(Sorry for the late reply; yesterday was not a good day, in the being-social sense.)
Hm, you bring up many good points here. Like I've mentioned earlier, I'm still very new to Marvel. The only "big" comic in Sweden is Donald Duck, so I haven't grown up with these characters, don't really have any relationship with them at all. The Amazing Spiderman used to run on one of the kid's channels, but that's that. I only watched the Iron Man movie this early autumn, and fell in love with it, and wanted to know more about him, and in my frantic search for information and meta I stumbled over the Steve/Tony manifesto, got curious, tentatively started reading some fics, got hooked, and started reading the comics. So yeah, I've done everything backwards, and perhaps that has influenced my interpretation of Cap, maybe.
I actually think that if I hadn't done this wrong-way-about thing, I might've "missed" Cap. Because Captain America is all about values and justice and morals, and while that is all nice and good, I'm rather indifferent to that. (When I was younger, I hated Mickey Mouse but adored Uncle Scrooge.) However, when you scratch the surfice, you see that there is an interesting and not-simple character underneath. Because Captain America is Captain America, and Steve Rogers is someone else. From what I've understood, Steve is basically an incredibly decent but average person. (In contrast to Tony, who doesn't possess super powers but is everything but average.) He's a dorky dauber with a strong moral centre and a stubborn streak as wide as the nile. Oh, and yeah, he grew up during the depression, as you mentioned. His escapisms are something I completely understand.
But imagine taking this average, man-of-the-people bloke and make him a national icon. I mean, just that lays the foundation for serious issues. The pressure of being perfect all the time must be staggering. And then, like you said, add the post-WWII PTSD and no down-time at all to think about and time-travelling on top of that, and I'm honsetly amazed he hasn't had a serious nervous breakdown à la Falling Down. He must made up of optimism and... get-up-and-go, I think is the word I'm searching for. Like, he won't allow himself to break down, he forces himself to function. And I do think he has quite a bit of I'm-fine-I-promise issues -- not as much as Tony does, but indeed a bit. I suppose Cap would admit to being physically hurt (unlike Tony) but never to not be a 100% mentally healthy, which, by the way, I don't think there is anyone who is. Not that Cap thinks it's a weakness to be messed-up -- wouldn't fit his character at all -- just... he refuses to acknowledge the possibility that he might be? Since it wouldn't go along well with being perfect, maybe.
... Crikey, Cap's pretty messed-up after all, isn't he? Not Tony-levels, not by a long shot, but still. I wonder what his drawings look like, or does he "censor" his emotional outlet as well?
Re: understanding Cap: I... think I might be biased, if my interpretation of him isn't missed-a-barn-from-the-inside-with-a-shotgun off, he isn't that incomprehensible to me. But that's because he reminds me of my mum (I bet Freud's doing the victory sign right now) which, yeah, really doesn't help the mother-hen!Steve cliché, but it's the drive in him that I find familiar and safe.
Re: putting up with Cap for longer than a few story arcs: Well, Captain America might be CAPTAIN FREAKIN' AMERICA, but Steve Rogers seems to be quite a handful in all his commonplace glory. Absolutely adorable and charming, yes, but trying nonetheless. I imagine he'd be well off with a partner who has enough chaos going on inside herself/himself to appreciate his more non-adventurous sides. ♥
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Hm, you bring up many good points here. Like I've mentioned earlier, I'm still very new to Marvel. The only "big" comic in Sweden is Donald Duck, so I haven't grown up with these characters, don't really have any relationship with them at all. The Amazing Spiderman used to run on one of the kid's channels, but that's that. I only watched the Iron Man movie this early autumn, and fell in love with it, and wanted to know more about him, and in my frantic search for information and meta I stumbled over the Steve/Tony manifesto, got curious, tentatively started reading some fics, got hooked, and started reading the comics. So yeah, I've done everything backwards, and perhaps that has influenced my interpretation of Cap, maybe.
I actually think that if I hadn't done this wrong-way-about thing, I might've "missed" Cap. Because Captain America is all about values and justice and morals, and while that is all nice and good, I'm rather indifferent to that. (When I was younger, I hated Mickey Mouse but adored Uncle Scrooge.) However, when you scratch the surfice, you see that there is an interesting and not-simple character underneath. Because Captain America is Captain America, and Steve Rogers is someone else. From what I've understood, Steve is basically an incredibly decent but average person. (In contrast to Tony, who doesn't possess super powers but is everything but average.) He's a dorky dauber with a strong moral centre and a stubborn streak as wide as the nile. Oh, and yeah, he grew up during the depression, as you mentioned. His escapisms are something I completely understand.
But imagine taking this average, man-of-the-people bloke and make him a national icon. I mean, just that lays the foundation for serious issues. The pressure of being perfect all the time must be staggering. And then, like you said, add the post-WWII PTSD and no down-time at all to think about and time-travelling on top of that, and I'm honsetly amazed he hasn't had a serious nervous breakdown à la Falling Down. He must made up of optimism and... get-up-and-go, I think is the word I'm searching for. Like, he won't allow himself to break down, he forces himself to function. And I do think he has quite a bit of I'm-fine-I-promise issues -- not as much as Tony does, but indeed a bit. I suppose Cap would admit to being physically hurt (unlike Tony) but never to not be a 100% mentally healthy, which, by the way, I don't think there is anyone who is. Not that Cap thinks it's a weakness to be messed-up -- wouldn't fit his character at all -- just... he refuses to acknowledge the possibility that he might be? Since it wouldn't go along well with being perfect, maybe.
... Crikey, Cap's pretty messed-up after all, isn't he? Not Tony-levels, not by a long shot, but still. I wonder what his drawings look like, or does he "censor" his emotional outlet as well?
Re: understanding Cap:
I... think I might be biased, if my interpretation of him isn't missed-a-barn-from-the-inside-with-a-shotgun off, he isn't that incomprehensible to me. But that's because he reminds me of my mum (I bet Freud's doing the victory sign right now) which, yeah, really doesn't help the mother-hen!Steve cliché, but it's the drive in him that I find familiar and safe.
Re: putting up with Cap for longer than a few story arcs:
Well, Captain America might be CAPTAIN FREAKIN' AMERICA, but Steve Rogers seems to be quite a handful in all his commonplace glory. Absolutely adorable and charming, yes, but trying nonetheless. I imagine he'd be well off with a partner who has enough chaos going on inside
herself/himself to appreciate his more non-adventurous sides. ♥