Captain Patriotic / Comic Books

Examples of Captain Patriotic in Comic Books:

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Marvel Comics

• Universe-wide, two trends appear in regards to Captain Patriotics in the Marvel Universe:
  • International-wise, every major nation on Marvel Earth seems to have at least one official Captain Patriotic. The U.S. has Captain America. Britain has Captain Britain. Canada has Guardian and/or Vindicator. Russia has Vanguard. Japan has Sunfire. France has Adamantine. Germany has Freiheitskämpfer. Ireland has Shamrock. Saudi Arabia has the Arabian Knight (both of them^note though the current Arabian Knight is from Nazareth, a predominantly Muslim city in Israel). Israel has Sabra. Argentina has Defensor. China has the Collective Man and Star. Even make-believe countries have them. Wakanda has the Black Panther. Symkaria has Silver Sable. And Latveria has... Doctor Doom.
  • Nationally-wise, Captain America is the first (barring retcons) - and only - successful Super-Soldier prototype of the American government, so much so there have been dozens of failed attempts at replicating the Captain America formula for success (or prototypical attempts that didn't fare well either).
• Captain America, a.k.a. Steve Rogers, is the most famous, and greatest embodiment of this trope ever. If you need to sum up his deepest values with one line, it's "I am loyal to nothing... except the [American] Dream." The "River of Truth" speech in Amazing Spider-Man #537 makes it clear that Cap is not guilty of blind jingoism; he says (paraphrased) that if someone else, or even the whole country, decides something wrong is something right and tells you to move out of the way, "your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the whole world — 'No, you move.'"
• Ultimate Universe Captain America in The Ultimates seemed to be a subversion of this, where he is portrayed as more a Jerkass than anything else (patriotic, yes, but to the point of xenophobia), but Warren Ellis managed to make him a little more sympathetic, as evidenced here:
  Ultimate Captain America to Commie Super-Soldier: Yeah, I'm gonna fight you. You know why? Because I fought beside Russians during World War II. They were good and decent men, and they made terrible painful sacrifices to save their country. And for their country to then turn around and put monsters in prisons with nuclear landmines... to see people like you, proudly complicit in this nightmare... Yeah, I'll fight you. You've waited forty years for me in this hellhole, I feel it'd be impolite not to kick your head in.
• Other Marvel examples include, Miss America, the Super-Patriot/USAgent, the original Patriot, the Spirit of '76, the Defender, Jack Flagg, Free Spirit, American Eagle, Yankee Clipper, etc. The first three especially, since at one point or another they were Captain America themselves! Of course, there are dozens of failed attempts at replicating the Captain America formula for success (or prototypical attempts that didn't fare well either). Anti-Cap (the Navy's Super-Sailor), Protocide (failed early attempt), GI Max, Nuke, the 50s Cap who went crazy, etc.
• Another Captain Patriotic in the Captain America titles is John Walker (a.k.a, Super-Patriot and USAgent). His is an interesting case: when Rogers abandoned the mantle because he did want to serve the interests of a specific government, they had Walker take on Rogers's former identity, and Walker did want to live up to his predecessor's reputation. However, his more abrasive personality and political views made him clash with fellow Avengers and even Rogers himself when he retook the mantle. Also, while Steve Rogers is interpreted to represent America's ideals, Walker is more loyal to the American government.
• Thunderbolts: Citizen V (as in 'victory') from the Thunderbolts' original incarnation. Intially, the group formed to fill the void left by the "death" of the Avengers during Onslaught, so a team with its leader wearing a star-and-stripes inspired uniform makes sense. Turns out, it was deliberate on his part, for Citizen V was German villain Baron Zemo, one of Captain America's nemeses, and the Thunderbolts were the Masters of Evil in disguise.
• Young Avengers: Patriot (Elijah Bradley) is the son of Josiah X, himself the son of a man who wore the mantle of Steve Rogers, and one of the founding members of the original incarnation of the Young Avengers. Back then, he modelled his superhero identity after Captain America. Also, an interlude comic published during the event Avengers: The Children's Crusade had Iron Lad, one of Patriot's friends, time travel to an alternate future where Elijah did take the mantle of Captain America.
• Iron Patriot is supposed to look like one, but is the ultimate perversion of this, being Norman Osborn up to his usual tricks, disguising villains as Avengers and pretending to be a hero. The MCU treatment of "Iron Patriot" carried over back to the comics: Rhodey now wears an Iron Patriot armor more like the one in the movie, while Ultimate Tony Stark took on the moniker in a new suit with a paint job similar to Norman Osborn's.
