Kyle Baker posted this image of Isaiah Bradley from Baker and Morales’ Truth: Red, White & Black series. Baker tagged the image with “For an upcoming Marvel gig”. Could this be the answer to the big secret of Reborn #1 and Captain America #600 that has everyone in a twitter lately? There has been a lot of speculation about a black Captain America since the first star-on-black-background image was pushed out from the House of Ideas a couple of months ago.
The speculators have further claimed the July 13 early release date is also going to tie into the announcement that Will Smith will play Cap in the coming Captain America movie.
Interestingly no one has made any mention to the publicity bit featuring Rikki Barnes. Maybe she’ll be the new sidekick? And what if all of this plays out to be true, what then of the current Bucky Cap?
It’s all rumor and speculation, mixed in with a bit of truth that gets everyone up in arms. All of the hints being dropped about is a great example of viral marketing.
It’s just too bad all the chatter is being bandied about throughout the comic book Intardwebz, and not in other media. This kind of speculation and talk could have a lot of positive long term impact for comics in general, instead of the the two day coverage coming from one select mass media outlet on July 13, 2009 to get one company a crap load of money in the short term.
The real story in all of this is, “Who is Marvel teaming up with for this “breaking” story?” Newsweek, The New York Times, Steve Colbert?
I’ll let the Major Spoiler Legion use the comment section below to shout out their thoughts, rants, and ideas. Keep it civil.
21 Comments
Thanks for reminding us posters to keep things civil. Comic fans all have a right to be passionate about the medium we love, but we don’t have to bite off each other’s heads to do it. Way too much of that stuff going on nowadays.
I really like the concept of the Captain America Truth series back when it debuted a few years back. I still think Marvel chickened out a bit when they had a chance to make the Ulitmate Captain America a black man. Of course the question was asked of voters if they could elect a black president. The same question applies: could readers accept a black Captain America? Of course this is all simple speculation considering we still don’t know what Marvel has up its sleeve. The good news is that it gets us talking…
I will say that it’s probably too soon to bring Steve Rogers back, but we all know that he does have to be resurrected in time enough to capitalize on the movie marketing. Captain America #50 was a bit of a letdown for me so I’m hoping #600 blows me away.
Perhaps this will involve a young avenger?
If there is a logical story progression into this then i have no problem with a black/white/yellow/red cap. If they are just gonna throw a black guy in the costume for the media effect (which is what I figure they’ll do, thats all marvel ever does with their black characters) then it is lame.
We may not know what Kyle Baker let out of the bag…but Marvel does, and I bet they’re pissed.
a black Captain America, dogs and cats living together… mass hysteria!
i still miss the old Captain America.
That looks like a flashback piece. Not swayed into believing that’s the reveal.
What if it’s The Falcon? That’s the only “logical” way out I can think of, and even then it’s not really that logical….
You know, looking at the picture on Kyle’s actual website, there’s something about the way the mask rests on the face, the way the lines connect, it looks photoshopped. As though a different head has been placed on the body, one to make us do exactly what we’re doing. Speculating.
That being said, after Tony Daniels caught so much guff for “spoiling” who was going to be wearing the cowl after Batmant: BftC was over, and Marvel’s so very uncoy attempts to copy DC that they do so often, I wouldn’t be surprised that they’re doing this all on purpose with a follow up story asking Kyle Baker to remove the image soon to follow.
They’ve done things like this before with Jean Grey and Colossus
Ultimate Mother: All first time posters have their comments placed in moderation mode to prevent spam. Yours was not approved because you were a first time poster, thus it did not appear until just now. Happy?
UPDATE: As a follow up Mother, I did delete your ranty post to keep you from further embarrassment. I also went back through the logs and noticed you posted to this site previously, but you used a different (fake) email, which automatically put you into moderation mode. In the future, you should probably use a real email address, or at the very least the same fake one you used before so your approved comments go through.
Punisher was black for five minutes. I wouldn’t mind a black cap as long as the don’t try to retcon Steve Rogers (is he still dead?) into being black. Let it be someone else and I will be fine.
Regaeding Will Smith, let him be someone other rhan Steve Rogers. I do not see a black man being accepted like Cap was in the 1940’s even if he was a war hero. The Tuskeegee Airmen and Buffalo Soldiers were some of the greatest soldiers in U.S. Military History, but the armed forces treated them like Dirty Uncle Mel who is brilliant but wears womens clothes while mastubating to Joan Crawford on the front porch. Wonderful Man, but not one you wish to brag about.
@Darksbane
Considering the “original” Cap (Isaiah Bradley) was black and the Falcon was Rogers bestestes friend its not that swervy.
Maybe it’s only Patriot telling his grampa’s story, much like Rikki Barnes is there only for a side story. Every once in a while every hero recalls his/her secret origins and Cap’s begin with Isaiah Bradley.
