Who Is Marvel’s Captain Anarchy? Meet Spider-Punk’s Sidekick
We know that most popular Marvel characters have alternative versions, and some of them are quite popular and have alternative storylines dedicated to them. Spider-Man is just one of many, although he is quite different from most because Spider-Man has numerous alternative versions and realities, also called Spider-Verse. Today, however, we won’t discuss an alternative version of Spider-Man. Instead, we are going to focus on an alternative version of Captain America that is part of a Spider-Verse. Now let’s see who is Captain Anarchy and how he’s connected to Spider-Verse.
Captain Anarchy, aka Karl Morningdew, is a member of Spider-Punk’s Spider-Band, an organized unit that was established to fight Ozzy Osborn’s totalitarian regime. Captain Anarchy got his powers when he was injected with Super-Insurgent Serum, an alternative version of Super-Solider serum, and due to this, we can assume that he has the same physical abilities that the mainline Steve Rogers has. Captain Anarchy hails from Earth-138. He also took part in a fight during the Annihilation Wave.
Now that we’ve briefly discussed who Captain Anarchy is let’s analyze his reality and what he is all about in a bit more detail. If you’re interested in more, stay with us and keep reading!
Captain Anarchy fights Ozzy Osborn’s oppressive regime
The story of Ozzy Osborn, Captain Anarchy, Spider-Punk, and other notable characters in this post takes place on Earth-138, an alternative, one could say, a musically inspired reality that is separate from the mainline Earth-616 Marvel universe.
On Earth-138, Ozzy Osborn led a totalitarian regime in America with Oscorp and V.E.N.O.M. empowering the Thunderbolt Department using symbiote technology. Spider-Man beheaded Osborn during a Spider-Army riot, but the V.E.N.O.M. Symbiote kept him alive underwater for a month.
Seeking revenge, Osborn stayed hidden, governing secretly as a head in a jar using V.E.N.O.M.’s sustenance and monitoring Spider-Punk’s activities. He planned to resurface for the next election after becoming a martyr and maintaining control from the shadows.
Why did he monitor Spider-Punk’s activities? Because he assumed that something was about to go down regarding this band of rebels.
Spider-Punk gathered the so-called Spider-Band of superpowered characters
Spider-Punk, aka Hobie Brown, initially lived as a squatter before he was bitten by a spider that was, in turn, exposed to radioactive waste and was capable of giving him Spider-Man powers, which is a similar story to Earth-616’s Peter Parker.
Hobie Brown always had a deep mistrust of the regime and the system and was among the first individuals to notice that something about Ozzy didn’t seem quite right. His fascist tendencies deeply disturbed him, and this is where Captain Anarchy comes in.
Alongside his friend Captain Anarchy, he led the Spider Army against Osborn’s fascist regime. As a symbol of rebellion, Spider-Man harnessed his rebellious spirit to unite the oppressed masses and counter the regime’s suppression. When Osborn utilized V.E.N.O.M.-powered forces to “Make America Great Again,” Spider-Man used punk rock energy to neutralize the symbiotes and defeated Osborn by decapitating him with his guitar, revealing his identity to onlookers.
Captain Anarchy was turned into an enhanced human via Super-Insurgent Serum
We know that the mainline version of Captain America got his powers by being exposed to the experimental Super Soldier Serum. This, in turn, made him a symbol of integrity, honor, and patriotism.
Well, Captain America and Captain Anarchy have similar origin stories. Karl Morningdew became Captain Anarchy when he was injected with a healthy dose of Super-Insurgent Serum. While we don’t know the exact origin of this version of Serum, we do know that Karl started exhibiting anti-fascist vibes and started channeling supreme punk-rock energy.
While Captain America has conservative values, Captain Anarchy is mostly a liberal superhero. However, when it comes to their moral alignment, both versions of the Cap are good and are hellbent on fighting evil and oppressive forces that go against people’s individual freedoms.
Captain Anarchy joined Spider-Band in order to fight Osborn’s forces and stayed along for the ride to fight the Annihilation Wave, the Universal Church of Truth, and Kang the Congolomerator, an evil capitalist-oriented variant of Kang the Conqueror.
Captain Anarchy is a gay man
One significant difference between Captain Anarchy and mainline Captain America seems to be their sexual orientation. In ‘Spider-Punk’ #1, Karl can be seen making out with Earth-138 Rick Jones. This makes Captain Anarchy a gay man, in contrast to mainline Captain America, who is a straight man. This perfectly fits with Spider-Band’s diverse themes.
Captain Anarchy is also on good terms with Hulk, RiotHeart (Earth-138 version of Riri Williams), Kamala Khan, and Daredevil Drummer of Philly, aka Mattea Murdock who are likewise members of the Spider-Band.
How strong is Captain Anarchy?
Considering that Captain Anarchy took an alternative version of Super-Solider Serum, he is classified as being enhanced human like his Earth-616 counterpart. Captain Anarchy is not superhuman, meaning he doesn’t have godlike strength and access to equally devastating powers and abilities. He does have peak human condition, strength, stamina, endurance, intellect, and speed, and his abilities far surpass what the average human is capable of.
Captain Anarchy also has a vibranium shield, but instead of the shield sporting Rogers’ famous white star, Captain Anarchy’s shield has a unique symbol, “A,” that signifies anarchy along with a thin black strip replacing the big internal red stripe. Otherwise, the shields seem to have identical functionalities.
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