Captain America Comics Turn Red Skull Into A Mens Rights Activist

Captain America Comics Turn Red Skull Into A Men’s Rights Activist

Ta-Nehisi Coates and Leonard Kirk’s Captain America #28 depicts the Red Skull as an online activist, drawing connections to real-life figures.

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Captain America Comics Turn Red Skull Into A Mens Rights Activist

Warning: this article contains spoilers for Captain America #28!

The latest Captain America comic reveals the villainous Red Skull has adapted to the modern age by becoming a men’s rights activist, with the issue drawing comparisons to contemporary individuals and publications. While Marvel have frequently engaged with ongoing political topics in previous Captain America stories, Red Skull is an explicitly fascist character heavily tied to Nazi ideology, and the evolution of his methods and beliefs constitute a clear rebuke to a movement the heroic Steve Rogers has rarely confronted before, and never so directly.

Created in 1941’s Captain America Comics #1, the Red Skull was a WWII villain and Nazi agent who, like Steve Rogers, managed to survive to the modern day by unnatural means. Currently a psychic presence sharing the body of another villain – Aleksander Lukin – Red Skull has created new ties to the evil ‘Power Elite,’ continuing to spread hate and discord with the intent of toppling America, destroying the idea of Captain America, and claiming power for himself.

In Captain America #28 by Ta-Nehisi Coates and Leonard Kirk, Red Skull has taken to the Internet to find new recruits, targeting those described as, “Young men. Weak. Looking for purpose,” by Captain America. Pictured in the comic, Red Skull is surrounded by advertisements for works titled “The Feminist Trap,” “Barbarians at the Gates,” and “10 Rules for Life.” The latter entry seems to be a reference to Jordan Peterson, a contemporary right-wing media personality and professor of psychology, and his book 12 Rules for Life, with other of the Skull’s chosen phrases echoing past comments from Peterson. Peterson has since Tweeted his recognition of the reference, and is currently advertising “Hail Lobster” merchandise bearing a design similar to that of the Red Skull’s fascist organization Hydra.

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Red Skull’s ongoing plan in the comic is to stir up dissent and create conflict within America, arguing that his followers fight not for the type of dream that motivates Captain America, but for a much more potent nightmare of what they fear the world could become. Ta-Nehisi Coates’ tenure on the series has increased the focus on the women of Marvel Comics, with Cap working alongside the secret super-heroine group the Daughters of Liberty, discovering WWII ally Peggy Carter survived to the modern day as the mysterious Dryad, and seeing longtime romantic partner Sharon Carter reborn with new powers. Despite this, the more targeted rebuke of self-titled ‘men’s rights activism’ and online male supremacy – a philosophy the Southern Poverty Law Center identifies as “a hateful ideology advocating for the subjugation of women” – constitutes a much more targeted blurring of the line between comic-book villainy and real-life figures.

No matter the specific goals the Red Skull is pursuing at any one time, Marvel Comics has always tried to convey that he represents the worst that society has to offer, while Captain America represents decent human values. The line between hero and villain is clearly drawn in Captain America #28, as Captain America states, “He tells them what they’ve always longed to hear. That they are secretly great. That the whole world is against them. That if they’re truly men, they’ll fight back.” In drawing such clear connections to contemporary political beliefs, Coates and Kirk are taking a bold stance, using Red Skull and Captain America not just to discuss modern issues, but crucially employing each character’s history to cast those issues in a larger context.

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Link Source : https://screenrant.com/captain-america-red-skull-mens-rights-rules-life/

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