• In the Marvel Comics 2 (MC2) continuity, the role of Captain America is occupied by that generation's American Dream, who is the cousin of Sharon Carter.
• Another Marvel example is Captain Britain, who represents the best and noblest values of Great Britain, as do all his alternate counterparts from parallel universes. His only Evil Twins are from worlds where Britain is an evil empire. The best example of this is Captain Airstrip-One, the ultimate government tool with nothing resembling a will of his own. He fights for the glory of Ingsoc. Another example is Hauptmann Englande, from a world where Britain is an integral part of the Third Reich.
  • Speaking of Captain Britain, his Ultimate Universe counterpart portrays him as part of an EU-sponsored task force, rather than being empowered magically and being a living representation of the UK. Among his teammates, there's Captain France, Captain Italy, and Captain Spain.
• The Falcon, the biggest Captain Patriotic not dressed in the flag. ...Until the All-New Marvel NOW!, that is.
• Canada in the Marvel Universe has a complicated relationship with this trope:
  • The Weapon X program, best known for giving Wolverine his adamantium skeleton, was Canada's attempt at creating their own super-soldier. However, they were completely incapable of doing so without leaving their subjects physically and mentally traumatized to hell: Wolverine, Deadpool, Sabretooth...you get the idea.
  • Alpha Flight is pretty much an entire team of Captain Canadas. While Guardian—whether it's James MacDonald "Mac" Hudson or his wife Heather—is the most outwardly obvious due to their power suit's red maple leaf motif, the entire classic team represents a different aspect of Canadian culture. Mac is from Ontario, Heather is from Alberta, Puck is a hockey reference, Marinna is from the Maritimes, Shaman represents the First Nations, Northstar and Aurora are Quebecois (with Northstar being a former separatist), Snowbird represents the northern territories, and Sasquatch is from British Columbia.
• Black Panther represents the fictional Wakanda. The Black Panther is also traditionally the king and high priest of Wakanda as well, though Wakanda has since adopted a more democratic government, making the Panther a ceremonial role rather than the actual leader.
• Silver Sable is a European example, hailing from the fictional country of Symkaria. Notably more neutral, with a dose of My Country, Right or Wrong for good measure.
• Doctor Doom is arguably an inversion of this trope because he has forced the fictional European nation of Latveria to reflect his image instead of the other way around. Ironically, in-universe, the people of Latveria like him and think of him as a good ruler. And while he may be a tyrant, he honestly loves his country and people and protects and provides for them.
• Another villainous Captain Patriotic was the Tarantula, who was hyped as this trope but was mainly The Dragon to the murderous dictator who ruled his South American country.
• Hauptmann Deutschland ("Captain Germany") was introduced in the Captain America series as modern Germany's Captain Patriotic. However, Marvel's German licensee balked at using the name, because it sounded far too nationalistic, right-wing, and even vaguely Nazi to postwar German ears. As such, in German translation Hauptmann Deutschland became Freiheitskämpfer ("Freedom Fighter" or "Freedom's Warrior").
  • The name Freiheitskämpfer was carried over to English-language releases as well, but since that word is asking a lot from readers not versed in German, he is also sometimes known as Vormund, which translates as "Guardian," but only in the context of being a child's legal Parental Substitute. The dangers of relying on Google Translate.
• Captain America's arch-enemy Red Skull, meanwhile, is a villainous example, being a more overtly militaristic Nazi super-soldier wearing the colors of the World War II German war flag and a Prussian/Nazi symbol, his eponymous skull mask.^note Skulls and bones symbolizing "loyalty unto death" in Prussian iconography, which the Nazi SS later took over. While his characterization varies somewhat as Depending on the Writer, usually at least he is a fanatically devoted German nationalist and Nazi. In-universe he was actually a sort of prototype for Cap, and thus the Captain Patriotic kind of character generally: FDR approved the project to create an American super-soldier specifically in order to produce something to counter Germany's Red Skull.
• According to Walt Simonson, this is why Steve Rogers cannot wield Thor's hammer Mjolnir. Though he's worthy of it in most respects, Steve's identity is too deeply rooted in America and its values — he cannot be considered "worthy" by a Norse artifact. Mjolnir can only be wielded by a worthy warrior — Steve is a soldier of the USA.
• American Eagle is a C-List Marvel hero who combines this trope with Animal-Themed Superbeing and Magical Native American.

