Captain America would kick Trump's ass

[Nevernose]

It's funny because it's true. Or would be true, you know, if they weren't fictional. The biggest difference between Donald Trump and the Red Skull seems to be skin tone.

As a serious comics nerd, though, I've always looked up to Marvel comics in general and Captain America in particular. Marvel has always tried to be multicultural and inclusive, back to the 60s. Reed Richards is an atheist; Thor is currently female; Falcon, an African-American, is currently (also) Captain America (it's complicated); most of the last run of "Young Avengers" were somewhere outside of "comfortably hetero" on the wonderful, weird spectrum of human sexuality. And on and on and on, and that's just the last few years. Like I said, Marvel has been groundbreaking in this regard for years.

It's nice to be able to loan a comic to a friend or student and hear them say, "I wasn't expecting that. I didn't think I'd ever see someone like me -- a gay, black teenager with crippling social anxiety -- fight Doctor Doom and namedrop Spider-Man."

So why is Captain America one of my favorites, if diversity is so important to me (Finally! A middle-aged cis white male! Why did this unknown hero hide until 2016?)? It's because Captain America doesn't represent what America is. Captain America represents what America should be. He's honest. He's brave. He's loyal. He's wise. He's willing to admit mistakes and learn from them, and he's willing to learn, period. He's not violent by nature, he's violent by necessity.

Plus, he really, really, REALLY hates Nazis.