Warning: spoilers ahead for Avengers #40!
In the the latest issue of Marvel Comics' Avengers, Captain America was just tempted and tested by the incredible power of the Phoenix Force. Along with several other heroes and villains in the Marvel Universe, Steve Rogers has been chosen to potentially serve as the Phoenix's new host. As a result, Captain America was granted a portion of the Phoenix's power in a showdown with Doctor Doom, who was also empowered. The Phoenix pitted them against one another in this issue in order for it to assess their worthiness, however Rogers internal monologue shows he fears what could happen even if he wins the fight. As such, the remaining trials ahead of him resemble Gandalf the Grey's struggles to resist the One Ring as seen in The Lord of the Rings.
In Avengers #40 from Jason Aaron and Javier Garrón, Captain America and Doctor Doom wield the power of the Phoenix against one another, though they're only the first two of nearly twenty that have been chosen to perhaps be the new host. As they fight, Doom uses the raging fire of the Phoenix to blast Captain America, which should have killed the Super Soldier. However, that same fire and power allowed Captain America to rise from the ashes, bonding to his determination and refusal to ever give up, and leaving him terrified of becoming corrupted.
The entire time Cap and Doom are dueling, Rogers is grappling with the question of what will happen if he does indeed win. He's concerned about the Phoenix's power and the temptation it brings, fearing what he might become if he emerges victorious as the new host of the Phoenix. At least if he loses, he reflects, it'll be as the man he's always been: Steve Rogers. "Right now, I'm just as worried about what'll happen if I should win," Steve thinks, "but if I somehow make it through this whole ridiculous fracas victorious, what will I have become? Other than lost. Other than the Phoenix." While Doom ends up forfeiting after realizing that the Phoenix has no use for his supremacy, it seems as though this fight was only the first for Rogers, and the temptation to lose himself to power will continue.
This current temptation of nearly unlimited power for Captain America brings to mind the similar temptation Gandalf the Grey experienced in The Lord of the Rings. In The Fellowship of the Ring, Frodo freely offers the One Ring and its power to the wizard Gandalf, as he initially doesn't want the responsibility and danger that comes with the role of Ringbearer. However, Gandalf vehemently refuses, likewise fearing what he would do and what he would become if he were to take it, saying, "No, Frodo. You cannot offer me this ring... DON'T TEMPT ME, FRODO! I dare not take it, not even to keep it safe. Understand Frodo, I would use this ring from a desire to do good. But through me, it would wield a power too great and terrible to imagine."
It will be interesting to see if the other Marvel champions will be equally tested by the power of the Phoenix. Will they be as wise as Rogers and fear its power, or will they freely embrace it, not thinking of the consequences that could come with it? Namor is the potential champion that readers should look out for, as he claims that he was the one who called the Phoenix in the first place, seeking to unite with its power very much in the same way as Saruman the White does with the One Ring. Hopefully there will be others to join Rogers and Gandalf in their wisdom to fear the corruption of such eldritch power. After all, the Lady Galadriel was likewise offered the Ring by Frodo and was tested, and she too rejected it on the grounds of the danger she would pose the world. There have to be more among the gathered Marvel champions besides Captain America who are smart enough to realize that the Phoenix Force is always bad news in Marvel Comics.