Summary: %CODE_SE10%<br> <br> It’s the Super Tuesday Recap you’ve been asking us for. Kriss, Dpalm and Justin are back to discuss Nick Spencer’s Secret Empire. If we sound a bit animated during the show it’s because there has been an incredible amount of poorly written takes on this event. Now of course, not everyone is going to like or even agree with everything that happens in this event. That’s perfectly okay. What’s not okay though is when entire articles are written or discussions are had and basic facts are misconstrued or worse, ignored. Here are some of basics we talk about in breaking down this event:<br> <br> This is as much Sam’s Story as it is Steve’s<br> <br> One of the instant ways I can tell if an article or discussion on Secret Empire is worth my attention is if there’s any mention of Sam Wilson. This <a href="http://io9.gizmodo.com/what-was-the-point-of-marvels-secret-empire-1798626627">Io9</a> article mentions him twice but only in passing, not as central to the story. To be fair that’s 2 more times than most other articles trashing Secret Empire. This IGN article that’s been passed around a lot, <a href="http://www.ign.com/articles/2017/09/01/between-the-panels-why-marvels-secret-empire-failed">Why Secret Empire Failed</a>, mentions Sam Wilson zero times. You cannot have a real discussion about Secret Empire without Sam Wilson. He’s at least half (if not more) of the story. Everyone’s been so focused on Steve but Nick Spencer’s run on both Captain America books and Secret Empire has been about making Sam Wilson the hero and Captain America the Marvel Universe needs even when they didn’t know it. Yes, Sam gives up being Captain America for a bit but it’s understandable why. It wasn’t just Steve working against him but also the country (or at least the folks Sam was listening to). But Sam is a hero. So even when he gave up Captain America he was still helping people. He was still bitter though, even saying that maybe the people didn’t deserve Captain America. But it takes Misty Knight and a young Patriot to tell Sam that his problem was he was too busy worrying about the opinions of the wrong people and not those who really needed him and supported him.<br> <br> <br> <br> And that’s when Sam Wilson reemerges. Right when the rest of the heroes think they’ve been defeated Sam picks the shield up and leads them to victory. Make no mistake: Sam is the hero who saves the day here, not good Steve. By the time the other Steve Rogers shows up, the fight is over. Kobik is rescued and the fight is over. The end panels of Secret Empire prove this: Steve gives the shield back to Sam (“This doesn’t belong to me”), the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes shot has Sam not Steve and most telling, at the end the kids are fighting over a Captain America doll that is revealed to be…Sam.<br> <br> <br> <br> It’s a Discussion on America<br> <br> The panel of good Steve knocking out Hydra Steve with Mjolnir spread around social media fueling the idea that bringing back the “good” Steve was the end game for Secret Empire. The problem is, the panels before and after the Steves fight offer a lot of missing context. As I mentioned above, by the time the Steves square off, the war is over. Kobik has been freed and Hydra Steve no longer has any power. But Sam stops Bucky from intervening because Sam knows that Steve basically needs to face himself. It’s a metaphor for white people in America confronting their own white privilege. See, fighting fascism and bigotry isn’t just about confronting the low hanging fruit (Hydra or Nazis or Neo-Nazis or Alt-Right). It’s also about confronting the evil bigotry inside which is what the fight between the Steves is. And in that fight, Steve uses the tools of a black person (The Shield) and a woman (Thor’s Mjolnir) to defeat the evil reflection in himself. But the most important part comes after the fight: He hands the shield back to Sam and Mjolnir back to Thor (Jane Fos...
