More people will see Captain America: The Winter Soldier during its opening weekend than will ever read a Captain America comic book. But the character was born in the pages of that medium over 70 years ago. His printed legacy lives on as the book enters the All-New Marvel NOW! age with a story about the Iron Nail.
The Iron Nail used to be a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent named Ran Shen who in 1968 was on Mount Everest where he awakened a spirit called Nian. The dragon pierced Ran’s chest with his claw to give him the power to fulfill his wishes. Years later, he returns to wreak havoc on what he perceives to be a corrupted S.H.I.E.L.D. More about Ran Shen is revealed in the spinoff series Winter Soldier: The Bitter March which is a flashback series to the 60’s when Bucky Barnes was still a Soviet assassin, which is a neat bit of synergy to the upcoming film.
With a S.H.I.E.L.D. that is being criticized, the book mirrors the current status quo of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We know that in Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. that the organization has been compromised. In the trailers for Captain America: The Winter Soldier we see Steve Rodgers questioning S.H.I.E.L.D.’s tactics. While there is no question that the Iron Nail is a villain, his perspective on S.H.I.E.L.D. is quickly becoming the status quo. And with Hellicarriers going down in flames and secret S.H.I.E.L.D. bases being revealed while being nuked, the general public of the Marvel Universe is starting to wonder if having S.H.I.E.L.D. around is a good thing or not.
For those inspired to start reading Captain America books by the film and wanting to see what the end result of The Iron Nail’s carnage will be, I would recommend starting with the recent Captain America #16.NOW. It is a good jumping on point, but here is what you need to know…
Captain America has recently returned from Dimension Z, a world created by the villain Armin Zola. He returned with Zola’s daughter Jet Black, but lost several people that he loved. His girlfriend Sharon Carter and his son Ian were lost in the final confrontation with Zola. After his defeat, Zola gave his life to save Jet Black telling her to continue his legacy. Now Jet Black is in the regular Marvel world and we don’t know whether she is on the side of Captain America or Armin Zola. Speaking of Cap, after the loss of Sharon and Ian he has not been the same, but he continues to try and be a good soldier.
If you want to read something a little more inline with the upcoming film, pick up the Captain America: Winter Soldier hardcover. It collects issues 1-9 and 11-14 of the 2005 run of Captain America. Written by the acclaimed Ed Brubaker with art by Steve Epting and Michael Lark explains the origins of the Winter Soldier and a battle to control a Cosmic Cube (the Tesserect from the films). This story was very controversial when initially published, but the fantastic story has turned it into an all-time classic.
The comics inspire the movies and the movies inspire the comics. But all that matters, is that in whatever media they exist, the characters are being used in good stories. I’ll have my review of Captain America: The Winter Solider tomorrow so you will know how I feel about the film. But the comics book are currently telling an interesting story. Rick Remender is taking Cap in a different direction than long-time writer Ed Brubaker did. This is probably for the best, as I don’t think anyone could match Brubaker’s espionage tinged stories. This different kind of story takes some getting used to, but seeing Cap out of his element has been a lot of fun.
