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Warning : spoiler for Captain America # 1!Captain Americais a hero who has always been larger than life . He is the strong-arm representation and , in fact , a manifestation of everything that is just and good in the world . While many Marvel Comics serial list into this theme of Captain America with depictions of him traveling the globe with SHIELD or the Avengers , economise the public from topnotch - villains , fascistic regime , and even alien invasion , there have n’t been many that take a moment to analyzethe man behind the shell : Steve Rogers . Not Steve Rogers the super - soldier , but Steve Rogers the person ; the one who was desirable of becoming a super - soldier to begin with . That ’s exactly what J. Michael Straczynski is bring to devotee with hisnewCaptain Americacomic book series .
J. Michael Straczynski is an absolute legend , not just in the world of strip , but also in film and video as well . Straczynski was a central writer in 2011’sThor , the creator ofBabylon 5 , and the beginner of Synthetic Worlds Ltd. and Studio JMS — just to name a few of his many accolades . More notable for comic al-Qur’an fans , however , is Straczynski ’s work onAmazing Spider - Man , Thor , andFantastic Four .
Straczynski is back at the helm of another Marvel Comics projection withCaptain America , which promises to flesh out Steve Rogers as a character in ways that have very rarely been research before . At San Diego Comic - Con 2023 , Screen Rant had the prospect to ride down with J. Michael Straczynski to discuss his newCaptain Americaseries .
J. Michael Straczynski Explores Captain America The Man, Not Just The Soldier
J. Michael Straczynski : I ’ve been sour with Marvel latterly for a bit of different projects . And they enounce , you want to go on Captain America . And I just seize onto it and run with it because I ’ve always been a huge fan of the character , and I wanted to explore some area that no one had ever get into before . I mean , the role ’s been around for 80 days , it ’s heavy to regain something young . And I did that , because they talked a lot about what happened after he became Captain America , but not a whole caboodle about the period before that . And after his parents pall , he was like 15/16 years one-time , surviving in New York in 1937 , ‘ 38 , ‘ 39 . No resources , no livelihood , no money , living in the street , and essay to survive .
And how does a kid as sickly as this tiddler survive , number one . And two , the other part that describe me to this is that I wanted to explore what makes Steve Rogers the piece he was to become Steve Rogers , the hero he became later . In New York , in that period of fourth dimension , the American boom , the American Nazi Party , was huge . It was growing in power and force out , they were having rallies , they were having protestation , border district , dissent in front of shop . Leading up to a big mass meeting in Madison Square Garden , I call up they ’re now they had 20,000 people show up for this matter .
That would have been his first exposure to Nazis , How would this kid react to that ? What did he do ? What did he not do ? And just research that period of metre . There are two chronicle , the present tense news report and the past tense chronicle . Explore those element of survival on the one bridge player and how he deals with this rising movement that was receive a lot of power in the U.S. at that sentence .
Screen Rant : This really goes into the indomitable spirit of Captain America before he gets the injection . contact on that , how would you think non - tops powered Captain America growing up in this twenty-four hours and age would respond , what sort of Captain America would he become , if he took that injection now ?
J. Michael Straczynski : Well , I would hope that the resultant role would be the same , the physical process would not be the same , the ingredients would not be the same , but I would go for that …
See , for me , the reason I lie with the character is that there are two form of patriotism . One is the despotic form of patriotism , which is opprobrious and crushes the individual and represents a boot on the throat of mankind .
And then there ’s a kind that says , you know , look , we are better together than we are apart . That which make us different makes us unattackable .
We have been culturally tribalized and factionalized and marginalized with an inch of our life . But as Steve repoint out in one of the record book , the Iron Sword break of serve , because it ’s only one element . But a steel sword , that has dissimilar elements and components , curve and does not break and is strong . And so that idea that we are made stronger and better by our differences , which was observe then , by the way , and then we have lost some of that and hope that the new Captain America will also infer those same principles .
So you ’re just taking it from the very beginning . He had his first photograph , his parents , everything . What is his intragroup struggle ? Does he have doubts lead up to this ? Is it just a flip of the switch ? “ Oh , that ’s incorrect , I hump what to do ” , or is there a lot of internal fight leading up to the last : “ I ’m Captain America ” ?
J. Michael Straczynski : I do n’t go all the way to that minute . That first arc ends in 1939 with the rally . By that time in ‘ 38-‘39 , we were getting press reports on what was go on in the assiduity camps , and so on . So he would have some noesis of that . And so even at the beginning all he could do was heckle them . So I think he reacts almost immediately lie with what they are .
The first time he meet them , he ’s at a park , he ’s trying to economize money to get a flat somewhere , rather of doss down at a storage warehouse . And he ’s at last got it , but he ca n’t afford to buy a sandwich or something . So dead , open away spare sandwiches down the route there , is a big mass meeting . He bend a street corner and there ’s the Nazi masthead and there ’s the American flagstone , which is how they did this , this is in reality based on photographic reference . That ’s really that issue . So patently , there ’s a whole lot of dubiety in his mind about where this is cash in one’s chips to go .
