5 Patriotic Superheroes Deserving of Their Own Movies

Tomorrow sees the ramp up to The Avengers take another bold step with the release of Captain America: The First Avenger. Directed by Joe Johnston and starring Chris Evans, it's the story of how a scrawny but nationalistic kid named Steve Rogers became the shield slinging face of our fight against the Nazis. Captain America is a great character with a rich history of defending the United States from forces within and without, but he's hardly the only one. There are hundreds of flag waving defenders that have graced the comic book page over the years, plenty of which are deserving of movies in their own right. Here are just a few of the ones I think could work best, and no I'm not counting Superman. He's a friggin' alien.

1. Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E.

A girl and her robot. Sorta. Other than a couple of weak films like Sky High and Zoom, there haven't been that many superhero movies that can be targeted at our youngest audience, and certainly nothing from the Marvel or DC camp. Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. follows Courtney Whitmore, your average rebellious Los Angeles teenager. Mad at her mother for marrying a new husband, Pat Dugan, Courtney takes it upon herself to go through his things. She discovers that Pat was once the sidekick of a well-known superhero named the Star-Spangled Kid. Courtney dons the superhero's costume and gains his powers, with Pat building himself a robotic armor to help aid her against villains. If DC wanted, they could incorporate the rich history of the Star-Spangled Kid, with a touch of kid friendly lite action.

2. Uncle Sam
America's founding fathers? A bunch of crazy cultists. That old guy in the colors of our country with the beard who keeps jabbing his finger saying "I Want You" is the product of their tinkering. At least that's the idea behind Uncle Sam, one of the weirdest patriotic superheros ever, but also kinda kick ass. Uncle Sam is the literal "spirit of America", who takes posession of the bodies of dying patriotic figures. Later versions of his origin would tweak this a little bit, but it's still pretty creepy. He leads a team of other USA themed heroes known as the Freedom Fighters, and does battle against any threats to the United States, big or small. I can see someone like David Goyer(Batman Begins, Blade, Ghost Rider) being all over this.



3. The Shield
The only patriotic superhero to pre-date Captain America, the shield is the first to wear the colors of our flag into battle. His origin is actually pretty simple and not all that different from Cap's. Chemist Joe Higgins cracks the code to a secret formula created by his father, murdered by the Nazis who wanted it for themselves. The formula gives him super strength, speed, and invulnerability. His name is an acronym of all the areas of his body where he must apply the formula for it to take effect. Yeah, strange. Higgins would use his powers for good as a secret member of the FBI under the direct guidance of J. Edgar Hoover himself, taking on the Nazis around the world.



4. The Constitution of the United States
No, seriously. If you ever have a chance to read Joe Casey's awesome limited series, Automatic Kafka, you'll be introduced to one of the most questionable superheroes ever, and definitely one that does an injustice to the word "patriot". But that's also what makes him kinda cool. The Constitution is a mercenary who used to be a member of a commercial superhero team known as The $tranger$. After they disbanded he began working as a black ops agent for a shady government organization. One of his missions involved bombing an enemy camp with exploding babies. From that point on, he takes on a career as a famous porn star. Pretty dark stuff, right? Imagine how it'd look on the big screen.



5. Captain America
No, not the shiny and wholesome Steve Rogers version we'll be treated to tomorrow. I'm talking the original Captain America, Isaiah Bradley. Back in 2003, Marvel released one of their most controversial comics ever, Truth: Red, White, and Black. The series revealed the dark secret behing the Super Soldier Program that created Captain America, that the serum was tested out on African-Americans who had no clue what they were signing up for. Out of the hundreds of black men subjected to it, only five survived. And out of that five, Bradley was the only one. He stole a costume intended for Steve Rogers and took on the Germans head on, eventually getting captured. He was rescued, and ultimate court martialed, but he became an underground legend and a civil rights figure in the decades since.

The Black Panther or Luke Cage are likely to be Marvel's first African-American heroes to get their own film, but I think this version of Captain America is a potential goldmine for them. Not only does he have instant name recognition, but those who don't know the character's lineage will be intrigued by the prospect of a black Captain America representing the red, white, and blue. Maybe get Terry Crews to play him?