Superman is not the only super hero to be created by Jewish cartoonists. Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster's man of steel appeared in comic book form in 1938. Three years later, in March 1941, Joe Simon and Jack Kirby created Captain America, the first superhero to enlist in World War II.
Now, Captain America is coming to a theater near you this weekend, but like Superman before him, his all-American character has been diluted to de-emphasize American exceptionalism.
In an article released yesterday by JTA, Simcha Weinstein writes:
The famous front cover of "Captain America #1" showed its titular hero punching Hitler straight in the face, sending the ridiculous looking Fuerher tumbling backward.
With that single unforgettable image, the Nazi ideal of the Aryan ubermensch was dealt a fatal blow, as was what remained of the once respectable American “isolationist” movement.
As the first comic book character to enlist in World War II, Captain America was an instant success, selling nearly 1 million copies per issue. In a way that’s not surprising, considering the character’s pedigree. Captain America was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, second-generation Jews who made no secret of their source of inspiration.
The character of Captain America, Simon said, “was our way of lashing out at the Nazi menace.”
In that first issue of the Marvel comic, readers meet the superhero’s “everyman” alter ego, Steve Rogers. A sickly Depression-era child, Rogers loses his parents at a young age, then tries to enlist in the military. Too feeble to join the regular forces, Rogers volunteers for a top-secret military medical experiment known as “Operation Rebirth,” being overseen by one Dr. Reinstein. (Note the character’s Jewish name, one that sounds suspiciously like “Albert Einstein.” In 1941, Einstein was a wildly popular -- if little understood -- cultural icon in the real world.)
In need of a human “guinea pig” to test his formula, Dr. Reinstein injects Rogers with his Secret-Soldier Serum. Unfortunately, a Nazi spy infiltrates the experiment and kills Dr. Reinstein, leaving the newly empowered Rogers as the serum’s sole beneficiary.
Hailed by the U.S. military as a superhuman savior, Rogers dons a patriotic costume of red, white and blue, with a star on his chest and stripes on his waist. Captain America is quickly dispatched to his most important early assignment: destroy his evil “super soldier” counterpart, a Nazi agent called the Red Skull.
Fast forward to 2011: This summer, Captain America returns to the big screen. Unfortunately, the spirit of 1941 (let alone 1776) is a long way off. In an era of anti-Americanism -- at home and abroad -- the movie’s director and star have been playing down the character’s American identity.
Director Joe Johnston insists that “this is not about America so much as it is about the spirit of doing the right thing.” Chris Evans, who plays the title character, echoes the sentiment, saying that “I’m not trying to get too lost in the American side of it. This isn’t a flag-waving movie.”
To find out why, read the full article here. With a cast that includes Chris Evans, Tommy Lee Jones, Stanley Tucci, and Samuel L. Jackson, the movie is poised to be a big box office hit. Check out the trailer below. Enjoy!
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