If the Baker image was a tease for what everyone thinks it was a tease for, you better gee-dee-well believe he did it with Marvel’s blessing. He’s not an idiot by any means, and he certainly has no desire to see two-thirds of his income go away by making himself a radioactive hire in the comics world.
As to bringing the Bradleys back into prominence… hey, anything that reminds people of what a monster FDR was — and the program that left only Isaiah as a survivor can only be the product of a monster — is jake with me.
With Pres-Elect BHO on another World Apology Tour, poltical-correctness is a new fad these days. I wouldn’t mind Isaiah Bradley as a returning Cap since he was the “original” but Pucky Cap is grwoing on me. Will Smith ruined Wild Wild West for me as I grew up on the Robert Conrad series. If Will Smith does do a Cap movie it should be as Bradley or using the same name. Steve Rogers should be the same Caucasian we all know and grew up with. If Marvel really wanted to be all PC, why not revamp(no pun intended) Blade as an Asian character? I’d prefer a Filipino character becuase there are no Filipino characters in the Marvel U that I know of and they are just as deadly in bladed weaposn as any samurai, ninja, or wu shu master. Just ask Ferdinand Magellan. Japanese and Chinese have all been done too death anyway.
I can not accept a Black Captain America.
That’s just because Steve Rogers isn’t an African-American. I can’t accept Bucky America either. I’ll just keep waiting. Marvel can have my money when they give me what I want.
With Pres-Elect BHO on another World Apology Tour, poltical-correctness is a new fad these days. I wouldn’t mind Isaiah Bradley as a returning Cap since he was the “original†but Bucky Cap is growing on me… Steve Rogers should be the same Caucasian we all know and grew up with. If Marvel really wanted to be all PC, why not revamp(no pun intended) Blade as an Asian character? I’d prefer a Filipino character becuase there are no Filipino characters in the Marvel U that I know of and they are just as deadly in bladed weaposn as any samurai, ninja, or wu shu master. Just ask Ferdinand Magellan. Japanese and Chinese have all been done too death anyway.
Well, I have a couple of responses here.
Political correctness gets a bad rap, thought that’s not related to comics.
Nick Fury is a character whose original incarnation was Caucasian, but who was played by an African-American actor to great effect and high regard recently.
Marvel does not have a high-profile Filipino character to my knowledge, but if they were to create one just for the sake of having one, that’s more offensive to me than not having one. Especially if he’s created as (for sake of argument, and not as an affront) a bladed-weapons master who represents only what the average person might assemble about the Phillipines from pop culture and a few vaguely remembered bits of history class. Ethnicity is a defining force for many of us, but a character who is defined by being black, white, or any other ethnicity usually fails or evolves into something more complex.
Also worth noting: The only people whose ethnicities we’re “sure” of (in an intarweb way, as you’ve only seen pictures of us) at Major Spoilers are Stephen and myself (middle european germanic honkies) and Rodrigo (first generation Mexican immigrant.) I appreciate that all the comments thus far have respected that lack of knowledge and stayed civil.
Personally, an Isaiah Bradley movie would be great, but I’m not sure that the public would embrace it fully as Captain America, not because they’re expecting white skin when Isaiah’s is brown, but because of the difficult racial overtones and the story’s less-than-happy ending… Your mileage may vary.
Matthew: Amen. As a lifelong comics fan who happens to be black, I find it impossible real life complexities that comics attempt to emulate and symbolize. That being said your site does a great job with letting every viewpoint in. Great job.
I was in Croatia of all places at a movie theater to watch the “The DiVinci Code” (please don’t call Dan Brown if I misspelled it) and there was a preview for “Casino Royale” and I asked my Croatian friend what she thought, and she said “James Bond is not blonde.”
Two movies and hundreds of millions of dollars later, James Bond is blonde.
We know wayyyyyy to much about comic books and our prefered characters to easely accept ANY change, ethnicity is just one many, but it happen to be the one that creates the strongest/most heated debates.
I for one will always see Eddie Brock as Venom and no amount of time will get me to see Mac what’s-is-face as anything other then a Venom wannabe.
On a side not, Samuel Jackson as Nick Fury is fine (actually it’s badass!) since they’re going for the Ultimate Universe Avengers, in which Fury is not only black but the first Captain America. Samuel could be playing double duty as Nick Fury and the Ultimate U Isaiah Bradley.
“Nick Fury is a character whose original incarnation was Caucasian, but who was played by an African-American actor to great effect and high regard recently.”
High regard?!? He had maybe a 30-second cameo after the credits of the movie had rolled! I, personally, prefer a white Nick Fury, since that’s what I grew up with, but I don’t necessarily have a problem with Samuel L. Jackson (or any other black actor) playing the role. But “high regard” for a post-credit cameo? C’mon!
I don’t want to speak for Matthew, but I believe he might also be referring to Ultimate Nick Fury who was drawn to look like Sam Jackson for the last many years.