Captain America's New Look Is Already Begging for Online Backlash
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Published Jul 15, 2026, 11:12 AM EDT
Patrik Walker is an Emmy Award–winning writer who covers all things Comics & Superheroes. His work can also be found at the Dallas Cowboys, The Sporting News, and CBS Sports, among other outlets. One of the most respected names in his field, he is also a diehard enthusiast of all things comics, anime, gaming and movies — thriving in spaces where discussions involving those or similar topics reign supreme.
Um ... huh? This one is a real head-scratcher, for sure. All diehard, and even many casual, readers of comic books know that redesigns happen. Hell, it keeps things spicy for artists and publishers and, sometimes, the new look for a fan-favorite character becomes a smash hit, but then there's what just happened with Marvel Comics and Captain America.
And it's drawing (pun intended) a ton of criticism from fans of the First Avenger ahead of Chris Evans' reprisal of Steve Rogers for Avengers: Doomsday in December 2026.
Captain America #14 is having a strong run for writers Chip Zdarsky and Ton Lima, but it's run into a bit of a problem with the preview of artist Domenico Cava's variant cover. It's not hard to discern why Marvel Comics fans are a bit up in arms over it, seeing as Captain America has ditched the usual uniform for a toga, and now wields a huge sickle named the Antidivine.
Marvel's Captain America Goes Full Toga, Wields Huge Sickle
OK, to be fair, some background is required here. Long story short, Captain America got knocked into a coma during his battle with Red Hulk and as he fights for his life in the physical realm, he's also doing so in the afterlife.
Rogers found himself in Hell with his soul diabolically tied to Doctor Doom's, who initially intended on using the bond to resurrect himself from the Underworld.
The bigger, additional problem is Mephisto, the King of Hell having plans of his own for Captain America and Doom. This leads to a plan — after Mephisto unleashed hordes against them, including the soul of the deceased Red Skull — being hatched to locate the Antidivine (the sickle) to try and win the fight once and for all.
Per the official synopsis: "A SOUL FOR A SOUL... Bound together in an unfamiliar war zone, Captain America and Victor Von Doom are after the ANTIDIVINE — a sword powerful enough to destroy MEPHISTO. But someone else also has their eyes on the weapon! Can Steve stop Doom's first love from destroying Victor as his own soul hangs in the balance?"
Captain America Redesign Invokes Controversial Vibes for Marvel?
Now, getting back to the redesign itself in Cava's variant cover: what's the big deal??
Good question and, outside the surface-level criticism about how it in no way (save for the sheild) looks like Captain America, our good friends at ScreenRant give credible insight into the angst.
"First, Captain America is wielding a glowing sickle - something that's easy to read as referencing the pro-communist symbol known as the Hammer and Sickle, widely used by the USSR throughout the Cold War," Robert Woods of ScreenRant notes. "Depicting the sickle as a glowing, triumphant weapon — especially when set next to Cap's cracked American flag shield — is going to be taken by some as a veiled celebration of communism, an accusation that's already commonly leveled at modern superhero comics."
He continued: "Even worse, Cap's glowing hair and wing-like cape could even be accused of evoking Satanic imagery, specifically casting him as Lucifer. It doesn't help that demons in the comic have addressed him as their messiah. Believers in Satanic conspiracy theories are already famous for scouring pop culture imagery for 'clues' of demonic machinations, and this new cover serves that up on a silver platter."
Time will soon tell how readers react to such a radical and potentially controversial redesign of the most American superhero of all-time, but it's not exactly being welcomed with open arms.
Image: Marvel Comics
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