Broken Frontier

Daily Bugle publisher J. Jonah Jameson proudly presents: an editorial civil war exploring both sides of the most controversial topic of our time—the Superhero Registration Act. Should masked vigilantes be forced to unmask before congress? Should all super-powered individuals be documented and controlled by state and federal legislatures? Is this an idea whose time has finally come? Only one thing is certain: whether we're super or human, we're all fiercely divided upon the answer. Making a stand against superhero registration is heroic fiction critic J.P. Dorigo.

Okay, sure. I’m 100% against the Super-Human Registration Act, but that doesn’t mean I’m not worried. Powers on both sides are lashing out, and things are going to start getting dangerous. One ongoing debate is Captain America’s stance on the issue. I’m here to tell you, Captain America is on the exact side I would have expected, and would have hoped, he’d represent.

Captain America is all about personal freedom. He is the living embodiment of our forefather’s hopes and dreams. Critics suggest that the Captain isn’t a liberal. Some claim he’s an “all-American brainwashed conservative soldier”. Now this isn’t a conservative and liberal argument, since there are party members on both sides of the issue. Captain America is above labels like right and left and conservative and republican. There are few Americans who put their lives on the line as much as he does or who understand what America really is.

I’ve read the reports on the internet just like you. The rumors of an underground resistance started by the Captain. I say bravo. It was men hiding in shadows that set this country free. This group of heroes should be thought of as true sons and daughters of liberty. Not criminals. If I knew how to reach them, I would join their resistance. We should all stand united for a Separation of Capes and State.

Of course the Captain wants to do anything in his power to avoid unnecessary deaths from out of control superhumans, but the Captain also realizes that every war has casualties. Just because we make them register doesn’t mean we have any control over them. Okay, so we make them register, and give them a paycheck. So they get out of line, and we what, fire them? Does that mean they no longer have powers? Of course not! Now we have disgruntled ex-government employees with super powers.

When Steve Rodgers puts on his red, white and blue uniform, he becomes the living embodiment of what our forefathers represented. He’s George Washington. Abraham Lincoln. He’s ever American soldier who ever died defending this country.

Shouldn’t we look to the Captain as an example? He is one of the few superhumans who has never hidden his identity. He has nothing to lose from the Registration Act, and yet he still believes it’s wrong and fights for what he believes in. I, for one, am shocked and appalled in Spider-Man’s decision to reveal his identity to the world. How can he be so naive? Doesn’t he realize the danger he’s putting his family in?

If you’re having trouble deciding what side you’re on, look no further than our dear Captain America. The Superhuman Registration Act is just the beginning. This is a slippery slope that ends with less personal freedom. And at what expense? Being able to make heroes pay for the damage they’ve done? Don’t listen to the talking heads on Fox News that say it’s un-American to oppose the Registration Act. This isn’t the kind of thing our forefathers wouldn’t stand for…

I leave you with a modified version of Pastor Martin Niemöller famous statement:

First they came for the mutants
and I did not speak out
because I was not a mutant.
Then they came for the superhumans
and I did not speak out
because I was not a superhuman.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.