How Captain Hydra Could Affect The MCU
In case you’ve been away from recent comic updates (which is good for you), you’ve probably seen the Captain Hydra development. As expected, it’s starting to lead people to questioning what this means for the future of Captain America, what this means for every previous development of Captain America, and, of course, why the hell would they do that in the first place. Since this is now a part of the Captain America canon now, unfortunately, I decided to take a look into what this could mean for the future of Captain America in film.
No one really expects a comic released a week ago to have any influence on a multi-million dollar film in the least, but they’re all under the same Marvel banner essentially. Although I can’t defend the phrase too much anymore, they really are “all connected.” It’s the same excuse why the X-Men and the Fantastic Four have been phased out in recent issues. Or perhaps it explains the introduction of the Secret Wars which emphasizes the different universes. Even if Marvel can’t completely control the comic world, there’s still a plan, one that at least foresees the Captain Hydra twist.
There are already several comic influences in Captain America on film alone. His shield, his backstory, his friendship with Bucky Barnes, his relationship with Peggy Carter, his patriotism, etc. From that alone, it’s pretty rash to not consider comics at all on the screen. With the pace that the influences are moving at now from Captain America’s backstory all the way to Civil War, recent changes could probably be worth a look.
Now moving onto the actual problem. Captain America being a Hydra agent. With what the MCU is now, they don’t seem to be in a hurry to paint Steve Rogers as a bad guy. At the moment, he’s a fugitive from the law, but the law involves regulations we never fully agreed with in the first place. He still values freedom, the individual, and the colors red, white, and blue. He may have broken the team out of prison, but they’re not in a hurry to drop cities on the planet or conquer the world. In other words, he is still a hero.
However, there are obvious holes in the plot that could (but hopefully won’t) lead to a Captain Hydra. For one thing, we likely won’t see Captain America again until Infinity War, and time away from characters drives people crazy with unbelievable theories. Just look at any given Star Wars site. Not to mention, there’s the obvious predominance of Bucky Barnes and Sam Wilson with either one destined to take up the mantle like their comic counterparts. Since the only decent part of this development is maintaining Sam Wilson as a Captain America, and I stress on the ONLY, Marvel may be keeping a reserve with characters that people would gladly support. It’s funny since that’s what people usually thought about Steve Rogers.
Another issue is simply questioning how they would do accomplish it, especially since we aren’t sure what will happen in Infinity War. Perhaps Steve Rogers will die before Bucky takes up the mantle, which is my theory AKA the safe theory. Perhaps he will simply retire for Sam to take over, which is the more recent development. However, for this Hydra connection to work in the twisted sense of the word, it would have to be Steve Rogers. For now, it could still happen.
In the twisted world where Captain Hydra is a thing, Phase 3 would see the defeat of Thanos in Infinity War with Steve retiring for Bucky to take over. With the greater foreshadowing and need for redemption, Bucky, as opposed to Sam, will become the new Captain America for a new phase. In a solo film, Steve would return to assist only to be revealed as an agent of Hydra. The resulting conflict would further establish Bucky as the new Captain America and bring about the shock that apparently qualifies as storytelling these days.
I get that the full story regarding Steve’s Hydra connections hasn’t been told yet, and, odds are, they will retcon the whole thing with body-switching or clones like the good old days. The bottom line, though, is they had Steve Rogers say “Hail Hydra” ironically. That image sticks. We may move past that if Marvel deigns to change it, but that decision will always be a mark on the character who used to be a bastion of goodness. In the movies, it will be a looming possibility influenced by Marvel’s connectively. Regardless of where we see Captain America, whether it’s comics, movies, or TV, we now connect him with a Nazi organization. Maybe that’s the reason he might not return until Infinity War, and that’s the biggest influence of them all.
