked to the Curb for Diversity Points

This may be a storyline set in an alternate future, but according to this Superhero Hype/Yahoo article, another leftist political metaphor has been turned out by Marvel:

Thus far, the Marvel Comics event Age of Revelation has been largely focused on the X-Men. However, with the United States partially conquered by Mutant separatists, one natural question is what happened to Captain America in this future. The answer lies in a new miniseries, which reveals one Mutant hero has taken up Steve Rogers‘ shield and the task of leading The Avengers.

Written by Jason Loo, with art by Sergio Davila, X-Vengers #1 centers around a new team in the Age of Revelation. As the name suggests, it is made up of former Avengers and X-Men. However, the team line-up is not the only thing that has changed.

All of the Avengers turned X-Vengers were mutated by the X-Virus, which bestows superpowers on those who survive the initial infection. Hawkeye, for instance, grew four extra arms, while Black Widow became a woman made of living water. Steve Rogers, sadly, died in the aftermath of the X-Virus release. However, before he died, he passed on his shield and title to a hero he saw as a worthy successor.

Who is the new Captain America leading the future Avengers?

A flashback reveals that Steve Rogers gave the title of Captain America to former X-Men member Dani Moonstar, aka Mirage. Apparently Moonstar was the only hero present when he made his last stand. Despite this, nobody among the Avengers doubted her word when she said Steve Rogers gave her his shield.

Unfortunately, some Americans were less accepting of Moonstar’s taking the mantle than the former Avengers. However, following an altercation at a memorial for the victims of the X-Virus, the rest of the team are quick to assure her that she is doing Steve Rogers proud. Not only in leading the team in battle but also in giving inspirational speeches whenever one is needed.

Previously, when Steve was marginalized as part of woke diversity pandering, it was for the sake of putting a black man in the Cap costume, despite Sam Wilson have flight powers and going by the codename Falcon. Now, after it became clear that wasn’t working, so they concoct a story where a woman takes up Cap’s mantle. This despite how even Moonstar’s powers are hardly a good fit for how Kirby and Simon created Cap for in the Golden Age, which was an acrobatic fighter, but hardly somebody with more elaborate superpowers like Dani’s or Falcon’s. And then, they make “some” Americans look like they’re hostile to the whole idea of a women or an Indian descendant taking up the role, and the writers continue to obscure pressing issues in real life that could make far better metaphors than this.

ComicBook also sugarcoated the story, and exploited it for the sake of making the USA look totally evil in how it approached Indian inhabitants:

Over the years, we’ve gotten numerous Captain Americas, but there’s something about Dani Moonstar that just feels right in the role. To begin with, she’s Cheyenne, which makes her more American than basically anyone else who has used the shield. The United States’ history with the various Native tribes is monstrous, despite them just wanting to live their lives the way they always had. Giving a Native the shield is something very special, and Dani is the perfect person for it.

This of course ignores that even Indian citizens of the past didn’t have a clean record when it came to issues like slavery, and what proof do they have that the USA was inherently evil towards the Indian inhabitants? Wasn’t the Dakota War of 1862 a disturbing moment begun by Indian tribes like the Sioux? Sure, there were other tribes like the Apache who may have been decent, if not perfect, but none were saints any more than the white descendants of Europe who populated north America.

Dani has always been a great hero, but has never really been allowed to grow to the level she should be at. This is a common problem with the New Mutants. Nearly every member of that team has basically stayed static for years, despite the best of them being some of the coolest mutants around. Dani was always positioned as the best member of the team, and could have easily become the next Cyclops. However, she always seems to be an afterthought, which is why it’s so great that X-Vengers shows that Cap believed in her. Dani has always deserved better, and hopefully this will be the first step that will lead her to stardom.

Well I’m sorry, but all this doesn’t make for a talented story, and the political structure this one’s built upon only ruins everything. Even if this story’s an alternate reality setting, that doesn’t excuse the political biases, and Marvel’s continued obsession with far-left propagandizing isn’t salvaging their comics franchises at all. Dani Moonstar may deserve better, but so too does Steve Rogers, and even Sam Wilson. If they’re not willing to craft a story that doesn’t rely on the cheapest of modern political cliches, that’s but one reason why this story also rings very hollow.

Originally published here