No, you're right. He was still a young man both chronologically and physiologically when he went into the ice and suspended animation, and what with the sliding timeline, he hasn't been thawed out for any longer than thirteen or fourteen years at most, so even without the serum and going to his 'proper' age without it, he shouldn't be physically any older than somebody pushing forty.
Is this any worse than killing a clone causes that body to disintegrate versus just being a regular dead body?
No, the years on ice don't count, serum or no serum, as all his body's processes were suspended while on ice. If you were to continue aging while in cryogenic suspension, there'd be no point to it, after all.
But the Dimension Z thing is a good catch... revise my statement to him being physically the equivalent of fifty or so at most. Of course, it could be a pretty rough fifty, given what he was going through in Dimension Z.
Eh, yeah I'm not a fan of this explanation either. I get it was done to allow Sam to become Captain America(temporarily) but it didn't need a retcon to do it.
The serum's responsible for him being able to survive the freezing process and come back from it, but the slowing down/stopping of all metabolic processes while he was in the ice was indeed the product of the cold temperatures.
And even if it had been the serum, it was the serum preventing the aging process from happening in the first place by, again, slowing everything down, not constantly reversing it or 'holding it back'. Of course, that's the problem with all these stories where a longevity formula (other than a magical one, because different rules) is withdrawn, and Fury or whoever instantly ages all those 'cheated' years. The most that should happen, honestly, even in those cases, is that the person just starts aging normally from whatever point they stop taking the youth juice. But that wouldn't be as dramatic.
In any case, Steve has lost the serum before (and yes, entirely, I suspect that the Cosmic Cube did at least as good a job of removing every trace of the stuff as the Iron Nail ever could) and not aged like this, so I suspect it's not even a matter of simply removing the serum, but the Iron Nail's attack was capable of artificially aging people even if they aren't 'supposed' to be really old chronologically, like an induced form of progeria.
It's not supposed to make sense. It was just an excuse to have Falcon replace him. Because "progressive".
And now the serum is solely responsible for all of that. It's been retconned; Steve didn't age a day in Dimension Z, and Pym and Banner found it was the serum keeping him young.
It's comic book science. It's hard to say what removing this stuff should and shouldn't do.And even if it had been the serum, it was the serum preventing the aging process from happening in the first place by, again, slowing everything down, not constantly reversing it or 'holding it back'. Of course, that's the problem with all these stories where a longevity formula (other than a magical one, because different rules) is withdrawn, and Fury or whoever instantly ages all those 'cheated' years. The most that should happen, honestly, even in those cases, is that the person just starts aging normally from whatever point they stop taking the youth juice. But that wouldn't be as dramatic.
Ah, but the Cosmic Cube operates on its user's desires. If the Red Skull even subconsciously wanted Steve to be depowered but not aged, then the Cube would do just that.In any case, Steve has lost the serum before (and yes, entirely, I suspect that the Cosmic Cube did at least as good a job of removing every trace of the stuff as the Iron Nail ever could)
Pretty sure that the Iron Nail sucked the blood out of others without them ageing; Fury, Dugan, and Steve were the only ones that started ageing when he got at their blood because of the Infinity Formula in the former two and the Super Soldier Serum in the latter one.so I suspect it's not even a matter of simply removing the serum, but the Iron Nail's attack was capable of artificially aging people even if they aren't 'supposed' to be really old chronologically, like an induced form of progeria.
Maybe you're onto something, though. Maybe the way in which the Iron Nail sucked the serums out of those three (only partially in Fury and Dugan's case) caused the effects of losing the serums to accelerate. We've never seen Steve without the serum in the long term; he may have indeed begun ageing if given enough time.
Regardless, the Iron Nail being solely responsible for Steve's ageing isn't Remender's intention; it's because of the complete loss of the serum itself.
Last edited by Harpoon; 07-17-2014 at 08:35 PM.
I agree that Steve aging so rapidly didn't make a whole lot of sense, so I just try not to think about it. It's comic book science, so whatever.
What doesn't make sense is that Nick Fury thing.
spoilers:end of spoilers
I mean - as per Original Sin - isn't that a LMD? How do you age a LMD???