Marvel Cinematic Universe

Captain America's seventy-year existence spans from World War II through the Cold War to the American War on Terror; beginning as a soldier unopposed to offensive attacks against foreign threats, he later becomes known as a defender whose only weapon is his iconic shield. In this way, Captain America reflects America's need to renegotiate its social contract and reinvent its national myths and cultural identity, all the while telling stories proclaiming an eternal and unchanging spirit of America. In Captain America, Masculinity, and Violence, Stevens reveals how the comic book hero has evolved to maintain relevance to America's fluctuating ideas of masculinity, patriotism, and violence. Stevens outlines the history of Captain America's adventures and places the unfolding storyline in dialogue with the comic book industry as well as America's varying political culture. Stevens shows that Captain America represents the ultimate American story: permanent enough to survive for nearly seventy years with a history fluid enough to be constantly reinterpreted to meet the needs of an ever-changing culture.

Marvel Comics has an established tradition of addressing relevant real-life issues facing the American public. With the publication of ""Civil War"" (2006-2007), a seven-issue crossover storyline spanning the Marvel universe, they focused on contemporary anxieties such as terrorism and threats to privacy and other civil liberties. This collection of new essays explores the ""Civil War"" series and its many tie-in titles from the perspectives of history, political science, sociology, psychology, literary criticism, law, philosophy and education. The contributors provide a close reading of the series' main theme - the appropriate balance between freedom and security - and discuss how that balance affects citizenship, race, gender and identity construction in 21st-century America.