"Without irony or snark."

He’s a super-agent and possibly even a super-soldier, he’s been military and law enforcement (and a scout master!) in past incarnations, and his power set is quite grounded and so he wears armour and carries gear. His night-sticks, or tonfa, new to this incarnation, are his signature weapon. They can electrify at his command, or can merge into a single bo staff. All non-lethal weapons, (but formidable in the right hands) something that touches on his Canadian-ness, which is at the heart of this revamp, without irony or snark. We’ve seen patriotic super-soldier characters before, but we want to emphasize the things that set a Canadian one apart. Cap doesn’t carry a gun or a sword or blast people to smithereens, he relies on strategy, negotiation, and wits. And he’s also super-polite, it’s a real power that all Canadians possess.

Comic creator Kalman Andrasofszky on the new Captain Canuck.

Among my Boxing Week purchases in 2012 was a marked down DVD/blu-ray combo copy of Captain America, which according to one of the reviewer blurbs is "the best superhero movie ever!"

And you know, they may be right.  Steve Rogers' journey from 4F to supersoldier is handled with the perfect combination of sincerity, dignity and humour - there isn't a false note in the whole film.  Watching it again after seeing it in theatrical release, I'm struck again by the perfection of that last line in the movie, that matter-of-fact statement of regret when he says, "I had a date…"

Captain America, with his roots in World War II, is one of the most iconic comic book heroes - quite literally iconic, the man is wearing a flag and is named after his country.   Because of that iconic nature, with its focus on honour and integrity, there has always been a sort of purity to the character in all of its various incarnations. 

Canada's equivalent, Captain Canuck, is currently being rebooted in animated form - the video teaser clip shows a parcouriste Captain leaping from rooftop to rooftop. It's quite a departure from the old uniform - the octagonal texture effect in the fabric is a bit trendy, and I'm not sure about the shoes, but overall, it's a good look, and I like the graphic integration of the Canadian flag motif into the uniform.

But really, that's all irrelevant.  If they can't bring the right sort of representative elements to the character, the Canadian equivalent to the elements that have always defined Captain America, then the new Captain will just be another spandex knockoff.  However, there's a good chance that Andrasofszky can pull it off - after all, he's a Canadian too.

 - Sid