Stan Lee is not as angry about Captain America joining Hydra as you are
As the writer responsible for bringing Captain America out of suspended animation in the 1960s, readers might expect Stan Lee to share their outrage that the patriotic hero has apparently been working for the evil organization Hydra all along.
Not so much.
"I think it's crazy but it's a good idea," Lee said at a MegaCon panel Thursday.
The final page of last week's "Captain America: Steve Rogers #1" stunned comic fans and random internet users alike when Cap, after hurling boombox-wielding former sidekick Jack Flag out of a plane, turned and said, "Hail Hydra."
Writer Nick Spencer and editor Tom Brevoort have said the specifics of how Rogers is and seemingly always has been a Hydra agent will be revealed in next month's issue, but tens of thousands of Twitter users have shown little interest in waiting for answers.
Lee, who along with artist Jack Kirby introduced the World War II hero to the Avengers in 1964's "Avengers #4," said the twist was a clever idea.
"I don't know that I would ever have thought of it for him to be a double agent," he said, "but it's going to make you curious, it's going to make you want to read the books. They'll probably do a movie based on it."
Chris Evans, who has played Steve Rogers in five blockbuster films, expressed shock at the revelation on Twitter last week.
A tweet from the official "Captain America: Civil War" account Monday celebrating the character's 75th anniversary generated many predictably furious responses.
Spencer explained the thinking behind the twist, attempted to calm fan anger, and teased future developments in what he described as a story he could not believe Marvel allowed him to write in a Word Balloon podcast interview Friday.
Thousands of fans disgusted by the story development, which appears to enlist a famous American hero created by Jewish artists into a Nazi-affiliated terrorist organization, have signed an online petition to stop Marvel somehow. Others have suggested donating money to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.
"Captain America: Steve Rogers #2,"by Spencer and artist Jesus Saiz, is scheduled for release on June 29.
