It really annoys me when people in fanfics forget Steve Rogersâs skillset, so Iâve created a list of all the things he can do in canon from the comics: Steve knows Judo, Defendu, kickboxing, boxing, Jujutsu, TĹde, Aikido, Karate, and various other forms of martial arts that he combines with gymnastics/acrobatics skills, his knowledge of fighting with his shield, and his ability as a marksman which includes using firearms even though they are not his weapon of choice. He is also capable of using swords and staffs, though again, he prefers his shield. He is a master tactician and strategist. He is also capable of using daggers, throwing knifes, sticks, tonfa, axes, and maces. Steve is considered one of the best fighters in the Marvel universe. In the comics, he has defeated/held his own against Taskmaster, Wolverine, Iron Fist, Deadpool, and the Red Skull. He also defeated a large group of super soldiers while he was depowered and then even more when he had his powers back. Steve is capable of holding his own/winning fights even without the serum just because he is that good of a fighter. Steve was in the army and therefore he learned how to gather intelligence, escapology, assassination, survival tactics, hunting, swiming, mountaineering, map marking and reading, deciphering codes and other secret messages, making and reading wood craft signs and other secret code languages, disgusing, interrogation, computers, explosives, communications systems, etc. Steve is an amazing sketch artist and he is capable of hacking. He is also very intelligent. He has an eidetic memory and never forgets anything. Steve is also fluent in English, German, Spanish, Russian, French, and some Italian according to the comics. This one particularly annoys me seeing as I am constantly seeing fics and memes and things where Bucky and Nat are speaking Russian and Steve doesnât understand a word theyâre saying even though he is fluent in the language. One fic based off the MCU that has particularly annoyed me is this one I was reading where Steve didnât know French and needed Bucky and Nat to translate, even though he literally spoke French in the Winter Soldier. I can forgive people who donât read the comics not realizing he knows Russian seeing as he has never spoken it in the movies, but to act like he needs a translator for French when he literally spoke it in the movies?! God, people, pay attention.
Steve Rogers is not some moron who was incapable of adjusting to the 21st century, didnât learn multiple languages while he as overseas and didnât learn how to fight either. Steve is one of the best fighters in the world, is a brilliant tactician, is multilingual and adaptable, may be new to the 21st century and would have been confused by a lot of things when he first came here, but has learned a lot since and is familiar with how to use most things the average person is now. Stop acting like he is incompetent. Stop downplaying his skills and talents that his character worked hard to achieve. Stop using it as a way to make him seem useless or make other characters seem more accomplished than him. Stop acting like he couldnât win a sparring match with Nat or Bucky. Stop acting like he needs people to translate other languages to him when he is fluent in them. Stop acting like he has no idea how to use technology when he is actually capable of hacking. Youâre doing this character a disservice and have no business writing him in your fanfics if youâre not going to portray him accurately.
Also, while weâre at it, what is it with people who make Steve into some big bad guy who bullies Tony in their fanfics?! Uh, Steve hates bullies and he has never bullied Tony. Heâs gotten into a few spats with him, but if you think thatâs bullying, then youâve obviously never been bullied in your life. I have and it sucks. Bullying is different from an argument, arguments that Tony usually starts to be honestâguys, Tony started the fight in Civil War by punching Steve across the face and Steve ended the fight the moment he depowered his suit. A bully would have kept on hitting. Steve did not want to fight him. He never has. Also, stop using them both saying nasty things to each other in Avengers 1 while under the influence of Lokiâs staff to make Steve seem like a bully, especially when the stuff Tony said to him was worse. Steve just asked him what he was without the suit, Tony literally said that everything special about Steve came out of a bottle, and they both werenât thinking clearly thanks to the staff. And didnât Tony also say they should have left Steve on ice just because he was a little uptight thanks to the fact that he was experiencing PTSD, everyone he knew and loved was dead, SHIELD was playing around with the Tesseract when it could cause a lot of problems and from his perspective, he just got rid of the damn thing, etc? If anyone bullied anyone, didnât Tony bully Steve? People need to stop making Steve out to be some horrible, abusive, bullying friend when thatâs the last thing he would ever be. Itâs just gross and makes me wonder if these fanfic writers even watched the Captain America movies because the Steve of their fanon often bears no resemblence to the Steve of canon.
