In the drizzling rain at Arlington National Cemetery, thousands of grieving patriots solemnly watch as the pallbearers — Iron Man, the Black Panther, Ben Grimm and Ms. Marvel — carry a casket draped with an American flag.
Writer Jeph Loeb has been busy working through the stages of grief in his most recent titles. A book centered on Wolverine dealt with denial; one with the Avengers covered anger; and Spider-Man battled depression.
With the story line so relevant to present-day politics, and the timing of the latest issue so precise, it's hard not to think the whole thing is one big slam on the government.
But Loeb says he was working with more personal material: the death of his 17-year-old son from cancer.
"So many people have lost their sons and daughters over the years, for the greater good or to cancer or other horrible things," said Loeb, an executive producer for NBC's "Heroes." "I wanted this to be something people would identify with."
In the final frames of the book, the Falcon delivers a eulogy asking superheroes old and young to stand up and honor Captain America. Loeb did a similar thing at his son's funeral.
"It was this moment where I realized that we were all different, but this boy, my son, made us all connected," he said. "It was powerful."
Marvel says you never know what will happen. He may make it back from the dead after all, although Loeb says that question isn't really important right now.
"The question is, how does the world continue without this hero?" he said. "If that story of his return gets told further down the line, great. But everyone's still been dealing with his loss.
"They aren't going to wake up and it's a dream, like it's some episode of 'Dallas."'
