Doesn't the government ALREADY know who Captain America is?

[Philip33X]

Maybe I'm just out of the loop and behind the times but I thought the government MADE Captain America? So wouldn't they know he is actually Steve Rogers?

And for that matter, how can someone like Captain America not be patriotic and obey the law? Is he gonna go and do that old "adopt a new identity" schtick he has done so many times before? I forget exactly how many times he has gone this route but I think it's happened at least twice (once during Watergate and once during Iran-Contra...so he's about due to "lose his innocence" again).

[Miss Kitty Fantastico]

Maybe I'm just out of the loop and behind the times but I thought the government MADE Captain America? So wouldn't they know he is actually Steve Rogers?
They know exactly who he is - his 'crime' was to refuse to hunt down anti-reg superheroes.

And for that matter, how can someone like Captain America not be patriotic and obey the law?
It's quite possible, if being patriotic and obeying the law aren't the same thing. Captain America was issued orders by SHIELD, that (so far as I understand their hierarchy) are entirely legal. He disobeyed those orders because his personal sense of right and wrong told him that those orders, while legally correct, were morally wrong. Like if a soldier is ordered to execute a prisoner of war - the proper thing for the soldier to do is refuse, because it's an illegal order - the Geneva Convention forbids it, and that's a higher authority than the superior officer. In this case, the US congress has issued the order, and Cap's sense of morality is the 'higher authority' that he's following.

Put it this way: was it legal for the American colonies to revolt against the British Empire? Given that it was British law, I'm thinking not. But, I'm sure most Americans will assert without doubt, it was the right thing to do. "Prudence indeed, will dictate, that Governments long established, should not be changed for light and transient Causes; and accordingly all Experience hath shewn, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security." That's Captain America - it's not just his right to resist this unjust law, it's his duty.

Whether or not he's right - well, that's why they invented the phrase 'time will tell'.

(Don't you just love how they used to throw about capital letters and punctuation like confetti? It's so adorable...)

[jhegenbe]

Seems like SHIELD is not very effective as a spy agency, if they haven't tried to track down most of the Super Secret People at least one time in the past.

Maybe that's how this whole Civil War will end: "You reveal our secrets, and we'll reveal yours."

[Serik]

Cap has always fought for his beliefs first and foremost. That's why he went underground during the 1980s.

"I'm loyal to nothing, General, except the Dream" - From a Daredevil issue

[manicman]

The government may know, but does the public at large? Maybe someone can clear this up for me at the same time: does the registration act mean that heros have to go public, or just let the government know who they are and keep thier secret identities from the public?

[Serik]

No, I don't think the heroes have to reveal their identity to the public. But honestly, do you expect the government/SHIELD to keep the secret forever? Especially since I hear all this talk of SHIELD being corrupt...

[Siddon]

Yeah I worry about this whole SHIELD thing, its clearly the backdoor. Spider-man is out, now will he stay out.

[WoodenDummy]

Put it this way: was it legal for the American colonies to revolt against the British Empire? Given that it was British law, I'm thinking not. But, I'm sure most Americans will assert without doubt, it was the right thing to do.

Bloody colonials.