DC Comics

• Superman. "Truth, justice and the American way." Superman, being an alien, adopted the USA as his country.
  • Spoofed in the Saturday Night Live sketch "What If?". With the statement, "What if Superman had grown up in Germany instead of America?". Superman becomes Uberman.
    • Done deadly serious in Kim Newman's "Ubermensch!".
    • Overman of DC's Earth-10 is a Tragic Villain—a Superman adopted by Nazi Germany in a world where the Nazis went on to win World War II, who has abiding guilt over their atrocities.
  • A different Overman (a native of the Darker and Edgier Earth-17) wore an American flag cape.
  • And then there's Superman: Red Son, an Elseworld where Superman's adopted country is the USSR.
  • And Superman: True Brit, in which he is raised by an incredibly bland and none too bright British family; he's still a defender of Truth, Justice, and the British Way, but is kind of a nitwit.
  • Earth-23 has a black Superman who, in his secret identity, became U.S. President. Naturally enough, solicits and fans call him President Superman.
  • In JLA/Avengers, Superman had to carry Cap's shield at some point. He felt honored.
• DC Comics has its equivalent of Captain America in Uncle Sam - the Anthropomorphic Personification of the American Spirit - himself.
  • Other DC characters who embody this trope are Major Victory, Lady Liberty, the first Star-Spangled Kid, and Stargirl and S.T.R.I.P.E.
  • DC Comics also has Unknown Soldier; and Dynamite has Soldier Unknown based on a different "Unknown Soldier" character.
  • DC's Spirit of America went through a metamorphosis from Minuteman (Revolutionary War) to Brother Johnathan (antebellum period), then splitting into Billy Yank and Johnny Reb (the Civil War), then merging again and becoming Uncle Sam (post-Civil War to today). Well, okay, he was also briefly the Patriot circa 2002 but went back to Uncle Sam after only one or two appearances in that form.
  • Miss America, who steps in when Uncle Sam dies (he does this all the time) while leading the Freedom Fighters and is also a frequent member of the Justice Society of America, is a Golden Age hero whose powerset means she hasn't really aged since the '40s when she was fighting in World War II.
  • Wonder Woman was this initially, but her character has developed significantly over time. In her first stories, she was a foreigner dressed in a costume that Americans would interpret as "patriotic", apparently as conscious propaganda. These days, she's too integrated with Classical Mythology to be a straight-up patriot (Superman being a better fit for this role, what with the whole "truth, justice and the American way" thing).
  • American Eagle in Captain Carrot and The Final Ark is a parody of the trope; a right-wing radio host who talks entirely in patriotic cliches. He has no powers "except those granted to me by the Constitution". Yankee Poodle has attraction and repulsion abilities based on the stars-and-stripes theme of the American flag.
  • Commander Steel from All-Star Squadron started off as an embodiment of this trope, but became a subversion when his grandson took up the mantle as a member of the JLA. The original Steel was now shown to be an ultra-conservative and a bit of a bigot, and his patriotism was played as a negative character trait.
  • Miss Liberty from Tomahawk, who was a patriotic heroine of the Revolutionary War.
  • The (now defunct) Global Guardians were essentially a whole team of Captain Patriotics from around the world.
  • And as a twisted example, Stalnoivolk ("Steel Wolf", or perhaps "Stalin's Wolf"). Fiercely loyal to the USSR—but that's the USSR of Josef Stalin, who created him. He'll work for later Soviet leaders, but he considers them, at best, to be poor and unworthy implementers of Stalin's glorious vision.
  • Another evil example with Captain Nazi, a Marvel Family villain. His Golden Age version (originally created by Fawcett Comics) was a Nazi given powers by a Super Serum; Post-Crisis he was a neo-Nazi, though a later line about him never dying as long as Nazism exists may have been meant to Retcon him into some kind of Anthropomorphic Personification.
• In Watchmen, the government tries to portray The Comedian as one of these, but he's very obviously not a hero of this type.
  • A milder Deconstruction also in Watchmen is Dollar Bill: he has the most overtly patriotic costume of any character in the book, and he's also the only character who's a corporate mascot.
• Man of War
• Socialist Red Guardsman of China's Great Ten. While August General in Iron and Immortal Man in Darkness are also true patriots, Socialist Red Guardsman is the only member of the team to actually have Das Kapital and The Little Red Book committed to memory. Socialist Red Guardsman believes he is the revolution, and has frequently broken his back to ensure that his teammates toe the party line with his endless rants and lectures. He even attempted to quit the team in disgust at his country's growing commercialism.
• As another example from DC comics, there is "The Force of July", later, "Freedom's Ring". The most glaring examples are Major Victory, a flag-wearing superhero and their leader; and Lady Liberty, a woman basically cosplaying as the Statue of Liberty. In their original appearance, we also had Silent Majority, a Multiple Man-esque hero of a few words; Mayflower, who could accelerate vegetal growth, and Sparkler, a boy with living fireworks powers.

