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As Captain America calls in reinforcements to deal with his greatest enemies, one star-spangled superhero is already defending a new generation.
WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for United States of Captain America #4, on sale now from Marvel Comics.
The comic book miniseries United States of Captain America has appropriately expanded the superhero legacy of the Star-Spangled Avenger from sea to shining sea. From a wayward teenager that rides the rails to administer justice for the downtrodden to an indigenous construction worker that stands up for those ignored and persecuted by the systems that were erected to serve them, a whole generation of heroes have risen up nationwide to inspire and reimagine the Captain America mantle for themselves. As Steve Rogers and his friends discover the true stakes of the supervillain threat that they are up against, a new Captain America fighting for the nation’s youth joins the fight right in time to help the veteran Captains America.
After Speed Demon and the Red Skull’s twisted daughter Sinthea nearly assassinated a gubernatorial candidate in New Mexico, saved only in the nick of time by Bucky Barnes, Steve and his friends rally together at a remote cabin to anticipate where the two supervillains rampaging cross-country may have gone next. This planning is interrupted by the arrival of rail-riding Captain America Aaron Fischer and the college student Sentinel of Liberty Arielle Agbayani who are ready to help their superhero influences. And while the main story in United States of Captain America #4 (by Christoper Cantwell, Ron Lim, Cam Smith, Scott Hanna, Matt Milla and VC’s Joe Caramagna) covers Arielle’s team-up with the other Captains America, her backstory is revealed in the issue’s back-up tale.
The back-up story “The Halloween Party” (by Alyssa Wong, Jodi Nishijima, Milla and Caramagna) reveals that Arielle is a 19-year old college student at the Boston-based Hargrove University. After Arielle’s roommate is harassed by a local frat boy whose family’s wealth and history with the university makes him virtually untouchable, Arielle dons a makeshift Captain America costume to infiltrate a Halloween party thrown by the frat, seizing cellphones containing the irrefutable incriminating evidence against him. Steve and Sam Wilson’s dossier on Arielle reveals that Arielle uses the Captain America mantle to defend those similarly preyed upon by the rich and powerful while in her sophomore year at the university.
Arielle discloses that she traveled from Boston to New York City where she linked up with Aaron before the two traveled all the way to Colorado where the Captains America were planning their next move. Aaron and Arielle are noticeably already firm friends, playing video games together while the older superheroes listen in on local transmissions and reports for signs of suspicious activity. When Speed Demon, Sinthea and the sinister Commander Krieger all team up to attack a nearby American military base, Arielle and Aaron leap into action alongside Steve, Sam and Bucky to save the day.
Arielle is another strong example of the idea that it doesn’t take age, experience or even Super Soldier serum coursing through one’s veins to make them worthy of the Captain America mantle. Instead, it just takes a willingness to stand up against tyranny in all of its insidious forms, including a spoiled rich kid used to getting away with committing heinous crimes against his peers.
When the progenitors of the Captain America legacy found themselves in a time of need, Arielle was among the first to drop what she was doing to travel across the continent to help in any way she could. Her attitude and willingness to stand beside the heroes are what make her a suitable inheritor of the Captain America legacy.
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