Marvel Comics remembers the original Captain America in this week’s Ruins of Ravencroft: Sabretooth #1. Marvel has always treated the title of “Captain America” as something of a legacy, passed down from one generation to the next. That’s why there have been countless heroes who’ve wielded the shield, including the likes of Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes.
To most readers, Steve Rogers is the first - and definitive - Captain America. Certainly, he’s the most celebrated and iconic. he pure-hearted man who was subjected to super-soldier experiments and became America’s Sentinel of Liberty, hefting an indestructible shield as a devastating weapon against his foes. As a result, to the majority of Marvel readers, this week’s Ruins of Ravencroft: Sabretooth #1 will come as something of a shock.
Ruins of Ravencroft: Sabretooth #1 is essentially a celebration of the history of the Marvel Universe, albeit viewed through a very sinister lens. It features entries from a journal left behind by Jonas Ravencroft, the founder of the Ravencroft Institute for the Criminally Insane, which is best known for holding Carnage prisoner. Ravencroft reveals that he built his institution on a site that has been a part of significant events for centuries - including a battle during the American War of Independence that featured the first Captain America.
This is Captain Steve Rogers, the first Captain America, a loyal American who was dressed up in a gaudy costume in a strange, amusing attempt at espionage. The revolutionaries were aware that their cause was seen as a joke by loyalist forces, and they had Rogers suit up in order to enter as a laughing-stock; all went according to plan, and Rogers was seen as a hero for his actions. He kept the costume, including the shield design, and continued to serve on the front lines of the War of Independence until its end. According to Ravencroft, the Battle of Ravencroft was one of the last in the entire conflict, and tragically Rogers was killed on this cursed site.
Years later, one of Rogers’ descendants - who had actually been named after him - took up the mantle of Captain America, and wielded a far more powerful shield. Like his ancestor, this even more famous Captain America was thought lost just before a great war came to an end. It remains to be seen whether the parallels continue, and whether Ravencroft is right in believing the first Captain America met his end on the fields of battle.
Ruins of Ravencroft: Sabretooth #1 is on sale now in comic book stores.
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