DC Is Taking a Pass at Captain America to Share the Hero’s Dark Side

Warning: Spoilers for Birds of Prey #16!Captain America’s origin story is one of heroic sacrifice, but now DC Comics is flipping the script. From agreeing to be a part of the experimental super soldier program to fighting in World War II and then to being frozen in ice for decades: everything that has happened to Steve Rogers has made him one of Marvel’s greatest heroes. But DC is poking at its rival and revealing the dark side of the super soldier program.

In Birds of Prey #16by Kelly Thompson, Sami Basri, Vicente Cifuentes, Adriano Lucas, and Clayton Cowles, Batgirl is undercover and finds herself in the middle of an experimentation lab. Calling the other Birds to her aid, they discover that there is an underground facility that is experimenting on Amazons against their will and turning them into mindless super soldiers.

A far cry from Captain America’s patriotic consent, DC takes a pass at the iconic origin by revealing its darker side with a Birds of Prey twist, exploring what happens when women’s bodies are changed against their will.

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Steve Rogers Became a Hero By Choice

While there are a host of super soldiers in the Marvel Universe, there’s no one quite like Captain America. Certainly not in the DCU, where characters usually don’t get their powers from genetic mutation, such as Marvel’s X-Men. DC’s introduction of a “super soldier” is not only an obvious reference to the publisher’s competition, but it shows just how unfamiliar territory the Birds of Prey have landed in, especially as they’re basically facing down several “Captain Americas.”

But there’s a much deeper message in this issue’s plot than genetic mutation. It’s important to note that the women being experimented on are Amazons, just like Wonder Woman. Historically and mythologically, an Amazon is the ideal woman who is free from the bondage of society and in complete control of her body, as opposed to being under a man’s control. As the team faces down their new threat, Birds of Prey #16 is a look into the body horror of non-consent.

Wonder Woman’s Sisters Become Super Soldiers in a Dark Twist

The Amazons Are Turned into “Captain Americas” Against Their Will

While Captain America may be the lighter side of the American Dream, DC is revealing another truth still at play today. Consent is the most necessary part of any interaction – especially physical – and Birds of Prey outlines that unless consent is involved, the miracle of the super soldier is more horrific than patriotic. This issue only scratches the surface of a problem still present with many comic fans today, and comics are the perfect medium to deal with these issues in a safe way.

Captain America will continue to be a beacon for the indomitable human spirit, and so will the Birds of Prey, in their own way, as they rescue the Amazons from their imprisonment. It’s important to see a story featuring women saving other women.While DC Comics grapples with the dark side of comics, Captain America will continue to be the light side, as he needs to be – a super soldier by choice, and that’s all that matters.

Birds of Prey #16is available now from DC Comics!