mcumeta:

I was mulling today on the MCU version of Steve Rogers. All things considered, we’re given very little information about him in the film. What we were told included:

• health conditions
• father dead in WWI
• mother dead while working as a nurse
• Bucky is his friend from childhood
• he lived in Brooklyn
• he gets his butt kicked a lot

So I wanted to look at how they built his character without telling us more about him.

First thing we can tell is that he’s not got money. Look at his clothes in all the skinny!Steve sequences. They are all too big for him, which suggests that they’re most likely second-hand. They were definitely not bought to fit him. Compare them to Bucky in his funeral suit, which is practically made to measure, and we have it very clearly shown that Steve is in a lower social class than Bucky.

Incidentally, Steve has class issues coming out the wazoo. He’s in that level of poor people where all he really has is his pride, and he’s damned if he’s going to let you take that. The funeral scene encapsulates this attitude in a nutshell: I’m strong, I’m sturdy, I can do this, I’m not weak. A huge part of this is because he knows he’s always been seen as frail and weak, but the other part is the part where you know the whole world – especially the higher class people – are looking down on you.

He really does seem to see any compassion coming from Bucky as pity or sympathy, and he is far too prideful to accept it. Which is why Bucky doesn’t even bother telling him about blind dates until he’s there, because he knows Steve would find an excuse to avoid it, if he knew in advance. So basically, if you want Steve Rogers to accept something from you, you don’t offer it. You whack him over the head with it and say “THIS IS YOURS TAKE IT AND SHUT UP”

But anyway, back to his background: given the time-period, and the comic history of Steve being of Irish stock, it would make sense that he’s first or second generation Irish immigrant. At the time, the Irish were still pretty much at the bottom of the social pecking order in NYC, but were gradually working up with the influx of other ethnicities (especially Eastern European Jewish migrants escaping the pogroms).

The Irish definitely weren’t a minority at that point, but they were still treated badly. Particularly the Irish Catholics. Especially in a society where white protestants ruled the day in some denomination or another. (Long story, Church of England, history of invasion of Ireland, forcing protestantism on Ireland, oppression of Catholics for centuries etc)

For this reason, despite it never being mentioned, I get the feeling that Steve’s mother at the very least was Catholic. Steve, I see as mildly religious, but not excessively so. He likes God/Christianity in principle, but I don’t think he would stand with organised religion and the hypocrisy that ensues. Plus he really doesn’t have the Catholic guilt complex. He is more traditional in his sacrifice-self-for-right thing.

I especially adhere to the idea of Steve of Irish Catholic descent, because it would explain a lot of his issues with bullies. The fact he’s not exactly physically able would be enough to get him picked on, but the idea that he’s also from a socially-snubbed class, dismissed by people who see themselves as his betters? I could see that being the salt in the wound.

He really hates bullies who pick on people who can’t help the way they are or who or how they were born. You can’t help your heritage or your illnesses or your cultural background. That’s why I think the Nazis were such a point of anger for him. He would have been angry anyway, but these people were killing the sick, the weak, people of certain religions and heritages. They were attacking people like him.

And that aside, we know Steve is a smart cookie. There’s a scene at Lehigh, where he’s unpacking and half his case is full of books. He’s clever and a tactician, despite having the self-preservation skills of snowball in a furnace. He likes to be aware of politics and his surroundings (see his book collection in TWS). He may play the big dumb golden retriever to the higher ups, which is what many a good soldier does, but Steve has a cunning little brain between his ears.

And also, art. Which perfectly shows what a snarky, bitter, jaded old grump he is. “Whoo, yeah, I’m just a performing monkey in tights. My life is so awesome right now”. He knows he can’t complain out loud, because all he wanted was to get to the Front, but oh, he will draw you a narky comic or two, to let you know how he’s feeling.

And lastly, Steve’s great inability to flirt with people without being a massive fidgetty doofus. Chris Evans has managed to make skinny!Steve still shine through in big!Steve in his nervous gestures, ticks, and anxiety tells.

Next time you watch the film, watch how Steve doesn’t make eye contact with someone when he’s saying something that he’s anxious about. He will say what needs to be said, then look at the person. He will fidget with his hands, rub his forehead, shove his hands in his pockets or cross his arms. And one of my favourites is when big!Steve tries to hunch back down to the size of skinny!Steve to avoid people paying attention to him. It’s so rare to have a superhero who clearly has social anxiety, no doubt triggered by years of being picked on, belittled, or demeaned.

So, I think this pretty much covers the noble art of how Show-don’t-tell was used in the creation of Steve Rogers. And this is why I love the Cap films 🙂