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2010’s The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes saw Marvel take a not-too-subtle jab at the most controversial version of Captain America from the comics. While the Avengers films are pop culture juggernauts for the Marvel Cinematic Universe timeline, Earth’s Mightiest Heroes is an underrated gem, with characterization that easily matches the best MCU movies and comic accuracy that is often better than the films. Naturally, Earth’s Mightiest Heroes portrays Captain America excellently, though, at one point, it seemingly makes a meta-joke at the expense of one iteration of Steve Rogers.
In the final scene of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes’ season 1 finale – “A Day Unlike Any Other” – Steve Rogers is captured and replaced by a Skrull. The first half of season 2 adapts the Secret Invasion storyline from Marvel’s comics, with the Skrull impersonating Captain America throughout The Avengers’ missions. Although viewers know that the real Captain America has been replaced from the get-go, the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes communicates that the “Captain America” leading The Avengers for the first 12 episodes of season 2 is a villain via a reference to the comics.
Captain America’s Skrull Impostor Wears The Ultimate Marvel Captain America Suit
Throughout his World War II and modern-day appearances in Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, Captain America wears a comic-accurate animated version of his classic suit from Marvel’s Earth-616 comics. When the Skrull impostor poses as Captain America, he wears a new costume that is based on the alternate universe Ultimate comics (Earth-1610). Considering how drastically different – and controversial –the Ultimate Marvel version of Captain America is, this was a form of meta-commentary that criticized the alternate version of Steve Rogers.
Captain America’s shield was destroyed by Loki in the season 1 finale. The shield gets repaired in Wakanda later in season 2, but its temporary destruction prevents the Skrull impostor from using the real shield.
Why Ultimate Captain America Was So Controversial
In the year 2000, Marvel began an imprint called Ultimate Marvel, which was a parallel universe to the original Earth-616 continuity. Ultimate Marvel, which began with the acclaimed Ultimate Spider-Man by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley, reimagined the Marvel universe while the original continuity continued as Marvel’s mainstream continuity. The first issue of Ultimates – by Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch – introduced the Ultimate Marvel iteration of Captain America, which quickly became controversial among some readers.
While the Steve Rogers most readers were familiar with was an idealistic, progressive, honorable, hero who embodied the best traits of humanity, his Ultimate counterpart was cynical, ruthless, and out-of-touch. Understandably, many readers found the Ultimate version of Steve Rogers to be an off-putting departure from the beloved hero, perhaps having more in common with Earth-616’s William Burnside or John Walker than the “real” Steve Rogers. The showrunners of The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes appear to have utilized these audience concerns in the show’s story, using the imagery of Ultimate Captain America to convey that the “Steve Rogers” in season 2 was a villainous impostor all along.
Upcoming MCU Movies
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