Christian Love in Marvel’s ‘Captain America: White’

When it comes to the “Big Two” comic companies I’ve always been more of a DC guy than a Marvel guy. The Marvel Universe reflects a little too much of the real world for my taste, with its heroes struggling to pay rent, enduring broken relationships, and making questionable decisions. To be clear, I have nothing against emotionally compromised or ethically ambiguous heroes (my favorite comic book character of all time is Batman, after all) but I’ve always preferred DC’s universe in which superheroes represent (for the most part) ideals to be aspired towards rather than reflections to be related to.

Perhaps it is no surprise then that my favorite Marvel character is Captain America. I’ve always considered Cap to be the most DC-esque of Marvel’s heroes (if that makes any sense). Like Superman he wages a never-ending battle for Truth, Justice, and the American Way. Like Batman he gives his all for the fight against injustice, enduring punishing physical suffering and making intensely personal sacrifices. Steve Rogers is a virtuous man struggling to live in an unvirtuous world, whether he’s fighting tyranny on the battlefields of World War II, confronting terrorism and hatred on American soil, or saving the universe from destruction with the Avengers. He represents the ideals that the United States was founded on, ideals that America and Americans often fail to measure up to but should never cease striving towards.

I recently came across a perfect example of the synergy of idealism and relatability in the Captain America character in writer Jeph Loeb and artist Tim Sale’s miniseries Captain America: White which is part of their “Color” line of stories including Daredevil: Yellow, Hulk: Gray, and Spider-Man: Blue.

Loeb and Sale’s previous “Color” stories have focused on the primary love interests of the various characters (such as Peter Parker’s tragic first love, Gwen Stacy) and Captain America: White is no different. Captain America: White is the story of the intense love between Steve Rogers and his sidekick James “Bucky” Barnes. Now, your first reaction to such a statement may be to smirk or roll your eyes, but not so fast! “Love” is a funny word in English. It is an unhelpful catch-all for a wide range of emotions that the ancient Greeks actually separated into several categories. Among these are philia, which denotes the affection and friendship between equals (think of the fraternal love between best friends), storge, which is the love that parents have for their children, and agape or unconditional love for one’s neighbor (think Christian charity or caritas). Christian thinkers appropriated and developed these concepts of love as they applied to the Christian faith. Too often in culture and media today love is boiled down to a modernized distortion of eros, that is romantic or sexual love. Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale seem to understand these different aspects of love quite well. Realizing that not all love stories need be about romance, they have integrated the concepts of philia, storge, and agape into their story beautifully.

Philia: Cap and Bucky are clearly best friends. Twenty-something Steve treats his teenage sidekick as an equal on the battlefield despite their age difference. They know each other’s quirks and thoughts better than anyone and they trust each other implicitly.

Storge: At the same time, there is clearly a big brother-little brother and even a father-son dynamic between the two characters. (This aspect of the story became even more poignant for me when I learned that writer Jeph Loeb lost his own teenage son to cancer) Despite having experienced life-or-death peril in combat Bucky is still an immature kid and gets into his fair share of mischief. It’s often up to Steve to rein him in. Bucky, as an orphan, looks up to Cap as the family he never had, always seeking his approbation and approval.

Agape: Christ famously said, “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13) Both Steve and Bucky would gladly sacrifice his own life to save the other. This is at the heart of Loeb and Sale’s story. Most of Captain America: White takes place in flashbacks. Steve Rogers has just woken up in the present day to find that WWII was won decades ago and that Bucky has been presumed killed in action. Steve sits in a darkened church grieving for Bucky and ruminating over all the things left unsaid between them. He thinks back to an early adventure in France with Nick Fury and the Howling Commandos that ended with Steve having to make a choice between the objectives of the mission and saving the life of his best friend and sidekick. I’m sure you can guess which path Captain America ultimately chose.

I find it sad and disturbing that in our pornified, sexualized culture, many people (including many Christians) would be uncomfortable saying “I love you” to their best friend, lest they be misinterpreted. It is refreshing to find echoes (whether intentional or not) of pure Christian love in the largely secularized medium of superhero comics. Captain America presents an ideal of unconditional love of neighbor that all Christians should aspire and work towards, as Jesus Christ commanded us. Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale are to be commended for their treatment of Steve and Bucky’s relationship in Captain America: White. I only hope more comic book creators follow their example.