Apparently, the idea to have Marvel reveal a shocking secret about Steve Rogers isn’t something that someone just came up with a few months ago.
One of the truly fascinating parts of being a comic book fan is reading up on how long certain stories or ideas are percolating before we get to read them. The big publishers may appear to be flying by the seats of their pants at times, but more often than not, what makes it into the books is the result of careful, and at times, surprisingly long range planning.
So when things like the reveal in Captain America: Steve Rogers #1 hit, the knee jerk reaction is that Marvel simply went for shock value or to make a statement about the current political climate in some way. But the truth is usually more complicated than that, and indeed, the company is saying this particular idea was dreamed up a while back.
In fact, according to what Marvel’s Tom Brevoort told Time, the seed was planted around the time when writer Nick Spencer first got involved with Captain America:
"Almost since the beginning of when Nick started writing the Captain America titles, which would have been the end of 2014. So right around there the conversations first started about this. It’s been in the works for more than a year."
Of course, that doesn’t mean that Marvel knew in January 2015 that it definitely wanted to go through with it, but it does indicate that it was at least a possibility for a long time.
Whether that knowledge makes the #SayNoToHYDRACap crowd more or less irate remains to be seen. Brevoort also said that he feels the most cynical subset of fans is wrong in calling the storyline a gimmick:
"To say it’s a gimmick implies that it’s done heedlessly just to shock. The proof is always going to be in the execution. So you’ll have to read the rest of the story to see.But I certainly believe it’s not a gimmick. It’s a story that we spent a long time on, that’s compelling and captures the zeitgeist of the world. It will make readers wonder how the heck we’ll get out of this."
As a fan myself, it’s that last sentence that has me most curious to see where the Captain America saga goes. At least until they turn Sam Wilson Hydra too …
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