I remember hearing a while back
that some folks were upset that Steven Rogers was going into retirement, and
that he passed the mantel of Captain America down to longtime friend, Sam
Wilson aka Falcon. I don’t see why. Steven Rogers has passed the shield on
before to another character, James “Bucky” Barnes. And while I don’t think
everyone was happy with that choice, I don’t remember hearing anyone complain
too loudly. What’s that, I hear someone saying, it’s because Sam is Black?
Well, that doesn’t make sense either. Sam’s not the first Black man to be
called Captain America. What? You don’t know about Isaiah Bradley, the first
Black Captain America? Then let me educated you on the subject.
 |
| Not the most well known Captain America, but still a man worthy of the Shield. |
Isaiah Bradley was born and grew up
in New York City. He married Faith Shabazz in 1940, and they had their
honeymoon at the World’s Fair in Queens. Things were happy and simple for the
Bradley’s, until the attack on Pearl Harbor. When the US entered World War II,
Isaiah was drafted. He parted with his pregnant wife, promising to come home
soon. Sadly, things rarely turn out how we’d like them. Bradley time as a
soldier was complicated by the death of Dr. Erskine, and the loss of his Super Soldier
research. While Captain Steven Rogers was a rousing success, he was just one
man, and the certain people in the US Top brass still wanted an army. One
Colonel, Walker Price, and another German scientist, Dr. Wilfred Nagel, decided
to take desperate measures. Bradley was one of three hundred Black soldiers
chosen to be part of a new Project: Rebirth. Those soldiers unfortunate enough
to not be chosen were executed. I feel that this point I should remark that
both Price and Nagel were part of a larger conspiracy, working with a group
known as the Weapon Plus program. The group is responsible for such blatant acts
of cruelty like bonding adamantium to Wolverine’s skeleton and Deadpool’s
artificial healing factor and severe psychosis. So, yeah, you can probably
imagine what Bradley is in for.
The 300 soldiers were given varying
amounts of experimental Super Soldier Serum. I’m disgusted to say that one guy
was given an overdose, just to know for
sure that 5 cc’s were too much. You know what happens when you OD on Super
Soldier Serum? You pop. Like a water balloon. Yeah, dark stuff. Of the 300
soldiers, only about ten or so survived the procedure. And I’m not sure if that
is good or not. Bradley turned out relatively fine, just gaining a sizable
amount of muscle mass. Other members of his unit looked like they were
suffering from Elephantiasis. Oh, and to make sure that this project stayed
above top secret, the families of these men were given letters claiming they
died in a gas explosion. Some people, like Faith Bradley, refused to believe
it. Especially when they sent her a burnt white man’s corpse to bury.
Seriously? I know that they thought that the gas explosion lie would keep most
folks from opening the caskets, but no one planned for the “someone might still
risk another look?” That’s just stupid. Other family members took it rather
hard. Like the father of one of Bradley’s fellow soldier’s, Maurice Canfield.
His dad, in a bout of depression, killed his Maurice’s mother and himself after
receiving the news their son was ‘dead.’
 |
| Shield, Check. Red, White and Blue Costume, Check Patriotism, Check. Yep, this is a grade A Capt. America. |
The surviving soldiers were put
into a special ops team. Their numbers quickly dwindled until only Isaiah
Bradley, Maurice Canfield, and their Sgt. Luke Evans remained. These three
soldiers were waiting in Sintra, Portugal for the arrival of Captain America himself,
when things got ugly. An incredibly racist soldier named Merritt felt it was
his duty to belittle these patriots, especially Canfield, because his family had
worked hard and become wealthy. Racist imbecile. He let slip that Canfield’s
father committed murder/suicide. Now, that’s an incredibly stupid, insensitive
thing to mock someone about. It’s even more stupid when said person is a
supersoldier, suffering with a mild case of PTSD and an exaggerated thyroid
gland. These factors mixed together, resulting in Canfield having an impulse of
what can only be described as righteous fury. Unfortunately, his justifiable lashing
out resulted in the death of himself and Sgt. Evans, as well as the injury of
Bradley and Merritt. This was especially bad for Bradley, because he was now
the only one left to perform the mission he was supposed to do with his squad
and Captain America. The Captain had been delayed because of a typhoon.
Bradley was sent into a Nazi death
camp in Schwarzeitte, Germany, to kill a Dr. Kosh, and destroy any and all
research he had on the German version of a Super Soldier formula. His superiors
knew it was a suicide mission, but figured he’d do some damage, soften the
place up for the real offensive with Captain America and a full platoon later.
