SPOILER WARNING: The following story contains news of the Marvel Comics ongoing “Civil War” story line. You have been warned.
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Marvel Comics’ online Daily Bugle is reporting that “a former superhero has been shot outside the Federal Courthouse in Manhattan.” Their story continues to speculate that a former superhero was about to be arraigned in federal court, rather than before a military tribunal.
CNN.com is reporting that the newly deceased superhero is Steve Rogers, a.k.a Captain America. According to CNN, “Rogers was to stand trial for defying a superhero registration law passed after a hero’s tragic mistake caused a 9/11-like event.”
Captain America was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, and first appeared in 1941. Born before the Great Depression, he was a symbol of American might and resolve during World War II. He disappeared after the war and only recently reappeared, apparently out of touch with the modern world. “He hasn’t been living in the modern world and the world does move,” said Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada.
Quesada also intimated that resurrection, previously a fairly simple procedure for superheroes in the Marvel world, might not be such a common occurrence in the future. “All I ask of my writers is if you’re going to kill a character off, please let that death have some meaning in the overall scope of things.”
So what’s going to happen to Captain America, and to those who knew him and worked with him? “You’re going to have to read the books to find out,” Quesada said.
[Edited 1 February 2008: there’s more to the story in this article.]