Warning! Spoilers for Amazing Fantasy #5 ahead!
The hero Iron Man may catch occasional flack for his controversial beginnings in war profiteering, but a recent revelation about Captain America may alter how readers perceive Steve Rogers' wartime origins. It's no secret that the patriotic young man who would become Captain America jumped at every possible opportunity to serve his country. However, his actions during those early days may have irrevocably changed the course of human history.
Before his days as one of the Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Tony Stark was an egotistical businessman, happy to take part in the military-industrial complex until sustaining a life-threatening injury. Stark changed his ways and pivoted to create technology that would protect the world. By contrast, Steve Rogers had a keen interest in joining the military to protect the world from fascists and was selected for a secret program to create the ultimate solider. While it seems like Rogers has the more noble origin, a new piece of his past has emerged, putting his heroism in a brand new light.
Amazing Fantasy, written and drawn by Kaare Andrews, is a five-issue miniseries that teams up several time-displaced heroes after each is killed in their own respective era. They all awaken on a mysterious island, filled with mythological threats and warring factions. The final issue features an attack on mastermind Red King, finally revealed to be a second Peter Parker, stunning the teenage Spider-Man who's been along for the ride. By sacrificing immortal dragons, the Red King Peter has torn a hole in space-time, allowing for everyone to undo the worst moment of their lives. Peter rejects his doppelgänger's offer to save their Uncle Ben and defeats him, undoing the time-displacement and sending the heroes home, including Steve who washes up at a very particular moment in his history.
The moment Cap is transported back to is the day he saved J. Robert Oppenheimer, often described a "father of the atomic bomb" whose research would contribute to the nuclear weapons that would be used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end World War II. While Tony Stark made huge sums of money from selling weapons for military uses, the shocking update on Steve Rogers' past is more than enough to raise some eyebrows. Of course, Steve was only doing the right thing in saving an innocent life. But the fact that Rogers looks back on this moment in the same way Peter Parker regrets his inaction leading to Uncle Ben's death says a lot about how the event haunts Steve.
Upon the first testing of the atomic bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer is reported to have quoted the Bhagavad Gita and remarked, "I am become death, destroyer of worlds." The burden Steve Rogers carries for his part in the events leading up to the WWII bombings clearly weighs heavily on him and in a manner, gives a new perspective for his heroic career. Iron Man and Captain America are heroes now, but their murky origins no doubt fuel their desire to do good and, at least in Roger's case, hopefully find redemption.