The present tense story , I hear to drop a line counter intuitively whenever I possibly can . I put Asgard in Oklahoma for Thor , and it ’s always like , “ Why the hell did he do that ? ” There ’s two B - stories in the past tense and two A - stories in the present . And one of them , he lives in his apartment complex that his parents used to live in , and they ’re go to shoot it down and deal it off , and he does n’t want it to go out . And so everyone else who live there will be in the street . So he calls Tony Stark and asks for a loan to buy the building and start personally supervise the restoration of it - Steve ’s ‘ Captain America : Contractor ’ , signing while he ’s doing stuff . And using that process to segue into the flashback . So you see him looking at a front bulwark where it ’s all bust up and in bad condition , then it ’s him and his younger self , and it ’s not quite as spoiled as when he was much young bet at a much skillful construction . So I mean , it was a transitional stage . Plus , on the other side of the A - report , most of the guys in Captain America ’s rogues gallery consist of people he can put out with a punch . I need to put up something against him that he can not punch out . A supernatural force that is saying , in center , “ We see him as a big positively charged change follow down the road . We have to stop this from happening . We ’re go to kill the ones who are going to do that . And Cap is one of them . We have to take him out ” . And how does he dish out with something he ca n’t perforate , he can not fight , it ’s impossible . So those are the component I have pulled together in the first discharge , and each one is a counterpoint on the other one , thematically .
That ’s the thing about Captain America , he is fantastically strong . He is a master tactician and he is incredibly saucy . I think you speak to that really well . [ This discharge ] seems to really go into why he is a hoagie , not how he is a superhero .
J. Michael Straczynski : Yeah , basically I think that power , money , and renown make you more of what you were in the first spot . If you were a nice person before power , money , and fame , you ’re a nicer mortal after . If you ’re a jerk before money , king , fame , you ’re a bigger jerk after money , world power , and fame . And for him to be the Captain America we know now , Steve Rogers must have been a fairly decent guy . So what create that ? What led to that ?
That reminds me of his original antithesis , the Red Skull , because that ’s very exchangeable in how it makes you more of what you are , and he was very , very high-risk . Any stake there ?
J. Michael Straczynski : The Red Skull ?
Yeah , just basically doing the opposite . You eff , ‘ What is this guy ? ’ because he would be very dark to handle .
J. Michael Straczynski : mighty now my principal direction is on Steve . So down the road I ’ll deal with the other guys . But my feeling right now is I desire to net the road of the common litany of defective guys and supporting type because it ’s gotten kind of crowded around him . I need to sort of commit it down . Like I did with Spider - Man , I got free of a lot of his support lineament . Just let me focus like a optical maser on who this guy cable is . I come from Television . And the first rule of tv set is to serve as your main character . And so if I can get Steve worked out , then we use a layering on the rest of it , and the Red Skull will have his time .
Is that an official tease ? “ The Red Skull will have his time ” ?
J. Michael Straczynski : No .
Straczynski Speaks On Importance Of Developing A Character
It sounds like you [ are focused on ] character study and history . Is that what draw you in to Captain America specifically ?
J. Michael Straczynski : Yeah , to work up on that character . When I was a kid , I loved the fiber . I have it off how he represented the better angels of our nature . So yeah , it was a opportunity to take on an iconic character reference . That ’s what I tend to do with Marvel . Spidey , Thor , others . It ’s always the top draw part . Go act as . And my only rule is , do n’t touch my stuff and nonsense . Let me save what I desire to write , and leave me alone . And they do that , which is wonderful .
What do you like more ? Do you care the history aspect ? Or do you like the mysterious character study ?
J. Michael Straczynski : I like deep character sketch , to me that ’s where it all endure . When I worked on the first Thor moving-picture show , my feeling was , Asgard : great . essence : great . conflict : enceinte . But , at the end of the solar day , it has to be about two brother competing for the Father-God ’s affection . That ’s the write up , and that ’s the confining line you hang all the other moment on . So I love fiber study , I care drudge into it . When did Peter Parker , I liked to dig deeply into that character . And same with Thor . It was just a topic of how far can I agitate the fictional character ? And what can I find that no one else has done before ?
What did you find in Captain America ?
J. Michael Straczynski : You ’ll retrieve out .
No sneak peek ? Even just from your view ? Maybe something that surprise you ? Or your chemical reaction to this unnamed , unnamed aspect [ of Captain America ] ?
J. Michael Straczynski : There are ways of describing thing that are not nearly as respectable as doing them . So I ’m going to let that pass for the meter being , only because it ’s something I desire hoi polloi to see the response to when it comes out .
As an instance , though , when I did Spidey , everyone has pronounce for years that Aunt May could never expose Peter ’s closed book , or it would kill her . And I never think that for a mo . This is a woman who raised Peter from puerility , who realize the death of her husband , the death of his parent . And to get through that process requires a thorn of unanimous atomic number 22 . It ’s not a weak cleaning woman . I always matte that he got his powers from the spider but catch his strength from Aunt May . I wanted to do an return where she establish out , and they had the conversation about it , and it did n’t toss off her . So for me , it ’s always about what is everyone so afraid to rival ? What ’s the third track ? That ’s where I ’m survive to go . And those are thing that people will discover out in the record , do n’t postulate .
Would it be give it away if I asked : What is Captain America ’s intensity level ? That ’s not the [ super - soldier ] serum ?
J. Michael Straczynski : Well , that ’s the prosperous response , the true answer , and the dopy solution all at the same prison term , which is his heart . He is a caring , compassionate guy . And we ’ve come to a prison term now , where oftentimes forgivingness is mistaken for weakness . And I think there ’s something to be said for benignity , for charity , for give to people , await after folks . As we see him mould on this property construction , rebuilding it for the residents , he ’s not being paid to do it . He has other things he could be doing with his time . He ’s up there sawing and hammering because he wants to make it nice for them . Because his mama used to go there .
That ’s Captain America .
J. Michael Straczynski : That ’s Steve Rogers .
About Captain America
Decades ago , Steve Rogers change the human beings forever and a day . Now powerful and insidious forces are assembling to see he never does it again . retiring , present and succeeding collide as the homo out of fourth dimension reckons with an experiential threat watch to plant the world on a darker path at any cost…-Marvel.com
Captain America # 1by Marvel Comics is useable September 20 , 2023 .
