Captain America’s Philosophy

"If only I had Captain America's shield..."

In the Ultimate Spider-Man episode “Not A Toy,” Captain America stops by the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier to give Spider-Man and his young superhero team a few pointers in fighting and strategy.  When Agent Coulson calls Captain America away for a few minutes, the older superhero leaves his shield behind.  Spider-Man picks it up, and dreams of wielding it in battle.  Then he decides to give it a quick throw. 

The shield is more powerful than he realizes, and it breaks through a training room window and flies off the Helicarrier.  As it falls, it bangs into Iron Man (who happens to be flying by), distracts a criminal long enough for the police to capture him, and nearly knocks down Spider-Man’s Aunt May.  Then it bounces over the fence of the Latverian Embassy, where Doctor Doom retrieves it.

"You'd think Captain America would be more careful
than to let a teenager play with his shield."

Like many Marvel heroes and villains, Doctor Doom is a scientist.  Instead of returning the shield, he launches a missile at Spider-Man and heads off to his laboratory.  Spider-Man flees through the streets of New York City until Captain America arrives and knocks out the missile with Spider-Man’s Spidey-Cycle.  

Take that, Doom Missile!

Instead of balling out the young superhero, Captain America says, “I try not to live in the past.”  The two then team up to retrieve the unique shield before Doctor Doom can reverse engineer it to use in his own nefarious purposes.

It’s easy to expend negative energy on what others say or do.  Captain America’s philosophy may be harder to practice, but it seems the wiser approach.  Perhaps that’s why, like Agent Coulson, he’s my favorite superhero.

Now, if only I could get one of those Captain America shirts like Agent Coulson is wearing.

The Ultimate Spider-Man TV show is loosely based on the comic book series of the same name written by Brian Michael Bendis, who serves as a Consulting Producer for the series, and wrote the episode “Not A Toy.”  You can watch Ultimate Spider-Man on Disney XD.

Dragon Dave