The 10 Greatest Patriotic Superheroes
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10. Fighting American
Captain America was created by Jack Kirby and Joe Simon, but they didn’t own the character that they put so much work into. Instead of just watching Marvel profit from their character, Simon and Kirby tried again with Fighting American, another U.S. themed superhero in the ‘50s.
Let’s face it, Fighting American isn’t even a thinly disguised Captain America clone. He even has his own teen sidekick named Speedboy!
The unique thing about Fighting American is that Kirby and Simon retained ownership of the character, which has allowed them and their estates to revisit the character from time-to-time.
Fighting American will never surpass Captain America, but his creation was an important moment in the creator rights movement.
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9. U.S. Agent
Once again, this a character who can’t escape the shadow of Captain America... because he actually was Captain America for a while!
John Walker aka Super-Patriot was introduced in the mid-80s as a patriotic anti-hero, who didn’t necessarily share the ideals of the original Captain America. However, Walker was given the Captain America identity as part of a storyline in which Steve Rogers (the first Cap) resigned rather than allow the government to dictate his every action.
Walker’s stint as Captain America was followed by his current superhero identity, U.S. Agent. Modern depictions of Walker have demonstrated that he’s not necessarily a bad guy and he’s genuine in his beliefs and his love for America. But he’s also a huge a**hole who rarely has moments of self-awareness. Most of the time, Walker believes that he’s superior to Steve Rogers.
But he isn’t... and it’s not a close contest.
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8. The Shield
The Shield has the distinction of beating Captain America by over a year, which means The Shield was the first super soldier patriotic hero in comics. And yet, very few comic fans are familiar with The Shield.
Like Fighting American and Captain America, The Shield had a teen sidekick (Dusty) and similar origin stories. Archie Comics owns The Shield and it’s allowed DC to reboot and reinvent The Shield twice, but he’s never really caught on with modern comic book readers.
That said, The Shield gets the nod on this list because he came first and because Archie is still trying to find ways to make this character work. Maybe someday, someone will come up with a take on The Shield that resonates with readers.
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7. Uncle Sam
Yes, that’s right. Uncle Sam is a superhero too!
Back in 1940, comic book icon Will Eisner debuted Uncle Sam as “the personification of the United States" who inhabited the body of a dead Revolutionary War soldier who happened to look just like the iconic images of Uncle Sam.
DC kept using Uncle Sam with the Freedom Fighters all the way up to the New 52 reboot, which recently introduced an African American incarnation of Uncle Sam for the modern audience.
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6. Ms. Victory
Captain America wasn’t the only patriotic character to debut in 1941. Miss Victory also premiered that year as one of the earliest female superheroes. Miss Victory only stuck around until 1946, when her first run came to an end.
If that had been the end of Miss Victory then she wouldn’t be on this list. But in 1984, Bill Black’s A.C. Comics revived the character and renamed her Ms. Victory while expanding her backstory and featuring Ms. Victory as one of the main characters of the FemForce.
FemForce is still being published, although its issues only come out a few times a year. Still, a second life of thirty years of continuous publication means that Ms. Victory has a better track record than most of the male characters on this list.
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5. Miss America
Marvel (or Timely, as it was called in the ‘40s) introduced Madeline Joyce as the superpowered Miss America in 1943. Technically, this makes Miss America one of the earliest Marvel superheroines.
Within the larger context of the Marvel Universe, Miss America has only appeared sporadically since the ‘60s. However, a modern day version called Miss America Chavez was recently one of the breakout characters of Young Avengers, after making her debut in the Vengeance miniseries.
While Madeline Joyce may not currently be able to hold her own book, America Chavez seems like she could get her own title in the future. That would go a long way towards keeping the legacy of Marvel’s Miss America alive.
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4. Wonder Woman
You’d barely know it from the New 52, but Wonder Woman was once one of the most patriotic superheroines around. Even her costume looked a lot like an American flag! As originally created by William Moulton Marston, Wonder Woman was an Amazon princess her left her home to fight in World War II alongside an American soldier named Steve Trevor.
In the ‘80s, writer and artist George Perez came up with a clever way to explain why Wonder Woman’s costume used American iconography. Steve’s mother, Diana Trevor was also a soldier who had crashed on Themyscira (the island home of the Amazons) and she sacrificed herself to help the Amazons defeat an ancient evil. Thus, the Wonder Woman costume was created to honor Diana Trevor.
The New 52 redesign of Wonder Woman’s costume has lost most of its previous American imagery as Wonder Woman’s mythological side has been played up. Despite that, Wonder Woman is still a uniquely American superheroine.
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3. Bucky
Captain America’s sidekick, Bucky used to be more famous for being dead than anything else. But he’s had a much bigger impact in the last nine years.
Spoilers ahead for Captain America: The Winter Soldier!
In 2005, Marvel brought Bucky back as the Winter Soldier, a feared assassin who had been brainwashed by the Russians decades before. Eventually, Captain America was able to free his former partner and the Winter Soldier became one of Marvel’s most popular characters.
As second acts go, that’s not bad at all.
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2. Captain America
There’s only one true Captain America.
By any standard, Captain America is one of the all time great superheroes. His original costume is also one of the best designs in the history of comics. Plus, Steve Rogers is a very compelling character even without the mask.
Captain America transcends red state and blue state bulls*** and he doesn’t believe in the politics of fear or ignorance. He represents the best of America, in almost all ways.
The success of Captain America: The Winter Soldier may finally do for Captain America what the first Iron Man film did for Iron Man. In the minds of the general public, Captain America is once again an A-list character who can hold down his own blockbuster film outside of The Avengers.
But he’s only number 2 on this list.
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1. Superman
“Truth, Justice and the American way.” That really says it all, doesn’t it?
It’s been argued that Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster’s Superman is the quintessential American immigrant story. Born from a dying world, Superman was raised in Kansas as Clark Kent and he grew up to become the most iconic superhero of all time. Superman is the measure by which all other superheroes are judged.
Now, Fox News would have us believe that Superman is no longer the paragon of American values after a short story by David Goyer in Action Comics # 900; which featured Superman announcing his intention to renounce his American citizenship because he didn’t want his actions to be confused with or constrained by American politics.
Keep in mind, Goyer is the same guy who thought that having a Superman who could kill in Man of Steel would be perfectly acceptable. So, he’s not exactly the expert on Superman’s character.
Even when you consider that Superman never actually went through with renouncing his American citizenship before the New 52 reboot, it’s not as if Superman ever trashed his belief system. Superman may be a citizen of the world, but Clark Kent is an American. The values that were instilled in him by his human parents have made Superman into the very best of all of us.
Superman sets the bar pretty high when it comes to virtue. He may not wear an American flag on his costume, but Superman is the greatest American superhero.
