Sharon Carter Appreciation

[tliscord]

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Has Sharon Carter's role been as hostage trope for Cap?

It was brought up to my attention that Sharon has spent most of her time as a supporting character in Cap being rescued by him. I've no argument Sharon has been part of the supporting cast of Cap, but I was curious how many times she's been rescued, held hostage, or generally been bailed out by Cap. Conversely, I looked at the number of times she has rescued him, been instrumental in taking down the bad guy. Feel free to add or subtract here.

Rescued Cap:
Vol 1
Issue 100 - Irma Krull takes down fake Zemo's defense system to save the world. Not bad start.
Issue 102 - shoots Cap assailant getting the bead on him, loved the googly eyes afterwards, way to go Stan.
- same issue she helps defeat the 4th Sleeper, saving Cap, with her love. Stan, ouch but hey a win...
Issue 145 - proverbial "bullet" meant for Steve during the weird Femme Force/ Conway story.
Issue 156 - Sharon and Sam take down Bucky/Jack Monroe. So a bit of a stretch, but she tossed him well!
Issue 212 - rescues Steve and Donna Marie from Zola's castle. Weird Kirby run for me.

INTERMISSION - she dies for 312 issues

Issue 444 - Operation Rebirth! Rescues Cap from super serum death working with Skull. Cynical Sharon.

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Vol 3
No rescues with Waid's second run. Worked with Steve to defeat Nightmare, Skull, and Nefaria. Thinks Steve is a tool. Becomes Director of Shield. Did manage to find Nick Fury from his pocket universe thing whatever.

Vol 5
Issue 19 - my fav, rescues Cap, Spitfire, Union Jack from MI6's Gavin. "Who's the scary lady?"
Issue 22 - betrays Shield and SHR for Cap. "Wrong address"
Issue 32 - overcomes Faustus' mind control to free Winter Soldier.
Issue 42 - shoots Lukin.
Issue 600 - discovers Steve is alive

Reborn - "Fire in the Hole" takes down Skull.

Vol 6
Issue 5 - saves Cap from Bravo and Jimmy Jancovich's dimension.
Issue 9 - takes on Machinesmith to save a depowered Cap. "Mutually Assured Destruction"

Vol 7
Issue 10 - rescues Steve from Dimension Z.

There maybe more but I thought that was the bulk of it. Didn't include TOS because generally all women at that time were treated fairly inspididly.

Some of her worst moments included Lee's Weakest Link in issue 103 taken hostage by the Skull. And truth be told both she and Sam were taken hostage by Burnside and Monroe in Englehart's run, but they did have a pretty cool fight scene on the beach! Earlier, she would be the damsel-in-distress with Hyde and Scorpion held as hostage, so there is that, and much later Brubaker had her as Steel's hostage in Secret Avengers. She acquitted herself better in Ellis' short run ... especially with satan's claw.

Generally speaking and depending on the Author, she's acquitted herself pretty well.

[Winterboy]

I love Sharon!

[Frontier]

Sharon deserves better media representation! She's too awesome to just leave with a minor role in the MCU or completely absent in the cartoons .

[tliscord]

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Wish we'd see more of these two teamed up.

[Cmbmool]

Given what happened in Dimension Z one has to wonder if that is the real Sharon Carter ?

[tliscord]

Given what happened in Dimension Z one has to wonder if that is the real Sharon Carter ?

Ha, wouldn't that convolute things even more! Sharon is a killdrill mutate secretly Allied to Zola. Weirder things have happened.

Funny, but Remender's run has all but disappeared, except Sharon's age. No Ian or his sister Jet Black. Despite Zola being on the Hydra council. Of course, that was all pre Secret Wars that frankly still has me confused (how did Dennis Dunphry return from Sharon's point blank shot).

I understand Remender had plans after SamCap to have Hydra infiltrators in all super groups, traitors, I assume. I remember suspecting Sharon to be one after her stint in Dimension Z and being captured by Zola, but I believe Spencer may have coopted that idea by making Cap the only Hydra infiltrator .... so I suppose Remender's original idea is gone.

Not since Brubaker's second volume have we had the old team together ... including Dugan before we retconned him to weirdness. That last issue with Epting's art, and Brubaker's last lines ... to Burnsides " But someone else will carry that burden ... for as long as I can." was such a bittersweet ending, and soooo Captain America-like. I loved Brubaker's take on Steve.

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