Imege Comics

• Image Comics has Super Patriot, who was in his heyday a direct Captain Ersatz version of Captain America. His kids with the superhero clone names Liberty & Justice also qualify.
• In The Savage Dragon comics:
  • Jennifer Dragon, a.k.a. Smasher, is recruited by the American government after a failed Martian invasion into the ranks of an official superteam named "Special Operations Strikeforce" (S.O.S.). Eventually, she ascends in their ranks and becomes their leader. Her visual design evokes the red-white-and-blue tricolor motif of similar superheroes, and there is even a stylized white eagle over her chest area.
  • Battle Girl, Smasher's daughter, takes on an outfit resembling her mother's, with the red-blue-and-white tricolor, star and stripes motifs, a navy blue skirt with white stars, but showing even more skin. She also joins the S.O.S.

Other publishers

• This is the premise of Mark Millar's The Ambassadors: a South Korean scientist discovers a supergene that can grant people powers and makes a new body for herself. She assumes the identity of a superheroine and wears a costume inspired by the South Korean flag. She then makes an announcement to the world she will offer powers to anyone in the world, but she will choose one person per country. At the end of Volume 1, her team consists of her (South Korean), an Indian man, a French mother and son duo, a Mexican man, an Afro-Brazilian young woman, and an Australian senior.
• Elementals has many world governments create their own superheroes such as China's Flying Dragon, after information on the Elementals origins became common knowledge. So superheroes after the Elementals were often either Corporate-Sponsored Superhero who are heavily incentivized or they were deeply Captain Patriotic working for their government, this is because becoming superhuman required the person to die first and then have their corpse revived by a supernatural entity or force.
• Tomorrow Stories features the parodic First American and his sidekick U.S.Angel as it is, but one issue sees FA consulting with other national heroes - Captain Uzbekistan, Le Premier Francais, Deutschlander Zahlein, and the Fightin' Limey ("who sleeps in my garage").
• Parodied with Capitán Hispania, who carries a shield with the colours of the Spanish flag, but never says anything that can be considered patriotic.
• Superdupont, by Jacques Lob and Gotlib, is a French parody of the concept, defending France from Strawman Foreigners (an organization known as Anti-France, who speak in almost entirely non-French words and try to denature French-made products or steal the Eiffel Tower). Unfortunately, the concept was quite popular among xenophobic far-righters, causing the series to be cancelled.
• Ritter Germania, from the Block 109 series. An In-Universe nazi propaganda hero, with In-Universe movies and comics to boot. He actually reflects A Lighter Shade of Black within an alternate Nazi Germany, since he represents the New Teutonic Order, which is in an Interservice Rivalry with the SS and didn't take part in the monstrous crimes nazis were infamous for (which were worse as the war lasted longer than in reality). And the actor playing him goes on a killing spree among the Nazi leadership.
• Tarn from The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye is wholly devoted to the Decepticon cause, fully believing in Megatron's Peace through Tyranny (he named his ship the Peaceful Tyranny). So great is his devotion, he crafted several masks resembling the Decepticon symbol, wears them constantly, and he changed his name to Tarn, which is Megatron's home city.
• Femforce: Miss (later Ms.) Victory, Yankee Girl, and Stormy Tempest.
• Deconstructed by Reuben Flagg in American Flagg!; while the Plexus Ranger uniforms look patriotic, the Plex itself and the Rangers as a corps are as corrupt as could be imagined. Reuben is often shown as the only one who takes his work and his patriotic stance seriously (if somewhat pragmatically), and is constantly derided for it. In the end, he stages a revolution to get Chicago and other surviving parts of the former US out from under the Plex's thumb.
• La Borinqueña from Puerto Rico (though she technically lives in NYC). She is named after the Puerto Rican anthem, empowered by the gods of the ancient Puerto Ricans, wears a costume based on the Puerto Rican flag, and is fiercely proud of her people and heritage.
• El Kuraan is an interesting case, since he's this for his tribe, the Santar, instead of his country, Egypt. Still, he fits due to being a defender of his people.
• Pat Patriot: America's Joan of Arc: Pat becomes this due to a perfect coincidence of her having been in a costume she wore for a patriotic play at the time of her first adventure, and her real surname sounding so similar to the word "Patriot."
• Super-American has the most Captain Patriotic codename ever and was specifically sent from the future to defend the United States.
• The Steel Fist is literally empowered by Lady Liberty to fight evil.
