Hero’s Journey CAPTAIN AMERICA

HERO’S JOURNEY Joseph Campbell noticed a pattern of storytelling in all stories from all cultures. He put the pattern into words, called a “Monomyth” or “The Hero’s Journey”. There are 17 steps broken down into three parts: The Departure, The Initiation, and The Return.

The Call to Adventure The Call to Adventure is when the hero receives a call to leave their normal life. Steve Roger's journey toward becoming Captain America began when Dr. Erksine gave him a chance to be in the army. “I can give you a chance. Only a chance.” “I’ll take it!”

REFUSAL OF THE CALL In the case of Steve, it wasn't that he didn't want to join the army- it was his physical inability to do so. The Refusal of the Call is when the hero refuses to go out of fear, obligation, etc.

Supernatural Aid Supernatural Aid - when the hero accepts the journey, they often receive help from someone who also provides other talismans along the way. For Steve, his super-natural aid was the doctor giving him the Super-Soldier Serum.

CROSSING THE FIRST THRESHOLD This is when the hero leaves their known world and steps into something new and different, sometimes passing a threshold guardian. Entering the doors of the secret laboratory and passing the guards was Cap's first step into a different world.

Belly of the Whale The point of no return. This is when Steve is in the machine and they are injecting the serum. There was no changing his mind now.

The Road of Trials is a series of tests and trials the hero will go through, and often lose. In Captain America: The First Avenger, Steve goes through many trials, which are dispersed among the other points of his hero's journey. These include Not being allowed to fight, Dr. Erksine was shot and killed The Captain fights the Red Skull but he escapes and When his friend Bucky is killed. ROAD OF TRIALS

MEETING WITH THE GODDESS This is the point when the hero finds love. Captain America finds a love for Peggy, a love for his country, and a love for his best friend, Bucky Barnes.

WOMAN AS TEMPTRESS Woman as Temptress is a part of the hero's journey where something or someone (not always a woman) threatens to make the protagonist forget their quest or task at hand. For Captain America, a temptation that threatened to pull him off course is the fact that lots of women now like him.

ATOMEMENT WITH THE FATHER This is the moment when the hero faces someone or something that has complete power over them. For the Captain, this is the climax, when he battles the Red Skull in the air ship as it is heading to destroy New York. vs

APOTHEOSIS Apotheosis is when the hero experiences either physical or spiritual death to bring them a resting moment before they continue. Captain America's apotheosis is when he is frozen in the ice, halting his progression for a while (70 years to be exact).

There were three ultimate boons for Captain America: 1. New York was saved, even though he had to crash-land the ship, 2. The Red Skull was killed and was no longer a threat, and 3. The USA defeated Germany in World War II (although he wasn't aware of it at the time because he was frozen in ice). Plus- They got the Tesseract. THE ULTIMATE BOON This is when the protagonist get what they went on the journey to get, whether a trait or a physical item.

Refusal to Return Refusal of the Return is when the hero decides to stay in the world they are in and not return to their original home. Steve's refusal was when he decided to crash the ship in the ice, even though he knew that he would probably never come out.

The Magic Flight is the next step in the hero's journey- it is when the hero has to escape from danger or with the boon. Captain America doesn't portray this step in the hero's journey. MAGIC FLIGHT

This is when the hero needs help from an outside source to make it. Captain America needed to be saved from his icy prison where they needed to wake him up from suspended animation. RESCUE FROM WITHOUT

CROSSING THE RETURN THRESHOLD The Crossing of the Return Threshold is when the hero returns home and tries to share their new wisdom and bring together their new and old world. The Captain crosses the return threshold when he wakes up in modern New York City and finds himself in Times Square. He is still a Super-Soldier, and he has to figure out how to integrate himself into the new world.

MASTER OF TWO WORLDS The next step in a hero's journey is Master if Two Worlds, when the hero in competent in both worlds and can cross over. Unfortunately for Captain America, he cannot go back to his world in the past. He is stuck in the modern world.

FREEDOM TO LIVE The final step in the hero's journey is Freedom to Live, where the hero can live, no longer afraid of death or the things they were afraid of in the beginning. Captain America is free to live, not afraid of death, at least for a little while, until he becomes part of the Avenger Initiative. But he also has to have to figure out how to live 70 years in the future.