Captain America isn’t just another superhero: He
embodies a national identity and geopolitical ideology. Or so says
Jason Dittmer in his new book, Captain America and the
Nationalist Superhero. Cap, according to Dittmer, is the
prototype of the “nationalist superhero,” a comic-book subgenre
that uses superheroics to validate the nation-state and vice versa.
His rippling muscles and equally rippling sense of morality reflect
and fuel the myth of American exceptionalism and justice. Noah
Berlatsky disagrees, arguing in his review that the nationalist
superhero has become an object of nostalgia. Today’s most popular
fantasies—and nightmares—involve power without borders.

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