𝗕𝘂𝗰𝗸𝘆: give me one good reason I shouldn’t kill him right now

𝗭𝗲𝗺𝗼: Bright orange is not your color

𝗕𝘂𝗰𝗸𝘆:

So I have some thoughts regarding the latest episode of this series. 

One of the overriding themes of this episode was whether it’s right or wrong for enhanced individuals to exist and in what capacity. There are two distinct opinions on this subject: that of Zemo and that of Karli Morgenthau. 

Zemo believes that people who are enhanced should not exist because they cause regular people to see them as more, to put them on pedestals. Enhanced individuals, heroes, become corrupt by that power and the adoration of the people make it so they are rarely questioned or held accountable for the ways in which they wrong the world. The exception to this is Steve Rogers, even though Zemo maintains that it was in meeting Steve that he became convinced he was right. Despite the fact that Steve remained morally upright after he received the super soldier serum, Zemo claims that he made it possible for people to ignore the flaws of enhanced people and heroes. 

By contrast, we have Karli Morgenthau, who believes in the power of super soldiers, but not in institutions. She sees Captain America and the shield as symbols of an oppressive regime that marginalizes some people for the sake of others. From what we know of her ideology, she believes in restoring a world where governments took care of the people left behind by the Blip and do away with borders and divisions. She believes this so strongly that her comrades refer to her as a new Captain America, one who recognizes that the world’s problems can’t be solved without getting one’s hands dirty and who also looks like them. 

The backdrop against this particular belief is that we actually have a new person who bears the title of “Captain America.” John Walker started out as someone who seemed to relish the celebrity status that came with his new title. Blond hair, blue eyes, and the perfect soldier, he is the personification of the idea of American Exceptionalism. In the space of episodes three and four, however, he has quickly shown a mental fragility. He has suffered repeated losses and setbacks, which he clearly does not handle well. When he’s spit on, he responds with an angry outburst of, “Do you know who I am?!” In this latest episode, his ego is repeatedly bruised, culminating with his fight against three Dora Milaje, who soundly defeat him. His words in the wake of this defeat were: “They weren’t even super soldiers.” This reflects a fragile inner world that suffers with each loss and perceived insult. 

Finally, we have Sam Wilson, the person who Steve Rogers intended to be the new Captain America. Throughout this series, Sam has tried to act in a way that saves people’s lives with the least amount of conflict and bloodshed. He acts from a place of empathy and compassion. Though he bickers with Bucky, he also steps in when he’s acting like the Winter Soldier to make sure he was okay. The most telling interactions we have, though, are those he has with Karli Morgenthau. He advocates for her, for dealing with her peacefully and gently. Even when she threatens his family, he doesn’t act aggressively towards her. He sees her as a person capable of goodness and redemption because he, too, has suffered from the world denying him rights and aid on the basis of people having been restored from the Blip. He sympathizes with her goal, but cannot condone her methods, as he told her. 

By the end of this episode, we have three characters who are seen by others as the successor to Steve Rogers’s legacy. One is a revolutionary seeking to change the world to a more just and equitable state through violence and is labelled a terrorist for it (though to be fair, she did blow up a building with people in it because she thought it was necessary). 

The second is a perfect soldier with little in the way of a moral compass. Although he gives good speeches in episode two, his true nature is as violent as it is fragile. The more he encounters people who don’t like or respect who he is and what he represents, the more aggressive he becomes until finally, he’s pushed over the edge. 

The third is a man defined by compassion and empathy. He doesn’t look to stand out or seek recognition for what he does. He tries to help people as best he can and sometimes that means talking to a girl who seems in over her head. Underneath all that, however, is a man who gets angered by injustice, but doesn’t let it rule him. He prefers the path of peace when he can make it work. 

Two of these people are super soldiers. One became a revolutionary who blows up buildings and seeks to tear down the world order but is also someone who desperately seeks someone to guide her. Another became even more aggressive to the point of murdering someone in a blind rage.