What they didn’t realize was that Bradley also knew it was a suicide mission,
and that he planned to go out with a bang. What was his idea of a Bang? You
ask. Why, borrowing a spare Captain America costume and shield before heading
out. He went in and raised some hell. He finished all of his mission
objectives, killing Kosh, destroying his files, and taking out as many Nazis as
possible, before he was subdued. In a gas chamber. He was taken to see Hitler
himself. The insane little dictator offered Bradley a chance to join him,
claiming he and Germany had no problem with Black people, only the American
Government. Bradley refuses, mostly on the grounds that he needed to protect
his family. Hitler decided to do something incredibly cruel, to send Bradley to
his scientists to dissect the captured hero, to regain as much info as they can
on the Super Soldier Serum, and then sent his body parts back to the US. While
in route to Hitler’s facility, he was rescued by a group of German freedom
fighters. A few months later he was sent home, and promptly court martialed.
Why? Because he stole Captain America’s costume. I’ll get back to that point in
a second.
 |
| We all need heroes, even Steven Rogers. |
Isaiah Bradley was forced to server
seventeen years of a life sentence in
solitary confinement. He was only
released because his faithful wife sent President Eisenhower a letter every
month for three years. By the time he was released, Bradley had suffered
from the side effects of the Super Soldier Serum and nearly two decades of
isolation. His brain was fried, to the point where he can barely dress himself.
Want to know what Steven Rogers did when he found out about all this? He used
the sizeable amount of back-pay owed to him by the US Government to buy out
Kosh Industries. KI was a German pharmaceutical company created by Dr. Kosh,
but now run by former Colonel Price. He also gathered evidence from that white supremacist
idiot Merritt, who also happened to be a traitor, to publically out Price for
all of his crimes against humanity. He then traveled to the Bradley home, where
he met Mrs. Bradley, the various grandchildren, and Isaiah Bradley himself. He
also learned that despite being sworn to secrecy when he was pardoned, the
legend of Isaiah Bradley had slipped out among the general population. Mostly
in the Black community. As such, he was visited by just about every Black
person of note of the last forty years, including but not limited to Muhammad
Ali, Malcom X, Nelson Mandela and Colin Powell. Cap also saw to it that his
fellow Super Soldier got his costume back. He found the tattered remains in a
collection that Merritt had stored away. While his fighting days are over, he’s
still remembered today as a hero, as a Captain America.
Isaiah Bradley was injected with an
experimental copy of the original Super Soldier Serum. It gives him enhanced
strength, speed, stamina, reflexes, senses, and healing abilities. He can fight
harder and longer than about 90% of the population. He’s also trained in
unarmed combat by the US Army. He has a shield as well, a triangular shaped one.
He is much less skilled than Steven Rogers with using a shield, but he can use
it effectively.
This version of Captain America has never appeared outside of the comics, and I think that’s a shame. We have
a complex story here, about real patriotism, about a man fighting for his
country and his family, sacrificing years of his life, his very mind to ensure
that the American people of his universe could sleep safely in their beds. I’d
say that deserves an animated movie at the very least. Hm, maybe an idea for a
future Possible Plots. Let me think on this a while.
I really enjoyed this Captain
America. In preparation for this post, I read the entirety of his eight issue series,
Truth: Red, White and Black. It’s an
interesting story that delves into things like race relations, government conspiracies,
and patriotism. It also says a bit about the American Spirit. Despite being used, abused, thrown into a no win situation,
surviving and then being punished for nearly two decades for something as
stupid as stealing a costume, Isaiah still keeps going. And isn’t that the essence
of best parts of American? Persevering as best you can even when you know
that the deck is stacked against you. To fight, for yourself, for your family, for you country, for your world. That’s the essence of a hero. That’s the
essence of Captain America. That's the essence of Isaiah Bradley. He’s the bruised but not beaten, the damaged but
not destroyed, the indomitable Private Isaiah Bradley, known to many as Captain
America.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaiah_Bradley#/media/File:IsaiahBradley.jpg
http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20080213020409/marveldatabase/images/2/2f/Isaiah_Bradley_%28Earth-616%29.jpg
http://worldofblackheroes.com/2010/07/08/isaiah-bradley-the-black-captain-america/#jp-carousel-13523
No comments:
Post a Comment