• The Boys has at least two: the Homelander and Soldier Boy, ersazten of Superman and Captain America respectively. Being super-"heroes" in a Garth Ennis comic, the first is naturally a hedonistic mass murderer gaslit into insanity by his secret clone, and the second an easily-manipulated idiot who yells out a random state every time he Shield Bashes someone. When Billy kills him, he makes his contempt for claiming to be a veteran (as a Legacy Character, the first one wasn't much smarter and got killed during his first deployment) clear, saying it's an insult to the dead soldiers of World War II.
• Buckskin: America's Defender of Liberty is an unusual example. While Buckskin is undoubtedly very patriotic, he uses a frontier theme for his heroics instead of a nationalism theme.
• Patriotika is an independent comic about a college girl who becomes the human host for the Greek goddess Athena, turning her into an muscular woman with a star-spangled banner costume.
• Capes, Inc., set in the universe of Invincible, is a group of Punch-Clock Heroes. One of their leaders is Commander Capitalism, whose superhero costume is simply just a bodysuit with the pattern of the American flag. Another member is the American Champion, who has a similar getup.
• Archie Comics character The Shield, created fourteen months before Captain America, brought back for a while by DC Comics, and who is now the mentor to the New Crusaders. He is also a Legacy Character. The modern-day version of the character is a woman.
• There have been several different versions of Richard Comely's Canadian superhero Captain Canuck, originally published by Comely Comix in the 1970s, and rebooted in 2015 by Chapterhouse Comics.
• Earlier Canadian Captain Patriotics include the World War II-era heroes Johnny Canuck published by Bell Features, and his competitor Canada Jack from Educational Projects. Nelvana of the Northern Lights, who predated both of them, is a borderline case, as she was arguably more of a spirit of the Canadian Arctic and the native peoples than of Canada as a whole.
• In the 1970s, several months before Captain Canuck premiered, James Waley's alien-fighting Canadian superhero the Northern Light was published in Orb Magazine. Later, in the 1980s, the independent superhero series Northguard gave us an Alan Moore-influenced "realistic" take on the Canadian Captain Patriotic.
• In the early 2000s, the webcomic series Canadiana introduced the first female Canadian-flag superhero with her own series.
• In Stormwatch: Team Achilles (the WildStorm Universe, now integrated into the main DCU), Citizen Soldier is so much a super-patriot that he renounced death itself to protect America. In fact, he's George Washington (yes, that George Washington), constantly reincarnating thanks to a magic ritual designed by Franklin, Jefferson, and the other Freemason sorcerers.
• Nedor Comics had a few of those, like Liberator and American Eagle, but its best example was Fighting Yank, powered by the American Spirit itself and with the ghost of a World War I hero as The Mentor. Since Nedor's characters fell into the public domain, they've seen several revamped uses in recent years, including Terra Obscura and Project Superpowers.
• Fighting American, who quickly turned into parody when Joe Simon and Jack Kirby realized he was not as popular as they expected. Even when Rob Liefeld bought the rights to this character in order to turn him into a Captain America rip-off it didn't work.
• The Flag from Ace Publications, who was informed he was America's Chosen One by George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.
• The titular hero of the indie comic Kamen America is a USO dancer who after gaining powers adopted the mandatory red, white, and blue uniform for heroes in this category. Her former PR agent states in an interview that he specifically told her not to incorporate "America" in her name to to avoid politicizing herself, which is why she originally went by "Warhen" (itself a play on Warbird).
• In Rising Stars, corporate superhero Flagg (who later changes his name to Patriot) is working on his reputation as one. However, the real Captain Patriotic in this universe is officer Matthew Bright. Bright wanted to serve America and its people so much he joined the police force. He has to hide his powers because Specials cannot be members of any force. And when the government found out and was trying to kick him out, his fellow police officers protested so much, they had to give up and try to use a Legal Loophole to forbid him from wearing a police uniform and badge, thus making it impossible for him to work. They underestimated his friends from the Police Department, who just brought a uniform and badge designed only for him.
• In PS238, the school has two: US Patriot Act (a boy named Dillon or Darnel) and American Eagle (a girl named Jenny). They're each in training to replacing the aging Freedom Fighter, are each sponsored by a major political party, and their constant attempts at out-patriot each other are really, really annoying to everyone around them, and keeps them from ever getting much done. What Do You Mean, It's Not Political??
• Pat Patriot: America's Joan of Arc: A Golden Age heroine, Patricia Patrios is a former factory worker who has recently been fired. Having gotten a job as an actress playing a female Uncle Sam, Pat ends up busting a smuggling operation in her costume. A reporter learning of the story mishears her name as "Pat Patriot," which Pat takes as her codename in her newfound quest to defend America.