Page - 112 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 03/01

112 | Thomas Hausmanninger www.jrfm.eu 2017, 3/1, 105–121 the theme of temporal displacement is introduced in Avengers 4/1964, where Captain America comments on the differences between the life-worlds, urban civilization and everyday technology of his time and the 1960s.38 he is already experiencing these differences as a loss of his proper place: “I don’t belong in this age – in this year – no place for me.”39 this experience is reiterated through- out the Captain America series, where Captain America even deems himself “a relic – a holdover from some dim and dismal past”.40 having lost his temporal setting and with it his cultural setting, Captain America feels exiled in a way. that topos can also be found in the lurian Kabbalah, where gilgul is interpreted as the necessary wandering of the soul through exile, when the soul has to work for its own redemption.41 indeed, from the start Captain America’s temporal dis- placement is combined with a deep backstory wound, which must be healed, and by a feeling of guilt, with which he must be reconciled. in the 1960s, su- perhero sidekicks seemed outmoded, and stan Lee, who had never been fond of these juvenile characters, decided to drop Bucky. To that end, a flashback scene in “Avengers” comics showed how Bucky had been killed in the last mis- sion he and Captain America had executed, after which the latter was frozen.42 From that point on Captain America suffers from survivor’s guilt, because he had been unable to save his youthful partner.43 His journey into the exile of the present is thus motivated from the start by a need to overcome what he feels as past wrongs and to find redemption for his soul. Some of these aspects are played down significantly by the movies. Yes, Cap- tain America also experiences temporal displacement in the movies, but he is only moderately out of date. in the second movie, agent romanov, the Black Widow, ironically asks Captain America, in his civilian identity as steve rogers, and sam Wilson, the falcon: “either one of you know where the smithsonian is? i’m here to pick up a fossil.”44 in no scene, however, does Captain America act in light of this displacement. even his attitude toward women, surely an oppor- tunity to highlight very different understandings of acceptable behavior and of the specific roles of men and women – as found in the TV series Agent Carter, a spinoff of the Captain America movies – appears to be nearly up-to-date in the 2000s. instead, the temporal displacement mostly concerns Captain America’s loss of his former social ties, especially his love Peggy Carter, and the new con- figuration of good and evil in global politics. The latter is of particular concern 38 Avengers 4/1964, 9. 39 Avengers 4/1964, 10. 40 Captain America 107/1968, 6. 41 scholem 1956, 107. 42 Avengers 4/1964, 7. 43 Avengers 4/1964, 7, 10–11. 44 The Return of the First Avenger (2014), 00:03:10.