Captain America’s Humiliating New Weakness Could Destroy Him as an Icon

Captain America's Humiliating New Weakness Could Destroy Him as an Icon

An all-new character has been introduced in Marvel Comics that has the power to destroy Captain America’s iconic image in the most humiliating way.

Warning: contains spoilers X-Cellent #3

There are few villains that can defeat Captain America in battle, not because he is an all-powerful entity, but because of his drive and belief system that more often than not carries him to victory. However, Captain America’s humiliating new weakness could shake that rock-solid foundation and destroy him as an icon forever.

Steve Rogers became Captain America after he was injected with a super-soldier serum during World War II, gaining the powers of superhuman strength, speed, brain function and an elongated lifespan. While his powers aren’t the most impressive compared to other Marvel superheroes, his resolve is what separates him as a leader among heroes and an indomitable force for justice. As Captain America, Steve Rogers became more than just a hero, but a symbol that represents all that is good in the world. With his intelligence, powers, and the drive to uphold himself as a symbol for justice, Captain America is able to defeat nearly every villain he encounters without compromising his morals even for a second.

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In X-Cellent #3 by Peter Milligan and Michael “Doc” Allred, the morally gray team of mutants known as the X-Cellent decide that they’re going to break into Doctor Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum and photograph pages from the Book of Vishanti to have access to some of Strange’s most powerful spells. To do that, the leader of the group, Deadpool 2 and X-Statix villain Zeitgeist, decides the team needs some new members, including one newly introduced mutant named Stripe who, as  Zeitgeist describes it, “has power over all things stripy”.

Captain America has a humiliating new weakness.

While Stripe’s powers seem almost laughable, she would be an absolutely detrimental threat to Captain America. Cap’s costume is inspired by the American flag, so naturally, it features stripes. If Captain America ran into battle against Stripe, he would be in immediate danger as she could use the stripes on his costume to potentially defeat him. An obvious fix to this problem would be for Captain America to remove or change his costume, though that would harm him in a completely different way. Captain America is an inspiration because he never compromises or bends to any villains’ will. If he changed his costume, Captain America would be admitting that being ‘Captain America’–and by association being a representation of what is true and just–is a liability. Rogers would have to show the world that he does bend to villains and that wearing a symbol of one’s beliefs on their chest isn’t always the right thing to do, which is the exact opposite of how he feels. Stripe would destroy Captain America as an icon by making his costume unsafe to wear, forcing him to choose between his life and his immortal image of hope and inspiration.

In Civil War Captain America fought a war against his fellow heroes because he was unwilling and unable to alter his beliefs, and the same would be true in a situation between him and Stripe. Captain America believes that what he represents is far more important than his life, so if Stripe were to attack him, he would fight back as Captain America even if it cost him his life–because if he took off the uniform and symbolically compromised his morals, Captain America’s iconic image would be destroyed forever by a pretty humiliating weakness.

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Spencer Connolly
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Spencer Connolly is a Staff Writer for Screen Rant. With years of writing and journalism experience under his belt, Spencer joined Screen Rant in 2020. Prior to writing for Screen Rant, Spencer was a Photojournalist and News Producer. Throughout his career as a journalist and even his entire life, Spencer always had a deep love for comics and is now applying everything he has learned throughout his career to the fun and informative articles he writes for Screen Rant. You can follow Spencer on Twitter: @TheSpencerVerse.

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