In reference to this post, I do legitimately wonder what exactly Nick Furyâs expectations of Steve were.
Assuming his two primary sources for Steve Rogers Anecdotes were Howard and Peggy (and I think they were), thereâs no way he would have gotten anything approaching an accurate account for who Steve was as a person.
I honestly donât think Howard knew Steve well. All his reminiscences are going to be fundamentally colored by the fact that, despite the epiphany he comes to in the S1 finale of Agent Carter (he says something like, âhe was good before I got my hands on him, wasnât he?â), Steveâs successes as Captain America are in part his successes because he helped make Captain America. So all the stories Howard could tell Fury (and, sorry about your horrible childhood, Tony) are going to portray Steve in a very specific way, turning him into the ultimate war hero, the ultimate super solider, the ultimate weapon that Howard helped create.
I doubt Peggyâs telling a lot of truths either but for different reasons. Or, well. Peggy doesnât lie about Steve, but there are certain things she doesnât say about Steve. Because everyone knows and mourns Captain America, but sheâs one of a small handful of people who actually mourn Steve Rogers. There are things about him she keeps private and safe for herself.
Like the fondue story? I am positive that never made it into the global Captain America narrative. I also donât think itâs a story Tony or Sharon ever heard. Howard doesnât tell it because itâs not a Cap Story, itâs a Steve Story, and Howardâs far more interested in the former than the latter. Peggy also doesnât tell it because itâs a Steve Story, and the world isnât owed any more of Steve Rogers than they already have. They can keep Captain America, but Steve is hers.
But I honestly believe that if Nick got half a shot of whiskey in Colonel Phillips, he would spend literal hours dragging Steve Rogers through the mud.
âRogers? Biggest pain in my ass that ever lived, and thatâs before Stark and Erskine got their god damn hands on him. Iâve had a hemorrhoid or two tried to compete, but nope. It was Rogers.
âThat son of a bitch probably spent six weeks AWOL altogether thinking he knew better than me, the SSR, and all the Allied powers put together. At the end of it, heâd come into my office, stand at attention, salute. Then Iâd maybe get one âyes sir, no sirâ out of him before he started arguing with me about whatever damn fool thing heâd just done. Which, I shouldnât have to tell anyone, is not how the god damned United States Army works. Rogers never did manage to grasp that concept.
âDonât ask me about vehicle requisitions. I donât even know how many cars those idiots wrapped around how many trees. I finally had to order the motor pool to stop giving him motorcycles at all. He kept throwing them at the enemy. That worked for maybe a month. He started stealing them, and I gave up.
âOnce I ran into Barnes just staring at a wall looking whey-faced, terrified, and madder than a hornet. So I said, âWhat did that captain of yours do this time?â and he says, âHe charged a fucking tank,â and I say, âOf course he did,â and he says, âDumb bastard wasnât even wearing his helmet,â and I say, âI donât understand how you kept that boy alive long enough to con his way into the army in the first place,â and Barnes says, âYouâve got no god-damned idea, sir, you really donât.â
âYou know Carter shot at him once? Iâve never envied another human being so much in my whole life.
âSteve Rogers gave me most every grey hair on my head, donât you let her tell you any different. I had a full head of thick black hair in 1943; by â44 I looked like someone dropped a pound of drywall on top of me. I aged a year for every hour I spent in Rogersâs company. When I die, if the coroner doesnât list my cause of death as Steven Grant Rogers, itâll be god damned perjurous.
âI could have court-martialed that jackass on at least 16 separate occasions, and we wouldnât have won the war without him. God rest the son of a bitch.â
âŚ.so we have to assume that Fury never talked to Phillips I guess.
BUT OH GOD DO I WISH HE HAD
